How many pre-80s recordings do we have of Richter playing his complete selection? Also where can I find an up to date Richter discography (which preferably includes both commercial and noncommercial recs)?
I’m listening to the 57 TEs at the moment. I’m not entirely sure what it is about Richter, but he makes you feel that these are the greatest pieces in the repertoire and that he is the king of pianists. I want to say it’s the way he shapes the work; building, maintaining and releasing tension. But is this it? Or it it just his Brando-esque personality which is sweeping me away? Apart from Horowitz, I’m not sure that any other pianist has quite this same effect on me. There is definitely something that other pianists can learn from here, but I’m not sure that I can isolate exactly what it is. What do you guys think?
Thanks for the info! It’s interesting that he played harmonies du soir so often. For me that is the only one in which he isn’t either the best or amongst the best.
I’ll spare you my opinion of them, but re discographies Ates has had numerous battles to fight in recent years which I think have affected the work on his. Several changes in his last few updates were in fact errors. I haven’t talked to him in about a year now and don’t know his current status, but if he’s thrown in the towel with it I have no clue who would be willing to take over. Several who would be able to have died over the last few years. For what it’s worth I keep updating mine, but only with what hits me on its own, and it never was complete in the first place since I only tried to collect that which I actually thought was good after 2005 or thereabouts (which is still most of what he did up to his heart surgery however).
I love Richter and he’s certainly in my top 5 of all-time favourite pianists. His playing is almost always authoritative and pianistically on a very high level, whatever he plays.
However, with his Liszt I often have mixed feelings. I find it sometimes too granitic, too straightforward, too unyielding - missing a certain freedom in phrasing and lacking lyricism, non-chalance, elegance and refinement…but it depend on each piece. had so many facets in his character, he had such a broad taste - this is reflected in his music, so that it is actually pretty difficult to find a pianist that does his music completely justice.
In no particular order: Horowitz, Hofmann, Gieseking, Rachmaninoff…but on the other hand, I value Gilels, Backhaus and Arrau a lot, too…what about you?
It changes… not by the day, but certainly by the year. Today maybe Richter, Horowitz, Sokolov, Pogorelich and Pletnev. Cziffra & Hofmann have climbed a lot lately, Bolet and Michelangeli fallen back a bit.
We’ve been through it before - I’ve never heard a satisfying set. My go-to recs are Berezovsky 2001, Jando studio, Gekic studio and Ovchinnikov studio, but I’m not happy with either. Nor in individual studies, it’s rather certain aspects I like in all four of them.
Ovchinnikov is a little steely and robotic I think, but very impressive technically. Jando is the most musically intelligent of the lot and characterizes them well, it’s just that his execution of it is rather drab. You need to have some imagination listening to him. Gekic and the particular one I like by BB are both somewhat experimental. I wouldn’t recommend you either, but I remember both as fun listening with good pianism and ~passable~ if rather goofy characterizations. Several of BBs in particular are about like the 3 Pogo played - amazing, but transformations rather than interpretations.
had so many facets in his character, he had such a broad taste - this is reflected in his music, so that it is actually pretty difficult to find a pianist that does his music completely justice.
