Richter Prokofiev

These early recordings (1950-52) were made while Sviatoslav Richter was still playing this kind of virtuoso Russian music, an area he largely abandoned later in his life. If you enjoy the trivial Rimsky and Glazunov concertos, you'll get a real kick out of the colorful virtuosity of these performances, pretty well conveyed by the recordings although they don't really do justice to Richter's tone. But Richter did make another recording of the Prokofiev, with Karel Ancerl, which is currently available on Supraphon and has a much better orchestra. In either case, the pianist gives this insouciant music all the juice it needs.

Richter, when he was 46 years old, played in the United States, where all the great pianists of the day were known. Yet the arrival of Richter left them all astonished. Astonished before a greatness rich in novelty, excess, and defects. Many scholars saw Richter as a crazy genius who couldn't be taken entirely seriously. Many critics and a part of the public had to make the note easy effort of changing their parameters of judgment. Some critics, and the majority of the public were overwhelmed by the effects of that mysterious power we call charisma. And so Richter became Richter. On this release are beautiful masterpieces, the history of pianism at its finest.

Most famous recording of Prokofiev's 1st concerto is probably the EMI recording by Andrei Gavrilov, which is recommended as the 1st choice in Penguin Guide for its amazing power and fire. But Richter's incandescent performance with Karel Ancerl (1954) makes even Gavrilov's version sound tame! The blazing sounds Richter creates penetrate whole orchestra and sheer force of playing is just overwhelming.

Fans of either cellist Mstislav Rostropovich or pianist Sviatoslav Richter will have to hear the performances on this two-disc Doremi set. It contains the four pieces they performed in Moscow on March 1, 1950 Brahms' Sonata No. 1 and Beethoven's sonatas No. 3 and No. 4, plus the world premiere of Prokofiev's sonata and two of the pieces they played at the Aldeburgh Festival on June 20, 1964 Grieg's sonata as well as another Brahms' Sonata No. 1.

Sviatoslav Richter is universally acknowledged to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, renowned for his virtuoso technique and the depth of his interpretations. He was born in Zhitomir, Russia, in 1915 but grew up in Odessa. Unusually, he was largely self-taught, although his organist father provided him with a basic education in music. He started to work at the Odessa Conservatory where he accompanied the opera rehearsals. He gave his first recital in 1934 at the engineer club of Odessa but did not formally study piano until three years later, when he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory.

Late Richter's austere and roughly sculpted sort of pianism makes this 20 century piano music repertoire utterly captivating listening experience. Audience is spell-bound throughout the recital except a few insensitive people daring to sneeze and cough in most scerene moments. There is always something transcendental about his playing in his late years, if not as thrilling as in 60-70s recitals.

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was born on March 20, 1915 (Julian: March 7) in Zhitomir in present-day Ukraine. His father Teofil (Theophilus) came from a German commercial family. The famous Russian piano teacher Heinrich Neuhaus (of German origin) recognized his huge talent and enrol led him in his piano master cl ass at the Moscow Conservatory in 1 937. Profil Edition Gunter Hanssl er is progressively releasing all the recordings that the great Soviet virtuoso made between 1945 and 1963. Most of them were largely unknown in the West during the Cold War, as Richter could only perform til I 1960 behind the ""Iron Curtain"", that is to say, in the Soviet Union and the sate I lite states of Eastern Europe.