Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Live in Lugano

Starring:Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, JÃ¡nos Darvas
Studio: Euroarts
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Charisma: Many great pianists, past and present, have had almost none. Others, many fewer, have had it to an almost supernatural degree. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was one of these. The aura surrounding him, even as he walked to the piano, had a decisive effect on the artistic experience of his audiences. He carried with him an impression not only of overwhelming power and authority, but also of an incorruptible artistic integrity and an almost preternatural calm. This air of Olympian detachment extended both to the near-infallibility of his technique and to the quality of his interpretations. Like many of the greatest artists, Michelangeli was always controversial, arousing in many musicians outspoken hostility and in others a degree of idolatry hardly seen since the heyday of Paderewski. One need not have been in the hall in 1981 when this film was made to experience the mesmerizing atmosphere created there by this greatest of pianistic sorcerers. Playing of this exalted level is enough to nourish the spirit for a lifetime. Here we encounter the very pinnacles of art, a realm vouchsafed to us by very few and from which we emerge enriched.

Description

Charisma: Many great pianists, past and present, have had almost none. Others, many fewer, have had it to an almost supernatural degree. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was one of these. The aura surrounding him, even as he walked to the piano, had a decisive effect on the artistic experience of his audiences. He carried with him an impression not only of overwhelming power and authority, but also of an incorruptible artistic integrity and an almost preternatural calm. This air of Olympian detachment extended both to the near-infallibility of his technique and to the quality of his interpretations. Like many of the greatest artists, Michelangeli was always controversial, arousing in many musicians outspoken hostility and in others a degree of idolatry hardly seen since the heyday of Paderewski. One need not have been in the hall in 1981 when this film was made to experience the mesmerizing atmosphere created there by this greatest of pianistic sorcerers. Playing of this exalted level is enough to nourish the spirit for a lifetime. Here we encounter the very pinnacles of art, a realm vouchsafed to us by very few and from which we emerge enriched.

Picture Format: 4:3 • Sound Format: 5.1 • Surround Sound, Stereo

Customer Reviews:

A rare artist who will never be imitated.......2006-09-25

What a far cry from the Lang Langs of today, who seem so shallow and narcissistic. Michelangeli had zero interest in pleasing his audience, but possessed a total commitment to the integrity of his vision. A perfectionist, fortunately he had the what with to reach sublime heights of pianistic performance. For anyone who loves the piano, this disc, as all Michelangeli's disks, is a must.

A PRIVATE UNIVERSE OF SOUND.......2006-03-24

This recital from 1981 consists of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. I have always had the feeling that Michelangeli understood Beethoven and Mozart intellectually more than by the kind of instinct he showed for Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel. There is any amount of true insight and discernment in his Beethoven, but never the sense of revelation that I get from, say, Serkin. When it comes to Schubert there is nothing else to go on besides the one sonata here; and as regards Brahms the only other piece M left us is his astounding Paganini variations. The four works here are all early productions by their respective composers - of the five Beethoven sonatas that M ever performed four were from the early period, the Schubert sonata is the first of the three he wrote in A minor, and the Brahms ballades have the opus number 10.

The 61-year-old performer does not look healthy. He smoked like a chimney, and his widow's memoir of him (available on Aura.com in Italian) seems to confirm what a glance at him would suggest, namely that he didn't eat much. The hair behind his rather odd hairline is still luxuriant, and at least he didn't dye it grey at the roots. His manner is grave and abstracted, and he perspired more than his physique might lead us to expect, another point confirmed by Giuliana. He does not sit artificially still, but there is very little body movement beyond tilting his head back now and then, and the facial muscles work compulsively. Most compulsive for me was to watch those mighty fingers. Their movement verges on languid - at one point in the third Brahms ballade there is a succession of descending arpeggios and it was hard to see which fingers had even moved at all. However much his digits have to do, they seem to do it with the utmost economy of effort, and in the most powerful fortissimo the player's hands never rise far above the keyboard. In an interview he gave in 1977 M said that it was all one to him whether an audience was present or not. In fact I more than half believe this. On the one hand Giuliana tells us what agonies he went through prior to a public recital and his unparalleled track-record of cancellations tells its own story; but on the other hand there is a strong sense that the player is alone here with the music. This may be the most consummate technician of the instrument there has ever been, but there is no exhibitionism from him whatsoever.

More than anything else what made M unique was his tone-production, and this recital is an absolutely riveting display of that. He takes a different approach to each of his three composers. In Beethoven, to his credit, he does not try to beautify the characteristically gawky effect of Beethoven's chords. The Schubert sonata is not much later in date, it was written for much the same kind of instrument as Beethoven had, M gives it a big-scale and vigorous reading, but the sound of the chords is different entirely and more euphonious. When it comes to the Brahms ballades, the miracles begin. I have a studio recording that he did, as I do for everything else on this disc, and I have Katchen and Gould by way of comparisons, but I never heard anything like this in my life. M starts as he means to continue with some striking pedalling at the start of the first ballade, and the crescendo at the start of the faster section has to be heard to be believed, rising to an enormous volume but with never a hint of harshness. Throughout all four ballades the variety of tone-colour, never seemingly contrived or unidiomatic, is wondrous. Chopin, where are you now? Eat your heart out, Debussy. This is - Brahms! As with the tone-colour so with the handling of the rhythm and timing, another string of jewels of perfection.

