Felix Delbruck wrote:

>Has Jon heard Michelangeli? On the face of it I would prefer Gieseking-
>However, as time wears on I suspect Michelangeli will yield equal or even
>greater dividends - while his readings are on the whole slower and more
>static than Gieseking's, he has a grip on the 'Innenspannung', the inherent
>harmonic tension that is very intense and really pays off in the sparer and
>more elusive pieces.

I've been very curious about the Michelangeli recordings for years
but still haven't heard them, except for Real Audio snippets.  I have a
free CD credit at the moment and am inches away from ordering the Images
I/II/Children's Corner disc with it.  As for the Preludes, I'm a little
concerned that by the time he recorded them in the 80's his technique might
not have been up to it.  Is that so at all? Also I've read that the more
mercurial pieces are kind of lugubrious in these late recordings.  I have
no problem at all with a player "going his own way" with Debussy's music,
but solemn all the way through would be too much.  Concerns of pedalling
and such aside, does he bring out sufficiently the collage-like
juxtapositions within the pieces? (That is, in the Preludes-- the Images
are more homogenous pieces generally.)

While we're on the subject, has anyone heard the new BBC Legends release
with Richter playing almost all 24 Preludes? I'm interested to know if he
takes the ethereal path here as he does with the Estampes on DG.  Those
were a bit too softly shaded for me.  How's he approach the Preludes? Also,
from the listing it looks as if he plays 23 of the 24.  Which one does he
leave out? I'm very interested to hear about this.  Most of my Richter
experience is with Schubert, so apart from those Estampes I really don't
know what to expect from him in Debussy.

Jon Lewis
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