These early Michelangeli
recordings enshrine pianism that marries technically impeccable
command with a refined aristocracy that never precludes
warmth. As the years went by these balances become more
problematic. For some the whole aura became too remote.
These
extremely well transferred examples were recorded in the
years between 1939 and 1948 by which time Michelangeli
had become internationally known; his New York debut came
in 1948.
The
Italian Concerto receives a reading of incisive buoyancy,
the left hand pointing in the opening movement almost intrusive
in its sharpness, its animation undoubted though perhaps
over balancing. But he vests the writing with tremendous
depth of tone colour and real vivacity, and the slow movement
with gravity and warmth. One of his best known recorded
inscriptions from this period in the Bach-Busoni Chaconne,
in which he is at a diametric remove from a romantic cavalier
such as Cherkassky. If one feels Michelangeli’s steelier
resolutions in this, they are surely balanced by an invincible
sense of direction, of dynamism and leonine power – as
well as an appropriate sense of warmth.
The
run of pieces by Tomeoni, Galuppi and Scarlatti was recorded
between c.1941 and 1948 in Milan – though the last one,
the Galuppi, was recorded in London. Given the austerity
he cultivated one might be surprised by the feathery articulation
that attends his delectable performance of the Tomeoni
as well, indeed, as the vital buoyancy of the Galuppi.
The Scarlatti sequence includes four sonatas, though they
were recorded two-by-two for release on two 78s recorded
roughly a year apart, one for Telefunken and the other
for HMV. The three Spanish items offer a decidedly personal
slant on the Iberian muse. His rubati and ‘stance’ in Granados’s
Andaluza offer
a very different kind of gloss, whilst his Albéniz and
Mompou, though hardly less individual, are certainly engagingly
played. The Marescotti
Fantasque was written for
performance at the Geneva Piano Competition in 1939 – which
Michelangeli won – and recorded by him in the same year;
it’s a frenetic, fun piece. About his Brahms Paganini Variations
many opinions will cluster. This is his concert arrangement
in which he habitually omitted Book 1 variation 9 and Book
2 variations 9 and 14 and re-ordered
Book II. The
stylistic and architectural quirks have to be taken as
read in a performance of this kind.
This
first volume of the early recordings promised much and
it delivered. The transfers and title selection are well
balanced between the canonic and the less well known; the
transfers and notes are fittingly first class as well.
Jonathan
Woolf
Naxos
Historical themed review pages
Arturo
Benedetti Michelangeli (piano) 
