Two Titans of the Keyboard - Sviatoslav Richter & Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Rating:
Summary: Richter!
Review: I will buy any DVD that has Richter in it as i can't get enough of him. This is not as good as Enigma but still beautifully done.

Rating:
Summary: Richter!
Review: I will buy any DVD that has Richter in it as i can't get enough of him. This is not as good as Enigma but still beautifully done.

Rating:
Summary: Indeed We Have Two Titans
Review: Richter: The video is in B/W and is of rather poor quality, shot mainly from the right side of his back and where there are reflections of light, they appear as "black outs".

Fortunately, there are close-ups of the hands quite often and his hand position is quite unique. As opposed to Glenn Gould, Richter sits rather high and played with very curved fingers. At times the whole hand would turn when using his little finger, and there are a lot of bodily movements as well. More importantly: his command is absolute and his phrasings are so seamless and his touch could be so delicately light; and there is a strong sense of drama thoughout and a lot of poetry in his Ravel which is even better than Moiseiwitsch's version.

Michelengeli: perfect visual quality in colour with part of the piece shot from an aerial angle, showing how the two hands are working together. Yes, it's Beethoven Sonata # 3. No wonder he plays it more like Mozart than Beethoven. There is also a lot of lyricism, though obviously not to the extent of Backhaus (CD only)-- there is so much poetry in Backhaus' version that it's a piece of art itself. With Michelengeli, everything is well calculated and yet spontaneous: we hear a lot of music albeit with Arrau (again, CD only), you'll have music plus a lot of drama. But with either Michelangeli or Arrau, you can hear every notes crystal clear: both are perfect models for piano pupils, both superior to Brendel.

But note that the sound is however not as good as the video would suggest, it's either because of the position of the microphone or the overloaded recording level: whenever we have a fortissimo, we hear more of the banging of the keys than it's musical effect.

I'm not particular about the recorded time. On the whole, each one played 1/2 hour or so and from their faces, I gather that they were in their early fifties and both were in their prime. Anyway, the footage of these pianists of the golden age is rare now.