Piano Archives: Arturo Benedetti Michelangelo = SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54; LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major; RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 40; CHOPIN: Waltz – Tahra

by | May 25, 2008 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

Piano Archives: Arturo Benedetti Michelangelo = SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54; LISZT: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major; RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 40; CHOPIN: Waltz – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano/Orchestra della RAI della Svizzera Italiana/ Hermann Scherchen (Schumann)/Orchestra del Maggio Musicale di Firenze/Dimitri Mitropoulos (Liszt)/Orchestra di Roma della RAI/Franco Caracciolo (Rachmaninov)

Tahra TAH 631, 75:26 [www.tahra.com] *****:

When you purchase this magnificent CD, better have asbestos gloves on and a fireproof CD player!  Rarely have I heard even the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920- 1995) in such blistering form, his tensile strength and febrile temperament thoroughly in  accord in all three collaborations, 1953-1956. For the collector, the Rachmaninov Fourth  Concerto ( 12 May 1956), previously unpublished, with Franco Caracciolo (1944-1992) will more than complement Michelangeli’s commercial recording with Gracis for EMI.

The playing is both more deliberate and controlled, yet more sensationally improvisatory, a miracle of rare device. The swift, even hysterical passage of octaves makes our ears shudder while our eyes register something between terror and awe. When the flute enters over Michelangeli’s supple arpeggios and massive bass chords, we must choose between flight and erotic surrender. Caracciolo’s orchestra contributes to the tension and sensuality of the performance, a true instance of musical mystique in progress. For all of Rachmaninov’s self-borrowing clichés, the music compels us to listen as if for the first time. Steel hands make molten liquid of the figures; in the case of the Schumann, I registered chills in the first movement  from which I had thought repetition and “professional disease” had long insulated me. To call Michelangeli’s sound “sterling” or “shimmering” is to trivialize a percussion that transcends itself with each volley. The last movement makes us wish we had an inscription of the First Concerto, Op. 1, its flair and its penchant for 9/8 metrics. By the time we reach the frenzy and hallucinogenic pyrotechnics of the last bars, we are either mesmerized or unconscious. The posthumous waltz by Chopin hardly qualifies as “charming,” but it has a granite-like glitter thoroughly in keeping with the Rachmaninov lusters.

The Schumann Concerto with Hermann Scherchen (1891-1966) may have had some life on the Ermitage label, but here its resuscitation proves shattering. The performance (21 June 1956) from Lugano resonates as strongly as the Arrau/de Sabata inscription, and in even better sound. Unrelieved tension, tonal acuity, and  lyrical wiriness combine in a  most uncanny, compelling style that keeps exploding with the ritornello’s evolution, especially as Schumann iterates each musical figure twice. The Liszt E-flat with Mitropoulos (1896-1960) pushes the demonic spirit to the hilt, the performance (17 June 1953) both streamlined and cut with hydrofluoric acid. At the end of both the Schumann and the Liszt, their respective audiences shout, stomp, and clap in unbridled paroxysms for what had to have been the premier colorist of the piano of the 20th Century. Push your Best of the Year CDs over one entry to the right.

— Gary Lemco

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