When Richter took on Ravel
Daily Comfort ZoneIt sounded like no Ravel ever heard before.
Sit back and marvel.
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The first movement is perfection here: he whisks right along, nothing is precious, but the dynamics are beautifully observed and so the phrasing takes a natural, effective shape.
Wonderful!
The Caravaggio-worthy footage taken in a Canadian studio of his furious solo “Alborada del Gracioso” is stupefying
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OePeT12EJ14
Meant that in a good way. Is it strains of flamenco, as with Alicia? No. But it’s strains of a wild dance, all right, maybe a wild Russian one. Wonderful stuff, as is the original post of the Debussy.
Nobody who ever had the privilege of hearing a live performance by Richter will ever forget it. I heard him several times at Carnegie Hall. I remember a performance of Ravel’s Pavane during which notes literally seemed to be hanging at different levels in the air above the piano.There has never been a pianist even remotely like him.
I remember him performing the last three Schubert sonatas at the Berlin Philharmonie. I was visiting Berlin for the first time as a young man and wanted to hear the Philharmonic with Karajan, but they were on tour. So I had to settle for Richter. Unforgettable, as you suggest.
“had to settle for Richter”….. lmao. Rather him than the then GMD of Europe
Gaffney Feskoe wrote, “I remember him performing the last three Schubert sonatas…”
Are you sure? According to Bruno Monsaingeon’s book “Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations”, Richter never played Schubert’s A major sonata, D. 959.
Richter’s choice of repertoire was idiosyncratic. For example, he never played ten of Beethoven’s sonatas, including the Moonlight and the Waldstein. Of Beethoven’s piano concertos, he only played numbers 1 and 3. And he never played the first of Brahms’s concertos.
Thank you for your comment. It was long ago and my memory may have faltered, but I do definitely recall that it was an all Schubert sonata concert. I think that i still have the program somewhere and I will consult it.
The last 3 Beethoven sonatas is what must be read.
Truly unbelievable in every way. Perfect technique, faultless pacing, nuances and shading of infinite subtlety and imagination. “Like no Ravel heard before.” Well put.
Yuja Wang is way better than this Richter guy, whoever he was. That goes without saying. She also plays in stereo.
I think your calendar is off…it’s Memorial Day, not April Fools’ Day.
This was a sarcasm, I believe.
You gave me a good laugh!
Whoever he was….says volumes about you Tim
Unbelievable….
One of last century’s most overrated musicians.