Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995)

Students recall Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli during the Chopin Competition Echo Krakowskie, 26 March 1955 Participants of the Chopin Competition in Kraków Now we begin our journey through the castle, the oldest in Wawel [Royal Castle], the Rotunda of Felix and Adauctus, through a labyrinth of halls and cloisters, all the way to the Throne Room. The guides, who explain everything in Russian, French, German, and English, can't keep up with the dozens of questions. From the cas

'Tall, slim, slightly stooped. He steps onto the stage with a slow, as if weary gait, mopping his damp forehead with his ever-present handkerchief. In 1953, he interrupted his concert work due to a serious illness; his current concerts in Warsaw and Kraków were his first after recovery, each one cost him a great deal of effort, each one was tiring... 'If Benedetti had lived in Paganini's time, he would have been accused of conspiring with Satan. Perhaps burned at the stake, e

'In 1950 ABM moved to the Bolzano Conservatory, where he taught until 1959, also holding a specialisation course in the castle of Appiano. His presence, however, due to his many concerts and also to his restless character, did not have the continuity that regular teaching required. Interviewed for the catalogue of the 1997 Bolzano exhibition, Vea Carpi, director of the Conservatory whose house – as a child – Michelangeli frequented (her father Giannino was a violinist, her mo

A Polish "Kalendar" of 1956 reviewed the Chopin Competition of the previous year, from which this extract is taken. 'Each of these artists [the adjudicators in the competition] is a greatness in their own right, whether Kentner, Oborin, Levy, or others. But among them, the brilliant Italian pianist Benedetti Michelangeli, a true Michelangelo among pianists, shone with extraordinary brilliance. Polish reviewers simply lacked words to describe the greatness of this artist. Apar

26 February 1957. In The Musical Times (April 1957), the gracious music critic and biographer of Schumann Joan Chissell wrote: 'When Michelangeli failed to turn up for his B.B.C. recital towards the end of February, there was wide-spread anxiety that his two appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent in the Festival Hall might also be cancelled. In the event, he called off his Schumann performance in the second of the two concerts, but made the eff

This information was generously sent to me by Ди́на, Dina/ Diana (Russian Federation), who transcribed the extracts in English. After a long break, Michelangeli's first appearance was in Warsaw as juror during the 5th Chopin Festival (22 February-21 March, 1955). He resigned in protest, as Vladimir Ashkenazy, who he believed should have won, finished second to Polish pianist Adam Harasiewicz (aged 23) by a small margin. The competition ran 21 February to 20 March 1955, and