"These are live recordings (Russian archives) dating from 1961 to 1978. You can hear, now and then, someone coughing in the audience, but overall the sound is very good. This is what you get, on five CDs:Beethoven:
Piano Sonata in C major Op. 2 No. 3
Piano Sonata in E flat major Op. 7
Piano Sonata in D minor Op. 31 No. 2 Sturm
Piano Sonata in E flat major Op. 31 No. 3
Piano Sonata in E minor Op. 90
Piano Sonata in A major Op. 101
Piano Sonata in E major Op. 109
Piano Sonata in A flat major Op. 110
Piano Sonata in C minor Op. 111 Liszt:
Piano Sonata in B minorSchubert:
Piano Sonata in E minor D566
Piano Sonata in B major D575
Piano Sonata in G major D894
Piano Sonata in B flat major D960 Richter creates superb moments and offers, as usual, a classical, rich and profound reading. And there is also something else floating in the air, like golden dust - maybe the nostalgia of long and grey Sundays when a flamboyant and lyrical pianist was warming the hearts of those for which life itself was too cold.A ecouter toute une vie.Thank you, Brilliant Classics, and keep up the good work !"
The master at work
peer gynt | 03/23/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Buy this for the Liszt sonata! A live performance which stands up to comparison with Horowitz's legendary recording of the 30s. Some of Richter's speeds here are vertiginous and the power he administers is mind-numbing. Having heard performances of this work by every one from Brendel to Cziffra to Ranki to Gilels, this is the best (Horowitz notwithstanding).
Richter's op 111 is also a great one, as are the recordings of op 90 and op 2 no 3. However there is some hideous background and audience noise (op 110) and fluffing of the tape equipment (op 101, 2nd movt) although this is a small price to pay, as the interpretations are so alive and powerful."
Incredible
J. Grant | North Carolina, USA | 01/19/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Scintillating live performances of Beethoven's late sonatas (unfortunately the Hammerklavier is not included in this set). Also an extraordinary Tempest, as well as Nos. 3, 4 & 18. The handful of Schubert's sonatas are all excellent, this D960 being among my favorites. Also included is a fine Liszt sonata. The sound is surprisingly good, considering the source, occassionaly marred by coughs and other noises you get with any live performance. These small imperfections, however, do not take away from the listening pleasure of these essential performances by one of the truly great artists of the past century."
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The formidable, astonishing and fabulous artistic trajectory of Sviatoslav Richter has impelled to seek with absolute priority character, neglected recordings of Richter during his years in the extinct URSS. And the result has been not only satisfactory but gratifying too.
Listening him during his first four decades, we may realize about the pristine and even epic sound he approached every work he played. As a matter of fact certain composers such as Prokoviev, Bach, Franck and Tchaikovsky sounded with an enviable mercurial energy, accurate phrasing and resplendent fingering, and that's a very interesting parameter not only to scrutinize the career of this overwhelming pianist, besides it gives us some clues around the way and approach of the Russian pianism in those ages of ferrous oppression, where the isolation respect the West was more than obvious. You may realize how the most of pianist who were born behind the iron curtain were attached to old patterns and references, because simply had not contact with new approaches of this side of the world.
In the case of the orchestral direction (think in Hermann Abendroth, for instance) the statement is much more evident, but it would apart us of our initial consideration.
So, under any single pretext you should miss this invaluable set of historical recordings of a pianist who left countless traces of his genius around the western hemisphere.