Sviatoslav Richter

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The Bach is my favorite of these by far. The rest is ok, but nothing that shouts 'best ever'.

The one thing Richter dreaded more than anything was living up to expectations externally applied to his every musical move. He didn't enjoy the microscope. He preferred intimacy and privacy. He'd rather pack up a piano and play in a school than play in the Royal Albert Hall.

So keeping Richter the MAN in perspective has always been my gateway to understanding him. I never bought into the hype or the glam or whatever else the money machine tried to milk from him. To me he was just a pianist.

And being just a pianist meant competition. Competition from other pianists playing the same repertoire. And no I don't always feel Richter is the "best ever" in a particular work. But if not, I don't care. But I try not to get caught up in trying to hoist Richter up on some pedestal that's really more myth than reality. Letting go of the need to find a mythical "best ever" in Richter's legacy is probably the best step anyone can take in appreciating him.

Nearly twenty years after his death he's still being haunted by the microscope.

That said, the fact a legend grew up around him while alive and still exists even today isn't necessarily indicative of myth. It's justified in my view, but being objective about it is key. He did have a fallible side - even he admitted that! He also had an experimental side, one that was insatiable - he had an appetite for NOT playing a piece the same way twice. Sometimes his experiments derailed. Sometimes his experiments paid off. But whether or not a listener gets anything from an "experiment" means either catching him when an experiment translates into musical gold or learning to give in to his "willfulness" when an experiment isn't so golden.

Sometimes adjusting to his will is the only way to appreciate his experiments. For instance, some of his Schubert (D.960 & D.894) can be absolutely glacial in places. It's not my daily bread but in small doses I do enjoy it. But if nothing else, it's DIFFERENT, which is Richter's middle name. But then there are those times where everything comes together perfectly but...the sound sucks. Or perhaps just isn't STOA but still pretty good. But that's where being diligent pays off. Finding the prime stuff - with the best sound - means sweating it out and doing the leg work (and I'm all for the best sound I can find ).

So taking everything about him on his own terms is pretty much mandatory.

Anyway, for me the best way to sum up what I like so much about his pianism is discernible in the short video below: no one in my experience can play with as much dexterity, clarity, and with as much adrenalin (as opposed to hysteria) without losing the musical argument as he can. And he can capture a mood with the best of them. At about the 1:35 mark of the video is where it all comes into focus.

The link is here for those missing the plug-in.



https://www.youtube.com/v/=rJfDl6h9ZgI



It's from this disc, which is a pretty good cross-section of his sympathies and a disc which I'd say is pretty close to mandatory, and in good sound:


[asin]B0002XL23O[/asin]

[Mandryka]

I'll start with the two questions and then explain why I am asking: Why do people seem to react to Richter with reverence and awe? What recording (readily available and not too expensive) shows off the qualities you most admire about him?

To start, Richter is a fine pianist. He plays well, no doubt. But some here (and elsewhere) seem to view him as this god-like figure, who is the supreme pianist (or top 3) of the 20th century. There is a big difference between good and top 3. I'd have no problem saying is among the top 50-60, but I have never felt he somehow showed he was better than many other pianists today or in the past. I'd be just as happy to listen to Brendel, Hamelin, Kempff, Rubinstein, Perahia, De Laroccha, Grimaud, Barenboim, Ashkenazy, Berezovsky, Kocsis, Ciccolini, Cziffra, Hewitt, Wild, etc. (and these are just a few off the top of my head). People don't seem to go quite to the same lengths to acquire performances from these others (as they do for Richter).

One explanation could be that I don't have his best stuff (although I have enough to feel that I can make an analysis). So that is why I ask if there is anything that might show him at his best. Here's what I have:


The Bach is my favorite of these by far. The rest is ok, but nothing that shouts 'best ever'.

Actually in all of that stuff you have one of my favourite recordings by him. It's on the Tchaikowsky CD and it's called Meditation op 72/5.

Years ago someone asked a question similar to yours about Richter recordings and I posted a list. Things like his Mozart sonatas from London, his Winterreise with Schreier, his Chopin mazurkas on BBC. If you can't find it let me know.

As far as the general question goes, about reverence and awe, my feeling is that "people" react like this mainly because of what DD says - dexterity, musical argument etc. Personally, the thing I appreciate most comes mostly in the late recordings, after he became ill. it's a sense of a mind really grappling with a score to get to the poetry, the music.

