Born in a small town near Brescia, in Italy, Michelangeli graduated from the Milan Conservatory at age 14. Five years later, he won first prize at the Geneva International Competition, where Alfred Cortot declared: “In this boy, there is some Liszt and Paderewski.”
Michelangeli served in the Italian Air Force during World War II, though he was imprisoned late in the conflict by the Germans; he said that his captors whipped his hands when they found out that he was a pianist.
Michelangeli’s repertoire remained small for a major concert artist, though he excelled onstage and on record in a select group of solo works and concertos — including certain Scarlatti sonatas and much early to mid-period Beethoven, some Chopin (Ballades), Schumann (Carnaval, Faschingsschwank aus Wien), Brahms (Paganini Variations) and Rachmaninoff (Fourth Concerto), as well as Ravel (Gaspard de la nuit) and Debussy.
Michelangeli’s interpretations divided critics, although they inspired a worldwide cult of devotees. The pianist’s bodily mechanism was supremely controlled at the instrument, his face impassive. He even barely acknowledged an audience’s ovations, once explaining: “Applause goes to Beethoven, to Chopin, to Debussy, not to me.”
Here is Mr. Michelangeli in a concert performance of music by Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms:
