Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli - Piano Recital

Advantages: A discovery unforgettable
Disadvantages: Nothing

...(Rewrite on 09/07/2001) Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (great italian "virtuoso") spent his life to search a kind of perfection during interpretations. He knew this perfection to be impossible but, for him, "perfection" was union between composer and player. Then,this perfection isn't impossible... Glenn Gould tryed the same sound by his pianos: in this way he was very careful to music structure: beauty of musical phrases, to give a geometrical "presence" to music a.s.o. Of course his Bach interpretations (but Beethoven and Mozart also), even if on a piano and not on a harpsichord or "fortepiano" , are excellent. Michelangeli is on the other side of the moon... His Chopin is mysterious, full of shadows and, in some compositions, unknowable. But, how does Michelangeli obtain this wonderful result? To answer it is simple and very... Read review

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Advantages: Cherkassky playing at his best in wide range of solo works
Disadvantages: No Godowsky included

...on the piano, if at all. It is actually a selection of five pieces by Lully, not originally published as a suite, but subsequently assembled into a suite, and reordered by Cherkassky. Cherkassky articulates these early pieces beautifully, bringing out the various voices of the counterpoint with great delicacy and beautiful phrasing. His playing of the ornaments (trills, mordents etc) is especially captivating. He then plays a short piece by Mendelssohn with the light fantasy touch which is required. Here is Mendelssohn back in the same world as the fairies in his famous Midsummer Night's Dream. The centrepiece of this recital is Tchaikovsky's rarely performed Grand Sonata. Cherkassky is one of a small number of pianists who bring this sonata to life (Pletnev is another) and make it sound like a masterpiece. This piece has often been... Read review

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Advantages: Unparalleled playing, Unbelievably good bargain for 6 CDs!
Disadvantages: Um, paper sleeves? No, seriously, it's great

...This box set comprises recordings from 1985-89, when Horowitz was 81 years old! In 1986 Horowitz returned to Russia after 60 years away to give his monumental Moscow recital of which the live recording is included in this set. I personally find this performance of Liszt's Sonetto 104 del Petrarca to be the finest ever recorded. Alongside this is Scarlatti, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Schumann, Chopin, Moszkowski, and Schubert. Accompanying this recital is 5 other discs of outstandingly unique playing. As he got older, Horowitz's playing became a sort of caricature of itself in the nicest possible way. By this I mean, his dynamics became more extreme, he became more expressive than ever, and his sense of style was heightened to new levels. Horowitz's Mozart playing has been criticized for being too free and not in Mozart... Read review

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