Performer: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Orchestra: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
Conductor: Antonio Pedrotti, Alceo Galliera
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8111396
Release: 2012
Size: 183 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
01. I. Allegro affettuoso
02. II. Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso
03. III. Allegro vivace
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16
04. I. Allegro molto moderato
05. II. Adagio
06. III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato
Grieg: Lyric Pieces III, Op. 43
07. No. 5, Erotic
Grieg: Lyric Pieces IV, Op. 47
08. No. 5, Melancholy
Grieg: Lyric Pieces IX, Op. 68
09. No. 5, Lullaby
Debussy: Images pour piano
10. Book 1: No. 1, Reflets dans l’eau
Michelangeli was a peerless aristocrat of the piano. He had made his recording début for HMV in Milan in 1939, and in 1942 went into studios in the same city to record two major concertos for German Telefunken. Schumann’s Piano Concerto is played with a dazzling, almost improvisatory freedom, whereas the Grieg Piano Concerto is a forthright, poetic and virtuosic performance, albeit one of great warmth. The smaller pieces reveal his outstanding gradations of tone. Remarkably, Michelangeli never re-recorded either concerto again in the studio.