Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Piano Concerto in D major, Op.21 (Hob 18:11) [18:43]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 [37:57]
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (piano)
Orchestra di Torino della RAI/Mario Rossi (Haydn)
Orchestra di Roma della RAI/Massimo Freccia (Beethoven)
rec. 18 December 1959 (Haydn); 12 December 1959 (Beethoven)
TAHRA TAH 685 [57:11]
In 1939 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995) landed first prize
at the Geneva Piano Competition. This triumphant victory catapulted the
Italian onto the international stage as one of the foremost exponents
of the keyboard. Italian Radio (EIAR), at the time, embraced this success
of their compatriot and began to broadcast him for the pleasure of Italian
audiences. Many of the early broadcasts have sadly been lost, but what
does remain includes some unusual items that the pianist never took into
his repertoire. They include Absil’s Concerto Op. 30 (1940), Beethoven’s
Moonlight Sonata, Debussy’s L’isle joyeuse
(1942) and even Balakirev’s Islamey (1941) – tantalizing
morsels indeed.
For a pianist of such stature, his repertoire is relatively small. His
perfectionism, which bordered on the obsessive, led him to home in on
certain repertoire and fine tune it. He was a slave to detail. His forays
into the recording studio were few and his commercial recorded legacy
is limited. Fortunately for us his discography is bulked out with unauthorized
and authorized live performances, some of which have had several incarnations
on disc.
In 1945 EIAR became RAI. The RAI Orchestra of Turin went on tour with
Michelangeli in 1947 to Great Britain. Mario Rossi, one of the orchestra’s
regular conductors, went with them. In collaboration with the BBC they
broadcast many of the concerts during this visit. The opening concert
of the tour involved a performance of the Beethoven Emperor Concerto
with Rossi conducting. This was to be the first in a series of five recordings
of this concerto that the pianist made, throughout his career, with this
orchestra. Three have seen the light of day on CD, but two have remained
unissued – one from 5 April 1957, and the one under review here
from 12 December 1959, under Italian conductor Massimo Freccia, another
regular with this orchestra. It has now been released by Tahra after lying
dormant in the RAI archives since that first broadcast.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 is the
concerto Michelangeli played more than any other. Between 1939 and 1987
he performed it more than one hundred times. There are a dozen or so performances
in his discography now available, including one commercial recording he
made with the Wiener Symphoniker under Carlo Maria Giulini in Vienna February
1979 (DG 419 249-2). Who knows, there may be other live airings languishing
in the vaults somewhere around the world.
This Beethoven performance under Freccia, the RAI orchestra principal
at the time, is magisterial, and truly lives up to its name Emperor.
Characterized by epic grandeur, it is muscular yet sensitive to dynamics
and phrasing. Michelangeli’s glacial technical perfection is evident,
yet the performance is on occasion not without its wayward rubato and
tempo relations. There’s no sentimentality in the slow movement
— emotions are suitable reined in. The conductor is a sympathetic
partner. Audience noise in minimal and not at all intrusive. I compared
this with the performance given at the Vatican in the presence of His
Holiness Pope John XXIII from a year later with the same forces and Freccia
conducting (28 April 1960). The two interpretations are very similar but
the sound is less bright and softer-grained from St. Peter’s. The
last movement is famously interrupted with a flash of lightning and a
roll of thunder – a sign of divine approval, we must hope.
From six days later (18 December 1959) comes the Haydn D major concerto,
this time with Mario Rossi conducting. Compelling and rhythmically buoyant,
this live broadcast has seen the light of day on other labels but provides
a fitting companion to the Beethoven. Perhaps it is significant that Martha
Argerich, a one time pupil of Michelangeli, took this concerto into her
repertoire and made a commercial recording of it with DG.
Sound quality is more than acceptable in both performances. Booklet notes
are in French and English. The Beethoven is a valuable addition to the
pianist’s discography.
Stephen Greenbank
Masterwork Index: Beethoven
piano concerto 5
Support
us financially by purchasing this from |
|
 |
 |
 |
|