“[Regarding Richter’s] performance of the 8th Sonata in the [1945 Union] competition: the lights went out as Richter played. He continued to play the Sonata by candlelight. However, as he reached the emphatic ostinato in the finale, even the candles on his piano went out. He completed the Sonata in complete darkness.”
-Igor Oistrakh
Legendary 
Freaking awesome.
doesn’t surprise me, what a mofo.
Wasn’t there another instance where he was playing Wilde Jagd with candles and they fell into the piano? (of course he kept playing to the end)
Although these stories tend to get exaggerated even by the artists themselves in some cases, I’m sure in Richter’s case he delighted in the unusual and the theatrical, and he would have done this with glee. Apparently he approached the stage with lots of daring energy in those days, and one hopes that more videos can surface from that time.
LOlz
was reading a Chinese Horowitz biography (written by some professor in University of Toronto, published by Oxford press, so rather legit i would say)
(i am translating here, so it’s not verbatim)
it was said that, when the news first broke that Horowitz would play back in Soviet Union after all these years (effort of unfreezing the cultural communication by Gorbachev and Reagan), Richter broke the news (it wasn’t known publicly yet), "i’ve heard the greatest pianist of our time are coming to Moscow to play for us)
this is an excerpt from ‘Remembering Horowitz’ by David Dubal
i can’t help but think Richter was being sacarstic
i’m thinking there was such a quote in richter ‘notebooks’(whatever it was, the mossaigneon mofo book)
fo sho chris could verify this either way, but i’m sure i’ve seen it somewhere before
Speaking about Richter, from which CD is this recording?
Horowitz was one of the few pianists Richter regularly praised. He especially felt his Scarlatti is unmatchable and he went so far as to claim he was one of 4 elemental pianists of the 20th century. (The element he named was in fact air for horowitz!! for his floating melodic ability ) He also felt he and Horowitz were cousins in music due to their pedagogical lineage…
[Citation Needed]
hahaha da Chriz 
For doubters please cite my cock in your throat. …
I don’t believe any of this
sviatoslavrichter.blogspot.com/2 … -yury.html
Anecdote with richter talking about pianists. Theres a million more although I like the new age feel of this article. Respect your Horowitz! Could you have been the worlds highest paid pianist for 40 years without really practicing much.
somehow this doesn’t sound much like the richter portrayed in the notebooks and conversations… i wonder at the authenticity. a scan of the supposedly existing page with richter’s writing on it would be useful.
az much az i luv da HO, ur argument iz weak and can be applied to Liberace.
did i juzt mentioned HO and Liberace in zame breath? i iz azhamed…
I’d rather fuck Liberace than Horowitz thats for sure… Horowitz did of course practice and all that but i had to hate on him just a bit to stay cool… as is common practice.