Pianists

[Gurn Blanston]

Pakistani mangoes suck--stick with ones from the PI.  And French films are for deprecating epithet stricken for potential offensiveness to snail-eaters who are light in the loafers.  Real men watch obscure movies shot in grainy black & white made by pretentious directors with spiritual and intellectual depths that can be appreciated only by college sophomores.

Note for the sake of non-native English speakers and for the humor-impaired but judgmentally-inclined:  This post is a joke.

Really? It wouldn't have been if I had remainder of statement edited by the cooler heads who have prevailed... 



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Listening to:
Schubert D 803 - Nash Ensemble - Schubert Octet in F for Winds D 803 2nd mvmt

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Okay, one quick note and I'll make my exit...

I don't see it that way. George was saying something that could be inferred from Michelangeli's habits and actions. I am saying something that Richter himself said. One of the great things about Richter was that he was not the type of man to say one thing and then stick to it. He could say the opposite, or something very different, or contradict himself in some self-deprecating way.

Well, if Richter is so self-contradictory, you certainly can't take it as gospel that he "felt more comfortable in the east", now, can you?

The quotes swing both ways.

This is what I've been trying to drive home since day one of this debate (last year)...that Richter had a heart for BOTH sides of the divide...

I am much more interested in the psychology of a poster who has to keep bringing it up than I am in the topic itself.

Well, it's really very simple:

I ONLY brought it up again to illustrate for you your hypocrisy in attacking George...

[Lethevich]

It's official: I have lost interest in this thread.

...and I have gained interest 0:)

[DavidRoss]

...and I have gained interest 0:)

Yes, we are all more interested in you than in this thread!

[Coopmv]

What about Wolfgang Rübsam? With a gun in front of my head I would say Rübsam.

I have always known Wolfgang Rübsam's forte is Bach keyboard works ...

[prémont]

I have always known Wolfgang Rübsam' forte is Bach keyboard works ...

Well, I would say mezzoforte

[George]

Since Lang Lang isn't on the list, I voted for Richter. 

[Coopmv]

Since Lang Lang isn't on the list, I voted for Richter. 

George,  I know you are being fictitious.  You cannot care less about Lang Lang (aka Bang Bang) just like me.   

[Renfield]

Believe it or not, I consider his recently-released 2nd Chopin Piano Concerto (coupled with an uninspiring 1st) one of the most rewarding I've heard.

And his Beethoven 4th isn't at all bad, either.

[Lisztianwagner]

Richter for me, no doubt; what an outstanding pianist!

[DavidRoss]

What is it that the Richter lovers love about him? I hear a very talented, technically awesome virtuoso who sounds too calculated for my taste. I could be terribly wrong about that. Perhaps I haven't heard the right stuff yet to make me swoon at his musicality. So which recordings by him do the Richterphiles here find most appealing?

[mc ukrneal]

What is it that the Richter lovers love about him? I hear a very talented, technically awesome virtuoso who sounds too calculated for my taste. I could be terribly wrong about that. Perhaps I haven't heard the right stuff yet to make me swoon at his musicality. So which recordings by him do the Richterphiles here find most appealing?

Although I consider him one of many great pianists, I do enjoy his Bach WTC recording. He finds a nice middle ground for me there and I admire it quite a bit. The other one that gets some regular listening is the Beethoven piano sonatas. Of course, lots of competition here, but I think he holds his own here too.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

What is it that the Richter lovers love about him? I hear a very talented, technically awesome virtuoso who sounds too calculated for my taste. I could be terribly wrong about that. Perhaps I haven't heard the right stuff yet to make me swoon at his musicality. So which recordings by him do the Richterphiles here find most appealing?

Calculating is the last word I'd choose to describe Richter. I'd probably go with poetic first, among others.

A good recording to put poetic to the test is his Rach 2 on DG on this CD, not the "Originals" remastering:



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There are other adjectives for Richter (and some criticisms) but I'm out of time right now. More later.

[George]

Richter for me, no doubt; what an outstanding pianist!

Indeed. Took me a long time to appreciate him, but he is now my favorite pianist.

[DavidRoss]

A good recording to put poetic to the test is his Rach 2 on DG on this CD, not the "Originals" remastering:

Are you saying the one remastered in the mid-nineties is not as good as the original digitization from 1985?

