Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Václav Smetáček, Yevgueny Mravinsky - Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5, Symphony no. 4 (2004)

If you take it for granted that Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was the greatest pianist of the twentieth century and that his performances of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto were the greatest of the twentieth century, then you'll probably want to pick up this disc containing Michelangeli's fabled May 29, 1957, performance in Prague with Vaclav Smetacek and the Prague Symphony Orchestra. Although Smetacek is not the deepest, the greatest, or the most sympathetic accompanist Michelangeli ever had, and although the Prague players are not always quite on their best behavior, Michelangeli is as he always is in this work: absolutely definite. The "Emperor" is Beethoven's abiding affection for the dedicatee, an heir to the Austrian throne, expressed through bravura virtuosity and Michelangeli's performance is its avatar. From the opening flourishes of the Allegro through the idealized sentimental warmth of the Adagio to the incendiary ecstasy of the closing Rondo: Allegro, Michelangeli's performance is as supremely affectionate and sublimely virtuosic, just as it is in all his other recordings. Although one might retain a fondness for Michelangeli's performance from the Vatican in which distant thunder accompanies him during the final coda, Michelangeli's performance from 1957 is as great as any of his other recordings.
And Yevgeny Mravinsky's June 3, 1955, performance with the Leningrad Philharmonic of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 is just as great. Mravinsky was the best Soviet conductor and his passionate precision and intense interpretations were as valid for Beethoven as they were for Shostakovich. Some listeners might object that Mravinsky's Beethoven's Fourth is too hard-driven or too sharp-edged, but no one could object to the lucid strength and linear lyricism he brings to the work. Praga's sound is more than tolerable, but not much more.