tru, any favorites recs?
I don’t like his tone at all. He’s not nearly in my top 10.
That said, these are my fave recs of his:
Brahms Paganini 1952 Arezzo live
Liszt Totentanz live (1961 with Kubelik)
Bach-Busoni Tocatta and Fugue in d minor (live 1949 vid)
The CD of his 1967 Chopin recital in Prato won me over. I love his Mompou and Scarlatti too.
A ton of stuff! I think he was worthwhile in almost everything he played. Sound production has just become more and more important for me in piano and there are few who succeed with me without it, but ABM is most definitely one.
I haven’t really listened to him much for years but all the old favourites, e.g. Chaconne, Brahms Paganini, Emperor concerto, Scarlatti K27 etc.
Also tru:
And some Enrico Pace for good measure:
It’s funny, I think that was the first version of the piece I ever heard, but where it was one the interpretation that would play in my mind whenever I would hear a new version, now it sounds “different”. I think I need to reacquaint myself with Michelangeli. Once again, I had most of my ABM material on CDs which I never ripped.
Scarlatti or Brahms?
The Chopin recital on DG is some of the most hypnotic playing of Chopin ever. His Faschingsshwank aus Wien from a Live Recital in Tokyo in 1973 is outstanding, as is the entire recital.
I love his tone. He’s has a very penetrating sound and so many gradations of volume. The way he layers sound in Debussy is phenomenal.
My favourite Michelangeli are the Prague 1960 recs Chopin Sonata 2, Ballade No. 1, Gaspard. I also like the 1955 Warsaw recital.
I like the 1955 Warsaw recital as well.
IMO his Gaspard was one ov ze best Ever…
The Brahms.
The Scarlatti video is still the version I hear internally 
His Grieg PC on BBC is blazing, as is his Schumann PC with Mitripolous from his American debut tour.
The Schumann concerto with Mitropulos has been, for years, the only version of the piece I could listen to (before going into it, I found that Concerto boring and repetitive).
Apart from the celebrated Rachmaninov-Ravel, I like much less his other concerto recordings (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven with Giulini).
That is definitely one of the bigger bones versions I’ve heard. I played it for Andsnes (and shat myself int he process), we had totally different views. He seemed to take the bold, Brahmsian approach as well.
the Liszt PC1 with Ansermet (missing the first few bars) is how I imagine a young Horowitz would have played it
The 1939 Liszt 1 is pretty gangsta, tru.
I’d think the closest thing to a Ho PIMP one is da Bar (1946 Carnegie and 1948 Brooklyn)
I forgot to add this to my list.
According to the well known anecdote, Cortot said “a new Liszt is born” when he heard Michelangeli play this Concerto.
The Liszt Concerto with Ansermet was very interesting, considering the young age of the soloist. But I mention the Emperor with Rossi in 1947 and the 1966 versions with Steinberg and Previn. I try to find out the versions of the Op.73 with Caracciolo in 1965/66 and Horvat in 1971.