Michelangeli "burned at the stake (not)!" Warsaw, 1955

'Tall, slim, slightly stooped. He steps onto the stage with a slow, as if weary gait, mopping his damp forehead with his ever-present handkerchief. In 1953, he interrupted his concert work due to a serious illness; his current concerts in Warsaw and Kraków were his first after recovery, each one cost him a great deal of effort, each one was tiring...

'If Benedetti had lived in Paganini's time, he would have been accused of conspiring with Satan. Perhaps burned at the stake, excommunicated. Since he lives over a hundred years later, no one checks whether he has sold himself to the devil; it's enough for everyone to hear his phenomenal playing. Yes: phenomenal. That's the right word.'

Lucjan Kydryński (1929-2006) in Przekrój (14/15, 1955), the journal he edited for many years.

Try this for size: the Brahms/Paganini Variations live in Warsaw 1955, Sunday 13 March, in the National Philharmonic Hall.