As we all know, Richter hated the recording studio, and doesn’t appear to have done any studio work past about 1973. Now, I can’t imagine he was the type of pianist to suffer through dozens of retakes. Nor do I imagine he would ever arrive for a studio date less than immaculately prepared. I read a comment on the Richter yahoo group that said for his EMI Wanderer recording, he came in, sat down at the bosendorfer, and played through flawlessly in one take. Then he or the engineers decided the piano wasn’t right, so he played through once more on the Steinway and called it a day.
No idea how real that anecdote is, but it aligns with other stories I’ve heard of his DG concerto recordings and such. So I guess my question is if anyone has any good anecdotes about Richter in the studio, or any documentation that points to what kind of a studio pianist he was (a Gieseking or a Pollini)?
I don’t, but if you give me some time I might be able to get my hands on logs from some of his sessions. They may not tell you much however, logging often became a bit sketchy in the LP era when they recorded on tape. It’s often just date/location, tape matrix, and works played.
Ah, so as usual, the anecdote I heard had some details correct, but with plenty of embellishment. Typical.
No, don’t go to any trouble. I was just hoping for stories more than anything. What I would like best is if there was a behind the scenes video of one of his studio sessions, like the many Gould studio videos out there. But it’s highly unlikely something like that exists.
Richter pretty much nails da skips aside from da insane octs STRAPONS at da very end.
Would not have been a big deal to CALM HIS COCK in da studio n rec a
From what I recall he had a two-storey flat near the Royal Albert Hall. Part of that description sounds like him…But he was with DG up to and I think through his breakdown. And I don’t think he returned to London after his wife died.