Customer Reviews

Brahms, Schubert, Beethoven / Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an exciting and exceedingly pleasing recording. I had heard all kinds of things about Michelangeli's stunning technique, and it's all true. However, this recording is not just a platform for technique alone. Michelangeli infuses the Brahms Ballades with a sense of terrible foreboding in the first and fourth, but lets the gorgeous lyricism of the second and third shine through without restraint. These Ballades are major league Brahms, and there's no one better than Michelangeli to illustrate their variety and profundity.

As for the Schubert, this very early sonata has the kind of joyous verve of his early symphonies, and there is an extra treat in that its slow movement is an early exploration of what would become the finale of his D.959 piano sonata. Not many people record Beethoven's(vastly underrated)op. 7 sonata, unless they're obliged to in the course of recording all 32. A shame. After the Hammerklavier, it's the longest Beethoven wrote, and Michelangeli has a very firm grasp of its overall structure. He also has no problem bringing forth its singing lines and epic qualities either.

Listening to this recording is like going to a glorious and memorable recital. All three pieces that Michelangeli chose to play here exist just below the radar of popular classical recording choices, but they're all well worth knowing, and I can't imagine them being played better. DG is incredibly generous here, with over 80 minutes of extraordinarily varied music played in an absolutely flawless manner. This disc also serves as perhaps the best introduction to one of THE master pianists of the 20th century, so go for it!

With Michelangeli you can hardly ever talk about a performance purely in terms of interpretation of the composer. Sooner or later you have to come back to that unique sound-production, and with the contents of this disc it's 'sooner'. For music-lovers not yet familiar with him I recommend hearing someone else's copy before buying. His home-ground was Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Ravel rather than German and Austrian masters. This is the only Schubert I have heard by him, and apart from his stupefying Paganini variations this is the only Brahms. His known Beethoven readings (known to me anyway) are 5 sonatas and 3 concertos, and the rest of his public Teutonic repertory was a certain amount of Schumann and some Bach arrangements, plus some Mozart and Haydn concertos.

I should start with the Brahms, where his approach is nearest to mainstream, and see how you like that. There is far less consensus about how Brahms should be played than about Beethoven or Schubert. These readings are big, deadly serious and powerful without being specially fiery. The really striking thing about them is the tremendous full rich tone. Experienced listeners presented with this but not told who was playing would guess right before very long. This is Brahms-Michelangeli but 'normal' Brahms for all that. The rest is Beethoven-MICHELANGELI and Schubert-MICHELANGELI. I'm struggling a bit for the right vocabulary to describe the very special effect. It is 'classical'
and in tune with the modern tradition of playing the German classics as reformed and established by Schnabel and Kempff and it is Olympian in the last degree. There is nothing cold about it but there is something aloof. No use looking in this Beethoven for the tension that we tend to take for granted, nor in this Schubert for the familiar vulnerable tone. Whatever you think of these as interpretations, I shall be suprised if you are not at least impressed. I have to come back to it -- that tone is utterly unique and about as unlike the familiar wiry tone of the 'average' super-virtuoso as can be imagined. One touch that made me smile was the start of the Beethoven. There is some scholarly dispute as to whether B wrote 'forte' or 'piano'. Michelangeli seems to play mezzo-forte, which I suppose is one solution. Those who know him from other contexts will not be surprised by him here. I came to him late and via Chopin and am hopelessly hooked. In the last resort there are plenty of great interpretations of these masters, but there is only, will ever be only, one Michelangeli.

This CD contains 80 minutes of music, but I mainly listen to the first four tracks, the Brahms Op. 10 Ballades.
I had heard these pieces before I bought this recording, but Michelangeli's performance left a great impression upon me. Without consulting a score, I could feel the form of these pieces, and I find that very important to making a piece intelligible. To say M's playing is impeccable is an understatement. Instead, he has this vision, or, more of a sound ideal that he makes (or tries to) every piece conform to, hence why another reviewer says this is Brahms-MICHELANGELI, and same for the other composers. After hearing this, I'm puzzled, cause I think Michelangeli would have been stunning in the two concertos, the rhapsodies, and other piano works of Brahms, but why did he not record them? Did he not play them? We shall never know.
The Schubert is less successful since his treatment of it is not too sympathetic and tries to sound monumental when the piece isn't that way at all. Never have I heard such dynamic and rhythmic control, but I don't like the performance as a whole.
The Beethoven, is also puzzling. Obviously, this is some of the best Beethoven playing I've heard (comparable sound quality, i.e. "monumental" to Klemperer's recordings of the symphonies with the Philharmonia). Tempos are stately, but everything is well defined and after hearing this, it makes me think of it as an absolutely ingenious piece. Only somebody who can articulate every note and attempt to make it mean something, like M, can pull this off. Sure, it's not terribly exciting, and the slow movement hangs fire, but I love it.
The Brahms Ballades are essential, avoid the Schubert, and listen to the Beethoven, for Michelangeli plays it incredibly well and, like the Brahms, clearly articulates the structure.

Anyone who has spent much time with Michelangeli's recordings must acknowledge that he became different with age, less assertive in his technique, plainer and generally slower. I find that the landscape got a bit too gray, but others hear mature wisdom. It's hard to admit that a keyboard wizard has turned, well, rather clunky, but the four Brahms Ballades, though confidently phrased, are mostly without passion. Of course, Michelangeli doesn't have to pass muster with me; he was always an aristocrat unmoved by popular taste. If you are under his spell already, I suppose his uninvolved manner with Brahms won't disturb you. As always, his touch and control are impeccable.

