Pick any track, go ahead, any track on either disc in the set and you'll be totally blown away. Try, say, the opening of Scarlatti's Sonata in C minor K. 11: isn't the touch the ideal balance between legato and staccato and the tempo the perfect balance between con brio and con spirito? Try the Largo, con gran espressione from Beethoven's Sonata in E flat major, Op. 7: isn't the tone the essence of deepest tragedy and the expression the quintessence of highest nobility? Try Brahms' Ballade in D minor, Op. 10: isn't the texture the definition of despair and the pulse the tread of fate? Try, if you only have time for one performance,
Chopin's Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 45: isn't the clarity blinding and the intensity absolutely overwhelming? The pianist is
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, one of the most individualistic and compelling pianists of the twentieth century, and although there are in his slim discography some greater recordings -- his transcendent Bach/Busoni "Chaconne" -- and some lesser recordings -- his tired Mozart concertos -- the recordings here include excerpts from arguably his greatest recording -- his luminous
Debussy and his glorious
Chopin -- and any track on this disc will be sufficient to convert those previously unacquainted with the art of
Michelangeli. There is some variety in the sound quality -- the sound of the 1965 Decca Scarlatti sonatas is a bit dim and distant while the sound of the 1971-1972
Debussy and
Chopin recordings is as real as fire and light -- but the performances themselves are beyond cavil or criticism.