Album

Is Michelangeli's Debussy as good as they say? Could anything be that good? After all, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's '70s recordings of Debussy's Images and Préludes, Book 1, were hailed in their time as revolutionary, masterly, and uniquely compelling, and the encomiums have kept on through every subsequent re-release. In this 2005 re-release on Deutsche Grammophon's "Originals" series, the listener is asked again, is Michelangeli's Debussy as good as they say?

Oh, yes, yes. Yes, they are. Michelangeli's command is complete: every nuance sounds in his playing. Michelangeli's colors are clear and lucid, but iridescent and luminous. Michelangeli's conception has the scope and scale of epic poetry, with each Prélude its own ode. Michelangeli's execution is Olympian: despite the passion he brings to his playing, it is the music that resounds in the Michelangeli's Debussy.

However, about that sound: while the sound Deutsche Grammophon gave Michelangeli in the '70s was pristine and crystalline, and while the sound of the 1978 Préludes is remastered with such fidelity that the piano is more real than most real pianos, it still has to be said that the 1971 Images is remastered with such harshness that the piano sounds pained every time the dynamics rise above fortissimo. The only thing in this world as good as this recording of Michelangeli's Debussy would be Michelangeli's other recording of Debussy with a sublime Children's Corner and a transcendent Préludes, Book 2.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide

CD 1
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Préludes, Book 1, L.117 Work 43:44 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Piano
1	1.Danseuses de delphes	3:17			$0.99
2	2.Voiles	4:29			$0.99
3	3.Le vent dans la plaine	2:13			$0.99
4	4.Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir	3:39			$0.99
5	5.Les collines d'Anacapri	3:18			$0.99
6	6.Des pas sur la neige	4:58			$0.99
7	7.Ce qu'à vu le vent d'ouest	3:41			$0.99
8	8.La fille aux cheveux de lin	2:55			$0.99
9	9.La sérénade interrompue	2:43			$0.99
10	10.La cathédrale engloutie	6:51			$0.99
11	11.La danse de Puck	3:11			$0.99
12	12.Minstrels	2:29			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Images, Book 1, L.110 Work 15:05 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Piano
13	1.Reflets dans l'eau	4:53			$0.99
14	2.Hommage à Rameau	6:35			$0.99
15	3.Mouvement	3:37			$0.99
Achille-Claude Debussy Composer Images, Book 2, L.111 Work 13:37 Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Piano
16	1.Cloches à travers les feuilles	4:22			$0.99
17	2.Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fût	5:14			$0.99
18	3.Poissons d'or	4:01			$0.99