Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Plays Bach, Beethoven, Schumann & Brahms

Featuring

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Ferruccio Busoni
Ludwig van Beethoven
Robert Schumann
Johannes Brahms

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Composition History

Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien was inspired by his 1838 visit to Vienna, where he hoped to publish his magazine, and he later described it as a 'great romantic sonata'.

Compositional Technique

Ferruccio Busoni, a composer and virtuoso pianist, created an edition of Bach's keyboard works that includes extensive performance suggestions and even suggests cutting variations for concert performances.

Performer Biography

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, the pianist on this album, was a child prodigy who learned piano and violin at age four, but was forced to choose piano for medical reasons.

Performer Biography

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli gained a reputation as an unpredictable perfectionist, accepting few invitations to play and sometimes cancelling them.

Compositional Technique

Brahms's Paganini Variations are didactic, with each variation based on an aspect of piano virtuosity, such as double thirds, octaves, little-finger trills, and extreme velocity.

Performer Biography

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli led a worldly life, similar to Herbert von Karajan, being an airplane pilot, boat pilot, and ski champion.

Recording & Production

This album features recordings made between 1941 and 1957, including a 1941 recording of Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien and a 1957 live recording of the same work.