Classic Archive: Sviatoslav Richter - Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninov

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Sviatoslav Richter - Classic Archive

AMAZON
Most of this DVD was made at a 1989 London concert filmed by the BBC. The 74-year-old Richter insisted on a darkened hall, a 40-watt gooseneck lamp trained on the music stand the only light source on stage while he played. His purpose was to focus audience attention on the music, not on the performer. Whatever the intention, the results can be compared to a mystical ceremony, the pianist as High Priest invoking musical truths. This ceremonial aspect of the concert is heightened by Richters austere platform manner and the black backgrounds that engulf the picture. Fortunately, the BBC crew was able to capture closeups of Richters hands on the keyboard, giving us lessons in finger control, dynamic gradations, and legato playing. To see how Richter accomplishes these and other effects is priceless. But whatever idiosyncrasies were part of Richters rare concertizing in his last years, the musical performances are extraordinary. Richters Mozart was unique in its tempo variations and his infusion of strong Romantic overtones, digging deep into the inner dramas of the scores. His E Flat Major Sonata, K.282, for example, begins slowly but gains depth and gravity via his powerful bass line, while In the C Major, K.545, Richters Andante sings soulfully. The A Minor Sonata, K. 310, perhaps Mozarts greatest, has great cumulative power while the slow movement becomes a tragic operatic aria in all but name. The Chopin works, selected Etudes, take that composer out of the drawing room and into the larger frame of full-blooded Romanticism. In Opus 10, No. 2 we see Richters scintillating right hand figures while Op. 10, No. 4 is a pianistic version of shock and awe, especially after the songful No.3, and watching Richter in the finger-breaker of Op. 25, No.8 is riveting. A black-and-white bonus of three short works by Rachmaninov and Chopin show Richter 20 years younger, the playing as extraordinary, the body language and facial expressions far more mobile, making a fitting close to a DVD all admirers of great pianism will want. --Dan Davis

REVIEW
Sviatoslav Richter always looked like an intimidating sonuvabitch--a real anomaly in the world of classical pianists. In this 1989 recital from London's Barbican Centre, the 73-year-old Russian clocks in and punches the piano like a factory worker; he tunes out the audience and gets down to business. Which makes the sensitivity he produces at the instrument all the more amazing in contrast. He flubs a ton of notes in the Chopin étude Op. 10 No. 1, but then nails the virtually impossible "Winter Wind" étude in A minor. His heavy-handed Mozart isn't for everyone, but a candlelight recital by a barreling force like Richter is too rich to miss. -- Time Out Chicago, Bryant Manning, August 2008

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Actors: Richter,Svjatoslav

Audio Languages: English

Duration: 90 minutes

Number of Discs: 1

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