Second to none. When listening to this I know there is nothing better. There may be different interpretations of Schumann´s Carnaval but nothing above Michelangeli´s unique performance.
ABM = absolutely bloody marvellous. Actually i think for all his secret hoodoo and brooding in his castle he often played better with an audiencethan in the studio.
impressionante! impressionante! grazie maestro! non ci sono parole per definire questa interpretazione come tutte le sue altre! sei grande! un suono innavicinabile anche dai più grandi pianisti! grazie!
BRAVO MICHELANGELI!!! One of THE best performances I've heard. So playful. He really played this piece to another standard. He plays this piece very masterfully. Although I could say he could've played the Eusebius maybe a bit more softly instead of loud. Also his Coquette, the accent sounded a bit harsh though he played it very very playfully and flirtatiously.Some of the parts accents were a bit too harsh for my liking after Lettres section. The Chopin section could be a bit more slower though his version did not sound that bad. Overall his interpretation of this piece is AWESOME!!!
@MashnestMojo Sorry for not having written 'in my humble opinion'! ;)) Please remember that i am an ardent admirer of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, a real fan and you know that the word fan comes from 'fanatic'. But seriously, this Carnaval stands alone in its technical and musical perfection, unmatched by any other interpreter IMO! :-)
If you have chronic medical conditions that cause you to cough uncontrollably, why are you attending classical music concerts? Save your money, not to mention other peoples' sanity, and buy yourself a nice home stereo system in which you can cough your brains out.
Yes , please do not let sick people experience something they saved and payed so that they don't ruin the free recording we have on youtube . That's not selfish at all
@MashnestMojo @berlinzerberus Ciro vs Sergei in the Carnaval: well It is a battle of titans for sure. Apart from personal preferences I am sure that everybody should agree that in this performance ABM was simply mesmerizing. Superb golden tone, transcendental virtuosity (oh that Paganini episode!), impetuosity... And all this LIVE! This does not happen that often for sure :-)
I will hear Nelson Friere performing this masterwork by Schumann in London in March 2014. So I am intrigued by how much it may differ from this masterful performance by the great Michelangeli.
Love it but sometimes base overpowers the soprano judging him on a very high level also accents overpower Schumann in his quixotic& Jocose flirting of the right hand
J have in brain Cortot ( 1928 recording ) and Rubinstein with his recording of Schumann carnaval op 9 so , j find Michelangeli too meticulous too perfect : j like in clasical -piano a certain improvisation and not a search perfection to show great famous piano before the sens of music ; at the end Michelangeli is more than perfect with less spirit in one bal of a carnaval, less joy . Great keyboard for me , less sens of a carnaval . MIchelangeli for me is great less near Composers than others pianists , it's my personnal opinion not for everyone of course .
7th yes, but Michelangeli then won 1. prize in Geneva 1939! Laureates 1938: 1. Emil GUILELS [Former USSR] 2. Mary JOHNSTONE [United Kingdom] 3. Jakob FLIER [Former USSR] 4. Lance DOSSOR [United Kingdom] 5. Nivea MARINO-BELLINI [Uruguay] 6. Robert RIEFLING [Norway] 7. Arturo BENEDETTI-MICHELANGELI [Italy] 8. André DUMORTIER [Belgium] 9. Rose SCHMIDT [Germany] 10. Monique YVER DE LA BRUCHOLLERIE [France] 11. Marcella BARZETTI [Italy] 12. Colette GAVEAU [France] Jury: Victor BUFFIN DE CHOSAL [president] Vytautas BACEVICIUS Arthur BLISS Robert CASADESUS Marcel CIAMPI Jean DOYEN Samuel FEINBERG Paul FRENKEL Emile FREY Ignaz FRIEDMAN Walter GIESEKING Siegfried GRUNDEIS Bernard HEINZE Léon JONGEN Raoul KOCZALSKI Arthur LEMBA Marcel MAAS Nicolaï ORLOFF Pierre PETRIDES Jekabs PORUKS Arthur RUBINSTEIN Walter RUMMEL Victor SCHIOLER Olga SAMAROFF-STOCKOWSKY André STOYANOFF Arne VAN ERPEKUM SEM Emil VON SAUER Olof WIBERGH Carlo ZECCHI QUEEN ELISABETH COMPETITION 1937-2016 (pdf) can be downloaded there
I will always hold this interpretation as the standard bearer. There is another great live performance by Benno Moïseiwitsch, and certainly other great interpretations that I am unfamiliar with. But Michelangeli will never be topped as far as I'm concerned.
Bravo poster for this and your other wonderful ABM posts. I am hoping you have some of the great performances of ABM live in Warsaw 1955. My best regards-John.
Every time I hear this version I like it more and more... the best one? The studio version from around 1972, I'm not sure, I hate! He ruined it! And droped it from his concert repertoire after that...
Could it be a joke? We think of little Clara as the winsome adolescent in that famous print but Schumann called her a greater virtuoso than Chopin although Chopin, he conceded , played with unique tonal magic. That’s the way Robert juxtaposes them in Carnaval and the way Michelangeli plays them (bowing by the way as few do to Chopin’s “agitato” which makes the delicacy all the more entrancing).
Stockhausen WONDERFUL post! The only thing is i believe this performance to be from the 70's actually. I have it on CD coupled with the Grieg Concerto. Still marvelous playing but i actually prefer the "younger" Michelangeli versions. In any case a big thanks for sharing! :)
Could well be the best recording available of this difficult piece, specially for the kind of pianists we have today, if not so framed as it is! In the end, Cziffra, probably without knowing it, plays the best Carnaval of all, extremelly virtuoso, as it is, but full of imagination and charm! This is the best recording of Michelangeli playing this piece, as the proper record, made a few years later, is awfull! Can one believe that?
My teacher, who studied with Michelangeli, said to me once tha for Michelangeli Rach was the greatest pianist ever! I adore his Carnaval! It's really umbelievable! But this, only this recording of Michelangeli is also fantastic, and live! I just can't satnd the studio version! He just ruined it, and droped it from his repertoire! Never played it again...and that's strange because right up to the last years he played just about all his recital programs, not very many, but did play them over...but not Carnaval...or even Faschingschwang...
@@luizfernandg I was not aware of Benedetti Michelangeli's great appreciation of the magnificent Rachmaninoff. However, personally, I find the Nº version more beautiful. 4 by Rach played and interpreted by ABM (for me unsurpassed and unsurpassable) compared to the splendid performance by the same author.
Perhaps the best version, in her own way, anyway... so much imagination, just about every note there has something speciall abou it, and she is never, never ever out of style, as so many somethimes are, including Michelangeli... Great playing, but in some pieces he can't help being excentric!
Super Aufnahme, vielen Dank fürs Reinstellen! Hochinteressant hier den temperamentvollen ABM live zu hören ... und zu vergleichen mit der abgeklärten, völlig anderen (faszinierenden) späteren Version.