In terms of interpretation, there was never any telling which way Michelangeli might go next. Nor indeed was there any way of predicting what kind of mood he might be in. This recital seems to have caught him at his best. As in his other perfomances of Beethoven's funeral march sonata, M disdains taking the opening variations at different speeds, a practice frowned on by Tovey but carried off with panache by Richter. He starts the march itself with a slightly dry and percussive tone, using a more legato effect when it next comes round, and he is aristocratically restrained over the rumble-flash effects in the trio. In the B flat sonata op 22 the main change I noticed was that he now takes a much more flowing tempo in the adagio, much the way Serkin used to do it. As always with him, all repeats are observed.

He had mystique, and one senses it palpably here. I would say that nothing in this entire recital serves as any kind of benchmark for other interpreters. There are any number of equally `valid' ways of doing everything here. However music exists only in performance, no interpreter of any consequence takes any hypothetically `neutral' interpretation, and any great performance of any great music is always partly the interpreter's creation. Of all things on this earth music is the most divine, and the spark from on high can descend on players as well as on composers. What we have here is a phenomenon like no other. I don't propose to submit him to some sordid exercise of rating or comparison, I just doubt that his like will ever be heard again.

Buy Richter/Michelangeli DVD Instead, Unless You Need Sleep -- Solid, but Boring.......2005-11-04

This is the hardest review I've had to write. I like Michelangeli. He's elegant, and plays in a beautiful somber style. The problem is that I almost fall asleep at his playing. He hits all the right notes, but there's a lack of magic in his playing. He's not a human metronome, like Backhaus, but the best version of the same kind of playing. All the notes are there, but again, nothing extraordinary. Just solid. Michelangeli's Schubert sounded like his Beethoven. I was disappointed. His Brahms, also is disappointing. Everything sounds too classic. I would expect more passion in his Brahms. Michelangeli gets close, but not quite there. One wonders how he could have taught both Martha Argerich and Murray Perrahia, both of whom are loaded with more passion (especially, Argerich) and musical color (especially, Perrahia). A "4" rating is not bad. The DVD is reasonably priced, and I got 30% off today with an in-store Borders discount. In the Richter/Michelangeli DVD on the market, you'll find a more impassioned performance by Michelangeli, and a phenomenal performance by Richter. I believe there is also a bonus track of Solomon playing Appassionata. Solomon (whose playing of the Chopin Berceuse is perhaps the best ever; it's not on this DVD, but is available on CD) was known as the anti-Horowitz pianist in his day (the other great stylist around), before he was side-lined by a stroke. Buy this DVD only if you've seen everything else on the market and want a night out without leaving your living/bed room. And if you're in your bedroom and need a good night's sleep, BUY THIS FIRST! You'll get a delicious enjoyable doze. I sound like I'm being sarcastic here. But no. There are times when one desires a soporific effect from music. Well, Michelangeli delivers! Pianists who favor intellectual playing over musicality, may find pleasure here. "Music" lovers, will find sweet rest. Not bad. But not great.

For pianists only.......2005-09-26

Don't try to share this with your non-pianist friends - they just won't get it. Michelangeli didn't put on a show when he performed. He played as if he were in a room alone with the music and the audience was simply allowed to witness and observe. He was not there for them - he was there for the music. Pianists will find his intense concentration and almost inhuman control challenging and inspiring. Non-pianists will find his demeanor and facial mannerisms off-putting and distracting from the music. As for the music, the selections are not the most popular and therefore also contribute to the apparent inaccessability of this film for those not enamored of technique.

yes, but..........2005-05-29

like many michelangeli productions, this one elicits a mixed response. i have admired m's music for years, and seeing him perform here illuminated for me many aspects of his famous virtuousity, as well as his personality. i'm sure he dictated the conditions of this one-time-only video production and it bespeaks an almost pathological self-effacement in deference to the music and the composer alone. he's shown giving two perfunctory bows in the course of the concert, and during the second at the close of the concert he manages only one almost painful smile towards the audience. the beethoven sonatas, nos. 11 and 12, were new to his repertoire and certainly good to hear for that reason for the first time, but--m. was not an apt interpreter of beethoven. the performances are letter perfect, of course, but--well, you know the rest. they're boring, frankly. the schubert sonata that follows was also relatively new to his repertoire, and fares better. it makes you regret he didn't play (any) more of him. the brahms ballades m. had played for years and, i think, are the best think on this dvd from a strictly musical standpoint.
in sum, i'm very glad to own this video, i assume michelangel fans will buy it as a matter of course, but speaking for myself, having watched it once, i don't feel the need to watch it often again. it simply sent me back to his invaluable cd's.

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