The legendary Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920 - 1995), playing at the height of his powers, performs Chopin's Sonata in B flat minor and other music by one of the instrument's most brilliant and idiomatic writers, in the famously rare 1962 RAI television recording, newly restored and re-mastered for this release. Michelangeli's fine control and perfect clarity – always present in his playing – have positioned him among the most outstanding recording artists of any generation.

These are rare archive recordings. In 1962 Michelangeli agreed to record a series of televised studio performances for RAI Turin, though not without laying down strict stipulations: the camera set-ups were to be minimal, and there were to be no facial close-ups. Those limitations explain the austere visual style of the recordings presented here, but the light they shed on Michelangeli’s artistry is in no way diminished – indeed, the restraint of the camera-work enables us to concentrate without distraction on the musical performances. Even between individual movements of the same work there is no edit, and it is clear that these are single-take interpretations.

Features

Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849)
Sonata in B flat minor Op. 35, Ballade in G minor Op.23, Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante Op. 22, Fantasia Op. 49, Waltz in A flat ('L'adieu') Op. 69 No.1, Waltz in A flat Op. 34 No.1,Waltz in B flat (Op. post.), Scherzo No.2 in B flat minor Op. 31, Mazurka in A minor Op. 68 No.2, Mazurka in B minor Op. 33 No.4, Mazurka in D flat Op. 30 No.3, Berceuse in D flat Op. 57

Reviews

'His fingers can no more hit a wrong note or smudge a passage than a bullet can be veered off course once it has been fired...' Harold Schonberg

Awards

Diapason d'Or (April 2006)

DVD CHOICE BBC Music Magazine (March 2006)