[Holden]

I don't really have a numero uno pianist but a number of whom I rank extremely highly. Three of those pianists are on the list and of those three Richter is the standout for me. Richter is non plus ultra in the performance of Rachmaninov's music and it belies the assertion that he is calculating when you hear him play the preludes and etudes that Rachmaninov wrote. His Debussy is similarly inspired and his Prokofiev is also of the highest standard.

Richter could also play the classicists and his performances of D664, D784, D894 and D960 are up there with the very best.

However, the two composers I always return to with Richter are Beethoven and Bach. I like the way that Richter plays Beethoven and I don't really know why. Yes, I enjoy other interpreters (Annie Fischer, Solomon, Kempff) but no Richter would be hard.

Richter's WTC is probably the most played work in my collection. When I'm at work and need music to listen to or work by, my cursor seems to find it's way to one of the Books by itself and I have to remind myself that I've got another 60 Gb of really good music to listen to.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Are you saying the one remastered in the mid-nineties is not as good as the original digitization from 1985?

Yes, exactly, David. Although I probably should clarify: I haven't heard the Rach 2 in the newer release.

However, I'm the proud owner of the coupling to the Rach 2 - the Prokofiev 5th PC - on both the release I posted and the later "Originals" release (yes, I have it x2). What's disheartening is the transfer on the later issue (for Prok 5) isn't nearly as good as the earlier transfer. This is confirmed by George with whom I had a lengthy PM about the issue a few years ago.

What we have issue with is the disastrous piano/orchestra balance which is perfect on the earlier release but skewed totally in favor of the piano in the later release. Because of this the piano comes out sounding hectoring and unyielding which relegates the orchestra to something like a frail backup. Not anybody's idea of a good listen.

So based on this I have strong suspicions that the later release of the Rach 2 will suffer from the same miscalculation. Which doesn't do anybody - least of all Rachmaninov - any favors.

If that weren't enough, DG also stupidly changed the coupling in the later release, substituting the rollicking Prokofiev 5th with a tepid Tchaikovsky 1st PC which since its initial release has been maligned to death by everyone from hardcore fans to critics and even all the way up to Richter himself! A sad case of two giant temperaments butting heads and producing a non-starter of a performance (Karajan).

So my advice is stick with the earlier release of the Rach 2, both for the better sound (I'd bet on it) and the superior coupling.   

[Mandryka]

Some statements about Richter

Glenn Gould called Richter "one of the most powerful communicators the world of music has produced in our time".

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote of Richter: "Richter is an extraordinary phenomenon. The enormity of his talent staggers and enraptures. All the phenomena of musical art are accessible to him."

Vladimir Horowitz said: "Of the Russian pianists, I like only one, Richter."

Pierre Boulez wrote of Richter: "His personality was greater than the possibilities offered to him by the piano, broader than the very concept of complete mastery of the instrument."

Richter on playing: "...I don't play for the audience, I play for myself, and if I derive any satisfaction from it, then the audience, too, is content."

Some great documents ..



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How intesting that that DVD is called l'insoumis in French, I didn't know that. A completely different idea from enigma, as far as I know. i'm not a native French speaker though.

[Scarpia]

Calculating is the last word I'd choose to describe Richter. I'd probably go with poetic first, among others.

Maybe I will have my eureka moment with Richter at some point, but I think he is too poetic for my taste.  Most recently I was listening to his EMI recordings of Schumann solo piano music (Fantasia in C, Papillons) and I found it too nebulous.  Switch to Pollini helped me a lot.  The one piece where I found Richter very convincing was the Britten Piano Concerto.
 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Maybe I will have my eureka moment with Richter at some point, but I think he is too poetic for my taste.  Most recently I was listening to his EMI recordings of Schumann solo piano music (Fantasia in C, Papillons) and I found it too nebulous.  Switch to Pollini helped me a lot.  The one piece where I found Richter very convincing was the Britten Piano Concerto.

Interesting. It's not often that I hear Richter described as too poetic. Most often it's the opposite: his extremes are too wide or too harsh.

It's hard to know where to begin with Richter, really. His recorded legacy is comprised of so many bootlegs and unauthorized issues that it's hard to know which Richter will turn up on any given recording. Or if he's hitting on all cylinders the audio side of the release is sorely lacking (take the Helsinki recital, for example). Though the majority seem to catch him in at least decent form.

The law of averages at least seems to be in our favor, with so many of his CDs out there.

Oh, well, maybe one day for you, Scarps.