Search - Richter :: Richter Edition 1

Richter's a maniac!!!

James S. Plank | Knoxville, Tennessee | 02/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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 is not Bach for an afternoon tea party -- it's for cranking up the volume in your car while driving through a thunderstorm on the Interstate."

Idiosyncratic Bach and awful conducting

Anton Zimmerling | Moscow, Russia | 11/20/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love Bach's keyboard music and appreciate Svyatoslav Richter. This does not mean that I am always happy with Richter's treatment of Bach. The sound on this CD is for the most part acceptable, except for occasional distortions due to worn LP sources. What bothers me here, is the interpretation and bad orchestral accompaniment. The 3d English Suite BWV 808 and the 1st keyboard concerto BWV 1052 are my favourite pieces, and I generally enjoy listening to them in different performances. Richter's 3d Suite is strange; his best achievements are the Gavottes and the concluding Gigue. Richter's Sarabande is remarkable, too, though I doubt whether it is Bach or Schumann. Contrary to the previous reviewer, I cannot approve the fast tempo in the opening Prelude: surely young Richter 'was a maniac', but such a craisy tempo ruins the music. Kurt Sanderling's orchestra in BWV 1052 immediately strucks the ear: the conductor never changes the tempo or the dynamics. The final movement was apparently too difficult for Sanderling (has he rehearsed it at all?). The middle movement, where the role of orchestra is minimal is more enjoyable. Bad as Sanderling's Bach is, his art fades compared with Rudolf Barshai, the conductor of BWV 1061. I always thought that the worst Bach conductor was Issay Dobroweyn who accompanied Bronislaw Huberman in the violin concertos (available on Pearl). But Barshai can take the laurels from him: alas, there is no soaring Huberman's violin, only a mess of two gurgling pianos in the middle register. Barshai was praised as a leader of the best Soviet chamber ensemble. But here he was either too young or caught in a bad day.

A few words about the second pianist in BWV 1061. Anatoly Vedernikov was an old friend of Richter and a fine artist. Don't dismiss him on the ground of this unhappy performance: later, he made first-rate recordings of Handel, J.L.Krebs and Grazioli (on Denon). He also left excellent recordings of Hindemith's and Prokofiev's piano music."