[Jo498]

@ mc ukrneal: Some of them may be "mixed bags" (e.g. the Brilliant box and the Handel) but they also contain some of the best recordings by Richter and overall I would not say that they show him disfavorably. (There is some stuff missing, of course, to get a better picture, e.g. Prokofieff, Debussy, maybe some Chopin (although many find him to "heavy" there) and more Schumann, like Waldszenen, Fantasiestücke and the Symphonic Etudes.)
It is somewhat unlikely that you will become a great Richter fan if you do not like e.g. the Schubert/Schumann fantasies or the WTC.

Not sure about the Brilliant box (it may contain some) but you might want to try some later recordings (1980s/90s) that are often more relaxed than the extremely intense earlier stuff, e.g. the Beethoven variations could be more relaxed and playful, I think, but it is still very impressive and one of the "toughest" recordings of the music in its intensity.

[George]

Now enjoying CD 01 of the new 100th Anniversary box set by Richter, which my amazing girlfriend got me for Xmas. I made a little youtube video:

http://youtu.be/gp2FaPnQ3kM

Many of the CD cases in my set had smudged ink on both sides. Anyone else have this problem?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Now enjoying CD 01 of the new 100th Anniversary box set by Richter, which my amazing girlfriend got me for Xmas. I made a little youtube video:

http://youtu.be/gp2FaPnQ3kM

Many of the CD cases in my set had smudged ink on both sides. Anyone else have this problem?

Very nice, George. Heckova girlfriend!

[George]

Very nice, George. Heckova girlfriend!

Indeed!

I just read in the liner notes that "This set includes most of his concert recordings (Richter clearly preferred them to studio ones) made in Moscow in 1962 to 1983." 

[Bogey]

Wow.  Very few that it could not be in better hands of for gleaning an appreciation of such a set.  Enjoy my friend.

[George]

Wow.  Very few that it could not be in better hands of for gleaning an appreciation of such a set.  Enjoy my friend.

Thanks! 

[George]

Now enjoying CD 01 of the new 100th Anniversary box set by Richter, which my amazing girlfriend got me for Xmas. I made a little youtube video:

http://youtu.be/gp2FaPnQ3kM

Many of the CD cases in my set had smudged ink on both sides. Anyone else have this problem?

The smudges look like this (and again, they appear on every CD case):

[George]

MDT (and three other owners of the Richter 100th Anniversary set) have confirmed that all of their copies have the same ink-bleed defect, documented by my photos above. And I own a very late number (872/1000), so I suspect that all copies have been printed the same defect. 

[George]

For some reason, I resisted buying this when it came out. I bought the green counterpart, the solo piano one, but resisted this one. I suspect it was the green sets weird piano tone/sonics that put me off this series. Similarly, I resisted the Hungary set, for samples I had heard were not impressive, sound-wise, and I had reached a tipping point with Richter, having had 250 CDs of the (my favorite) pianist. Then I found the Hungary set for a great price and a month later I got the 100th anniversary set. Now, with 314 Richter CDs, I had little reason to buy more, right? Wrong! The completist in me saw this set mentioned somewhere and I had to have it.  Unfortunately, the price had reason to over $80 used. I took a stab and offered an amazon third party seller $45 for his set. I was happy to see that he agreed. It arrived today. I compared the sonics on three performances from this set to the mastering of the same performances on the aforementioned 100th Anniversary set. Sure enough, the sound on the Brilliant Classics set is muffled and just downright weird. But it contains many Russian performances that I do not have elsewhere and for that, I am happy to have the set. I am enjoying Bach's first keyboard concerto as I type this.

I also just wanted to share that I am up to the 22nd disc on the 100th Anniversary set and especially after hearing how much better the sound is than on the above set, I wholeheartedly recommend the set to any fan of piano music who can afford it.  A great set for the newcomer, as you hear Richter as his peak. And a great set for the Richterphile, for it contains many newly released performances.

[Mandryka]

For some reason, I resisted buying this when it came out. I bought the green counterpart, the solo piano one, but resisted this one. I suspect it was the green sets weird piano tone/sonics that put me off this series. Similarly, I resisted the Hungary set, for samples I had heard were not impressive, sound-wise, and I had reached a tipping point with Richter, having had 250 CDs of the (my favorite) pianist. Then I found the Hungary set for a great price and a month later I got the 100th anniversary set. Now, with 314 Richter CDs, I had little reason to buy more, right? Wrong! The completist in me saw this set mentioned somewhere and I had to have it.  Unfortunately, the price had reason to over $80 used. I took a stab and offered an amazon third party seller $45 for his set. I was happy to see that he agreed. It arrived today. I compared the sonics on three performances from this set to the mastering of the same performances on the aforementioned 100th Anniversary set. Sure enough, the sound on the Brilliant Classics set is muffled and just downright weird. But it contains many Russian performances that I do not have elsewhere and for that, I am happy to have the set. I am enjoying Bach's first keyboard concerto as I type this.

