Beyond Perfection: The Pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: a name that, even today, carries an incalculable cachet among fans of classical piano. This legendary artist, who passed away in 1995, is known for the profound respect he brought to every interpretation of every score: an inveterate perfectionist, he was known to be mysterious and temperamental, even (as this film recounts) demanding the destruction of all recordings of his 1992 performance of Ravel's Concerto in G with the Munich Phil under Sergiu Celibadache. But to see a pianist with such unimaginably precise control and deeply considered artistry was "worth driving 1,200 kilometers for," and many fans did just that.

This documentary by Syrthos J. Dreher and Dag Freyer begins with the only remaining fragments of that 1992 Ravel concerto, originally intended as part of a making-of documentary about the recording. The fruit of 30 years of labor and research, this film brings together an incredible variety of sources, from pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy to a New York-based collector of bootleg recordings to whom we owe the survival of a great number of Michelangeli's performances. Get to know an enigmatic, fascinating master of the keyboard as never before!

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