Sviatoslav Richter’s Monty Python moment

Shalom Rackovsky says:

I would give anything to know whether Richter ever saw this, and what he thought. I believe he had a great sense of humor….

John Borstlap says:

More funny and dramatic is a story involving this concerto which really happened many years ago in Cairo: the pianist had a delayed flight and rushed onto the open air podium where the Cairo Philharmonic had been waiting patiently, like the crowd in the square. The conductor, whose patience had run-out, immediately began the pompous introduction the moment he spotted the pianist, who only could hurriedly take his seat at the piano (which had a closed keyboard lid) a few seconds before his entrance, and on opening the lid he found that the keyboard had been removed.

Milka says:

Or the conductor who started intro of concerto not realizing soloist had not yet come out
on stage …. much laughter as the soloist made his way to piano … they started over
The video of this great event has been withdrawn .