Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's pianism was characterized by mastery in nearly every aspect: precision, accuracy, refined tone color, and aristocratic restraint.  His perfection was such that some (including Rubinstein) found his playing to be somewhat cold.  In fact, I once held this opinion too.   I first heard his acclaimed Debussy Preludes on Deutsche Grammophon but did not have any strong reaction either for or against his style.  I actually preferred Paul Jacobs's excellent recording on Nonesuch to Michelangeli's.  I next heard him in more French repertoire, this time Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.  The technical assurance was obvious enough, but I felt the lack of excitement that is present in risky performances.   He was simply too good.

The CD containing the Ravel selection sat on my shelf unlistened to for a while, until one day I heard a sample on the internet of Michelangeli's playing of a simple posthumous Chopin waltz.  It was a simple piece, but I was amazed at his dynamic control and the elegance he brought out in a subtle way.   I've been hooked to him ever since then.

Cortot declared the young Michelangeli "the next Liszt" at a piano competition which the older musician judged, but despite the use of some antedated piano practices, e.g., slightly asynchronous hands, Michelangeli was an absolute patrician, later mirrored in compatriot and student Maurizio Pollini.  As Michelangeli aged, his public appearances became scarcer and in higher demand.  An intensely private man, one of his few known passions was fast cars (particularly red Ferraris).  His repertoire was rather limited.  It primarily consisted of Beethoven, Chopin, and Debussy, among various other composers.  His later recordings show his technique remained intact, and more important, his expressive means had grown thus enhancing that exotic blend of charm and strength to play the most singular Beethoven I have ever heard. As is well known, ABM found the piano too percussive, so let alone forcefully hammering the keys, especially in fortissimi, as so many a renowned pianist is used to. The outcome of this unique view regarding the acoustic traits of the pianoforte becomes a turning-point in Michelangeli's pianism. Striking chords are always lively and lovingly played, never pounded. ABM uses the most supreme technique, he seems to sculpt his performance out of the finest Carrara marble. The playing is at once Titanic and fine making the music the more Beethovenian, radical and free-spirited. In the first movement of the C Major concerto, the cadenza is played with all the stops out. Scales roll like thunder, minor seconds glint with scarifying brilliance. Midway, there is a terrific accelerando and chords black as judgment day. Then a trill and a devil-may-care return to the principal idea. It is all rather shocking. But Beethoven enjoyed shocking -terrorizing even- the solemn-browed cognoscenti of his day...

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