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Piano Concerto In G Major
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, piano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Ettore Gracis, conductor
FLAC at Level 8. Transfer from vinyl.
https://mega.co.nz/#!so50ESBa!V7FZoTzfnk3zLb90S0mQrRI1RDNnYjkbocpe_Xz 07Ak
Many critics consider Michelangeli’s 1957 interpretation of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major as the one to beat – and almost sixty years later, it never has been.
The recording has been released many times in many formats – but unfortunately the CD release (by EMI) sounds fairly appalling… so I do hope you’ll enjoy this edition, which I have transferred from a very nicely preserved (I hesitate to use the word "mint" but it’s been well cared for) 1970s vinyl pressing on EMI Concert Classics. It’s not perfect (vinyl never is) but I think it has advantages over the boxy, constricted, high-frequencies-absent CD release… though this performance is so fine, the interpretative revelations far outweigh any technical deficiencies in the recording.
Michelangeli’s virtuosity has never been surpassed.
Thank you very much for your great upload.
It took me a long time to warm to the Ravel concerto – but it was this recording that finally turned me around. So many other pianists manage to make it sound sleazy, or they pile on the Rhapsody In Blue, neither of which I think does the work any favours. It also seems highly anti-Ravel – the great French impressionist, king of romanticism, melody, colour, poise, and perfection… Michelangeli is thoughtful where others show off.
The second movement – so delicate, hesitant… fragile beauty.
My wife too always prefers this adagio.
"…True art is a perfect balance between pure intellect and emotion."
He also understood the way the human brain processes music; namely that it is initially impressed with the superficial and only after the novelty factor has worn off does it start to process the internals… hence his music has endless replay value and longeivity. So many composers loved to write music that blows you away on first listening but then becomes stale when you realise that underneath the bluster and virtuosity, it’s not actually saying anything… but Ravel’s multilayered works are evergreen.
"On the initial performance of a new musical composition, the first impression of the public is generally one of reaction to the more superficial elements of its music, that is to say, to its external manifestations rather than to its inner content…often it is not until years after, when the means of expression have finally surrendered all their secrets, that the real inner emotion of the music becomes apparent to the listener."