Schubert's A minor sonata D. 537 would seem to be a good fit -- Michelangeli was good at elevating minor and overlooked works where he could find half-lights and nuance. Here he is quite appealing when he exposes the melancholy in the first movement, although the assertive opening feels a bit underplayed. His view of the second movement Allegretto is odd -- Michelangeli chops out the simple accompaniment in stiff bursts. The melody itself is one of Schubert's inventions of sublime simplicity, and perhaps Michelangeli bends over backwards to make sure it's not too sweet when sweetness is what is called for. Yet in its brittle way this is a convincing reading. He phrases the finale crisply, a bit like Bach, which caught my fancy. but I think Schubert had something more carefree in mind when he marked this movement Allegro vivace.

The program ends with an out-of-the-way Beethoven sonata, no. 4 Op. 7. Happily, Michelangeli plays it with full expression, like real Beethoven and not leftover Haydn. the first movement is supposed to be fast and lively (Allegro molto e con brio), but Michelangeli is much more studied and self-conscious. With him, that's usually a given, and one can either submit or resist. I mostly submitted. Yet it was perverse of him to take the Largo with such uninvolved objectivity when it's marked "with great expression." the Scherzo is awake without being witty or whimsical. the finale is played as gracefully as the score asks; this is one area where Michelangeli can't be criticized.

In all, despite my aversion to so much restraint in music that should be ebullient, Michelangeli is who he is, and even in low-key mode, he's an artist through and through.

While there's some real fire and pathos in the Brahms performances that begin this album, in all this is a rather introspective, relaxed recital. The Schubert and Beethoven sonatas that constitute the bulk of the program are reserved, quiet, thoughtful pieces most of the time, and Michelangeli settles into them... I hear something of an ironical wink in these interpretations. To be sure, he maintains formal integrity and the listener's interest, offering an astute, subtle wisdom in these readings; but four stars and not five, I think, because for as sophisticated and gorgeous as the repertoire is here, and for as masterfully as it's played, the mood of this recital is largely inward and withdrawn, not quite engaging enough for an hour's listening.

One man's viewpoint: This is simply magical. The light, graceful yet assertive touch is - almost by itself - the key to this artist. I'd almost say it's a healing sound. Michelangeli could play the silliest children's song and it would engage us. Dare I call him a man who carried a divine presence into his music? Yep.
*** Grab all the ABM you can, and you'll have some of the gold.

Picked this up because I read where Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter were big fans, after hearing this I can see why. The Brahms Op. 10 Ballades is stunning. This is a great sounding recording.

I bought about seven of the lps of this recording, and every one one of them had distortion on the Brahms Ballades, akin to normal but probelematic record wear. I never wanted to buy the CD because DG CDs of originally analogue recording always seemed awash in some sort of sonic zone I didn't like. But one day I bought the CD cheap somewhere, and lo and behold the CD has distortion on it too in the Ballades!!!! It must have been in the original tape. Since the CD has less I assume they lessened it through re-mastering for the CD re-issue. The reasons I don't mind all the trouble is that, as so many have commented here, these are great performances, particularly of the Ballades. Very hard music to make not sound awkward. In Michalangeli's hands they sound terribly profound. Like a grim but beautiful lesson you learned, but suffered for.

During his lifetime Michelangeli was known for being a consummate perfectionist (Apparently there are many hours of unreleased recordings which he refused to have released.). This CD is a splendid introduction to Michelangeli's passionate, technically perfect playing. Although I have heard a slightly more exciting version of Brahms' Ballades from Gilels, Michelangeli's compelling version is equally memorable. There is ample pathos, warmth and lyricism prevalent in his performance. The early Schubert sonata is also fine, though I have heard slightly more compelling performances from Kempff and Brendel. Michelangeli's elegant performance of the early Beethoven sonata rounds out this impressive set of performances. Without a doubt, Michelangeli was one of the 20th Century's finest pianists.

Most of the time when I see the offset "Yellow label" cover I grow excited. There is very little in the DG Originals series that is superfluous or questionable. DG has an amazing vault of material, much of it still unreissued (the Melos quartet in Mozart quartets and quintets, anyone?), and these albums are almost always reason to celebrate.

This one is an exception. Here Arthur Benito Michelangeli facelessly trudges through some sour Schubert and generally cheerless Beethoven, though I will give him a really fine slow movement, filled with gravity and a certain humility. He does somewhat better on the reflective Brahms, but I have a feeling this isn't so much great artistry as simply the right pieces for ABM's mood and approach--as a famous wag once said, even a broken clock tells the right time twice a day. I still have an Op. 10 by Wilhelm Kempff that's better, or at least as good, and that's not high praise in my book. Julius Katchen plays these works so much better, as does Claudio Arrau, and I'm sure many others. The Beethoven is unremarkable in every way. Some other reviews here find Michelangeli's approach eccentric (save for the Brahms). I do not; Ugorski is eccentric. Ernst Levy is eccentric. Mikhail Pletnev is eccentric. Gavrilov is eccentric. Even Gould is fun for that, "I wonder how stoned he got before the performance?" quality. Michelangeli is just plain lacking in energy.

The sound is a little cold and brittle, which matches the approach by the pianist, so at least it's a good marriage. There is some Michelangeli I admire out there (though I have to admit he's not among my favorite pianists overall) but this is not it. It's also kind of an oddball program. These pieces really don't go that well together. For the Brahms I already mentioned favorites. For the Schubert there's not much in the catalog, I was surprised after taking a look through my own collection. (And I own a lot of Schubert. Maybe too much. Time to do some thinning.) Still, there must be something out there better than this. For the Beethoven I prefer Arrau, Kovacevich, my neighbor down the street...