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Track Listings
| 1. Allegramente |
| 2. Adagio assai |
| 3. Presto |
| 4. I. Allegro vivace |
| 5. II. Largo |
| 6. III. Allegro vivace |
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Customer Reviews
In the outer movements, the pianist pushes the technical boundary to the limit and the dazzling tone he produces penetrates even the thickest of orchestral texture. It is astounding, he manages to articulate every note on the score even in the boldest sweep of the most difficult passages. In comparison, the modern performances by Zimerman, Yundi Li, Thibaudet, Roge, Lortie and etc sound too tame and spineless. And the uncompromising tonal refinement and the noble beauty, in the slow movement, transcend all the existing recorded performances. Time seems to stand still in the sheer sublimity of his playing.
The performance of Rachmaninov's 4th concerto is no less impressive. Again the outer movements are played with amazing clarity and totally gripping. In the slow movement, he captures the full-blooded Romanticism and poetry of the music like no other pianists. I've come to love this concerto as much as 2nd and 3rd, thanks to this revelatory account by Michelangeli.
The Ravel is hors de concours. Marguerite Long with Ravel conducting sounds like a sewing machine (We know Ravel was not happy with her interpretation). Other pianists pull it around as if it were Jazz (e.g. Bernstein) or badly played Chopin. No one before or since has managed to get the Ravel sound: the balance between the Ravel classical metronome and the Ravel wild devil, between the singing piano and the brittle piano, between Couperin and Jazz, between what Perlemuter described as "the two pianos of Ravel". Listen to Michelangeli's performance of Gaspard, has anyone ever got it better?
I attended Vlado Perlemuter's master classes in the sixties (Vlado studied all Ravel's piano works with the composer) and I myself played the G major concerto when I was in my twenties so I know how "the tricks" are done; but when Michelangeli does them, I am lost in the excitement and the magic of the music.
Listen to the cadenza of the first movement: the theme first in the left hand then picked out in right-hand trills (in imitation of a a flexatone). That is extraordinary music making riding on top of transcendental piano playing - it is as awesome now as it was forty years ago and as it will be in fifty years time.
As for the Rachmaninov: Interestingly, some ten years ago, the BBC radio programme "Interpretations on Record" judged Michelangeli's performance "better in many respects" than S. Rachmaninov's. I couldn't agree more! I love/revere/worship Rachmaninov's own performances of his concertos, his rubato and phrasing are distinctive and inimitable with not a jot of vulgarity or playing to the gallery.
While Michelangeli never tries to mimic Rachmaninov's playing, he does manage to capture Rachmaninov's ability to present passion under control albeit on the point of exploding. Michelangeli has drive, lyricism and perfect balance between emotion and form. He has Horowitz' virtuosity without the flashing neon signs, he has Rachmaninov's control without the sometimes self-conscious self-restraint. This is some of the greatest piano playing you will ever hear. If you don't own these performances, go out and buy them at once and cherish them.
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