Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
'Here is a new Liszt.' - Cortot of Michelangeli
Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was born in Brescia on 5 January 1920. He studied at the Conservatory in Milan from the age of ten, and began his career when he was eighteen. He won first prize in the Geneva International Piano Competition in 1939 and this, along with Cortot's famous proclamation above, sealed his international reputation abroad. He played in England in 1946, USA in 1948 and Poland (as part of the Chopin centenary celebrations) in 1949.
Michelangeli was also a dedicated teacher of piano, and he founded the Brescia and Bergamo International Piano Festival. He died in Lugano, Switzerland, on 12 June 1995.
A selection of articles about Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
CD Spotlight. Variety of Tone - Michelangeli's Beethoven and Debussy, heard by Robert Anderson. '... a sympathetic medium for Debussy's vision.'
DVD Spotlight. Seldom Equalled - Michelangeli plays Beethoven, Galuppi and Scarlatti, and impresses Howard Smith. 'His relentless perfectionism allows him spellbinding precision ...'
CD Spotlight. Deeply Satisfying - Elena Kuschnerova plays J S Bach, selected by Howard Smith. '... decisive and fresh as a dewfall.'
CD Spotlight. Perfectly Adequate - Jacques Rouvier's Debussy Préludes, heard by Julian Jacobson. '... the performances lack a degree of intensity and personal involvement.'
A star is reborn - BBC Legends, passing its one hundredth release, is appreciated by John Bell Young
Record box - Trawling for treasure. Bill Newman seeks out Golden Age performers now reinstated on CD. Michelangeli, Toscanini and Barbirolli on BBC Legends