Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995), an Italian musician whom some would not hesitate to call "the greatest pianist of the 20th century", passed through his era like a mysterious passenger whose art retained the secret of perfection. He was an impenetrable figure, aloof from the hustle and bustle of the music industry. If this personality trait kept the pianist out of the spotlight and out of the limelight, it preserved him from any faux-pas and built a legend jealously guarded by insiders. An interpreter admired by Alfred Cortot himself, but reviled in his homeland, which he left in 1968, "ABM" left his unique imprint on works by Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms. After suffering a stroke during a concert in Bordeaux in 1988, Benedetti Michelangeli cancelled concerts and masterclasses, retired into silence and died peacefully at the age of seventy-five. The piano, orphaned ever since, is still searching for its successor.