I also just wanted to share that I am up to the 22nd disc on the 100th Anniversary set and especially after hearing how much better the sound is than on the above set, I wholeheartedly recommend the set to any fan of piano music who can afford it.  A great set for the newcomer, as you hear Richter as his peak. And a great set for the Richterphile, for it contains many newly released performances.

The haydn D minor concerto is good in that one I think, if it's the one with the Minsk Chamber Orchestra, this thing

https://www.youtube.com/v/IBVg2BfR-ug

[George]

The haydn D minor concerto is good in that one I think, if it's the one with the Minsk Chamber Orchestra, this thing

https://www.youtube.com/v/IBVg2BfR-ug

Yeah, that's the one in there.

[Pat B]

(shifted from the New Releases thread)

It's obligatory but most of us will have most of these recordings already from older BMG/eurodisc issues or from Olympia, Regis and several other labels. I have all but the Chopin Scherzi, some of the Rachmaninoff and maybe some of the Tchaikovsky, so I am going to think thrice if original covers and a small probability of audible improvements by new remastering could be worth it...

What are your thoughts on these recordings? I think I only have the WTC1, which I love though it doesn't sound very Richter to me.

[Jo498]

There are by now so many live and older recordings of Richter available (or not), that the aficionados will probably name alternatives for most of the Eurodisc recordings. But when I bought my first Richter recordings almost 20 years ago, these studio recordings were both highly recommended and available.
They are studio recordings, most from the early 1970s and done in the West, but the sound is often more decent than great. (But the earlier or later live recordings have sometimes even more problematic sound.)
Both Bach WTC volumes are available separately and remastered (the ones with a page from the score on the cover). I have the Schubert D 960 & 958 on Olympia, also Beethoven's opp. 2/3, 7, 90. These are discs from the 1990s.
Schumann Symphonic Etudes and Bunte Blätter on Regis (licensed from Olympia, claim to be remastered), Tchaikovsky on Alto. I also have the Beethoven variations and some of the Rachmaninoff pieces.
(The stuff is spread over more discs in the newer editions.)

Except for some Schubert and Beethoven I do not have other Richter recordings of this music, so I cannot say whether there is some preferable live version. The D 960 is very slow (which was Richter's "speciality" in some Schubert movements) but intense and fairly unique. D 958 not as eccentric but also very impressive. The Beethoven is almost on the brutal side. The also included Eroica Variations are the most dramatic reading I have heard.
In brief, I'd say that it's fairly typical Richter: powerful, intense, sometimes maybe short on humor and elegance and this approach fits some pieces better than others... although the little Tchaikovsky pieces are also quite good in my recollection.

[Pat B]

I realized that I also have that Beethoven op.90 and Schubert D958 (on a BBC Music Magazine disc, "in association with Olympia"). I've got quite a bit of Richter and was planning on buying only a carefully-selected few more, but as you noted the sound on some of the earlier recordings is pretty bad. I should re-listen to some of them before I add this.

...I just listened to that BBCMM disc. The Beethoven is good, the Schubert, Chopin, and Schumann are better. The Chopin and Schumann are live from Japan in 1979 and in quite good sound.

Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful response.

[king ubu]

Anyone figured out the exact contents of the recently released Hänssler Schubert box (i.e. how does it compare to the Melodiya Schubert box- and does it fix that release's huge gaffe
? - or the green Brilliant solo set?)

[SurprisedByBeauty]

What if...

we could put together an ideal cycle of Richter's 23 Beethoven Sonatas (+ Andante favori & Diabellis, perhaps).

Which recordings would you include? (That's particularly looking at you, Todd.)

Specifically a particular performance? Generally rather late or early? Studio when possible or live at all cost?

[Holden]

I'll start the ball rolling with Op 13 and Op 57. Both recorded on the Melodiya label in Moscow. The Pathetique was recorded in June 1959 and the Appassionata in June 1960.

Also for Op 110, the one recorded in Leipzig on November 28 1963.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I'll start the ball rolling with Op 13 and Op 57. Both recorded on the Melodiya label in Moscow. The Pathetique was recorded in June 1959 and the Appassionata in June 1960.

Also for Op 110, the one recorded in Leipzig on November 28 1963.

Thanks much. Not being familiar with any of them, do you mind sharing your thoughts on the respective takes' sound quality and perhaps, if obvious, interpretative quirks/specialties?