Richter was always a fan of Schubert's Piano music. He recorded over half of the Sonatas, the Wanderer Fantasie, some of the Impromptus and the Trout Piano Quintet to name a few works. Early in his career he would tear through impromptus, and play the Wander Fantasie with force and power. Fast forward much later at this point when these Sonatas were performed, and Richter was still playing some of the most difficult works in piano repertoire, such as Prokofiev Sonatas, Chopin Etudes and Liszt. In the case of these of composers its hard not to be inclined to be enjoy his earlier recordings more, but that is not the case here with Schubert.
Although Schumann was one of the composers Sviatoslav Richter played best, this is not the most essential disc of this series. This Moscow recording of the six pieces from Op. 12 (Richter always played the same six, leaving out two of the set) is no better or worse than the Prague recordings made at the same time and now available from Deutsche Grammophon. In either case, you do want to hear Richter play these pieces, especially the miraculous speed and clarity of Traumes-Wirren. Richter gave the most convincing performance of the radical Humoreske ever, but his concert recording is even more exciting than this fine studio version.
To play Schumann with lyrical beauty and a dreamlike inspiration is a rare gift, for many pianists tend to fall into the pit of dry and all to rythmic hammering, even empty loudness. Richter doesn't fall into that but playes the monumental Schumann etude-variations with a warm and strong charactered insight. The tempos are never to the exstreme in either way and the pedaling is moderate, without ever bringing to birth an unplesent staccato. The triumphant final march is garanteed to raise your hair, not only because of Schumanns beautyfull music but also because of Richters powerfull and joyfull approach. This recording ranks among the very best. The Beethoven variations are also well served here although not exeptional.
First of all, the Brahms selections are among the finest in the entire Richter the Master series. As a glance at the online Richter discography discloses, the two sonata aren't the same readings as on a previous Decca release. Sonatas no. 1 and no. 2 are from the same recital in Tours, June 19, 1988, the year that the great man turned 73. The live recording is closely miked bu clear and full, and despite complaints about his hard touch, it's not anything beyond what we often hear from Richter; consult the more mercurial and restless Decca account for a fair comparison. In fact, it's short-sighted to fault any of Philips' recordings for sound quality given the often abysmal sonics on countless live concerts taped on the fly by amateurs, the Soviets, and various radio stations.
It's hard to believe that any pianist, living or dead (or, probably, yet-to-be-born) could match, much less surpass, these performances. It was Richter, after all, who made Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition almost as important an item in the standard repertory of the piano as Ravel's orchestration is in that of the orchestra. And it was Richter's performances of it, as well as his example, that have ignited the interest of subsequent generations of pianists in the Bunte Blätter, heretofore one of the most obscure works in the Schumann canon.
From the irresitably forceful opening bars of the English Suite's prelude to the throbbing repeated octaves of the D minor concerto, Richter shows why many of Bach's works are ideally suited to the piano. The Bach concerto is often regarded as a student piece, or relegated to refined performances on the harpsichord. Not here – the bookend movements are as maniacal, pulsing and driving as the best of John Coltrane or Prokofiev. The CD is worth it just for those movements, but Richter's treatment of the English Suite is equally enlightening, especially the Prelude and Gavotte.
This Deutsche Grammophon compilation is an excellent celebration of the talents of the great pianist Sviatoslav Richter. In keeping with his own approach, the choice of music demonstrates that there is much more to piano virtuosity than the ability to play fast and loud. He could do this, of course, but here we also experience his phenomenal control over the `colour' of each note (the Bach D minor prelude) his poise (the Debussy Estampes) and his intellectual grasp of structure (the Chopin F minor Ballade which also superbly demonstrates his ability to make the piano roar, whisper or sing).
For the 100th anniversary of Sviatoslav Richter, Firma Melodiya presents its arguably biggest project in its semicentennial history. The name of Sviatoslav Richter is inscribed in gold in the history of music. He was not just “more than a pianist,” he was even more than a musician. An owner of composing, conducting, artistic, directing and acting gifts, a connoisseur of literature, arts and philosophy, with a will of iron he made all his gifts serve the art of pianism.