It’s never fun to listen to someone just bashing a pianist or a recording so I stayed low on details earlier, but yes - that’s my exact take on it as well. Unlike nearly all other studies however I do think he characterizes it well (or bother to characterize it at all), it’s just that it’s such a complete mismatch pianist/work.
But indeed, he did other things well. His NYC Sonata is my reference in the work, and it’s such a good performance that I don’t ever expect that to change.
IIRC, Harmonies du Soir has several FFF markings as well as a ‘Sempre FFF.’ I think a bit of banging is expected.
You hate da Zart? Juzt like da G-man. 
Yeah plus Richter’s forte always is meaty and full
I didn’t find it bangy (his sofia TE11), but it wasn’t my favourite interp. I prefer Berman live for the moist and Sudbin live for the climax. All his other TEs from the Moscow 57 performance are at least amongst my favourite versions of each piece.
Pozzibly 
Not hate but the ‘classical era’ has always been frustrating for me to appreciate as much as others seem to.
Horowitz is probably my favourite serious Mozart interpreter because of the colour he injected into his late recs but he didn’t record enough pieces.
His early rec of the Haydn Eb sonata is also a favourite.
Banging is never ok in my book no matter how many of f:s or how long the duration. A pianist with a good sound production can always produce a full, resounding fortissimo with nuances in it. But Richter is a good pianist and banging isn’t what I’m hearing from him, it’s the personality mismatch I’m after. I mean Evening Harmonies and Richter, it’s like casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as Shakespeare’s Merchant. I think he’s heavy handed, blunt, overpowering, insensitive, lacking refinement, charm and subtlety. It does have a climax of course where heroism is called for and which you can’t soften up, but with SR what I’m hearing is a Soviet tank rather than any evening harmonies.
Anyway, again, I do think he plays it as well as you can expect from him and I don’t think this one is terrible. Plus with the shallow competition in this set Richter still scores near the top for me among available recs (in this particular piece!), despite my issues with it.
Is banging okay in this piece? 
I frankly don’t care either way.
I don’t listen to him often but Ornstein’s Suicide in an Airplane is an amazing piece
That’s extremely well played. And the fascinating thing is that the music was composed already more than 100 years ago… 
Ergh…Modern music 
Ok, so I’ve just gone on a bit of Harmonies du Soir listening spree of 
.Freire,
& Da Bear
So far is Berman. Richter I did find heavy handed (da 88 one) and didn’t quite hang together for me - I found most of them had some quite abrupt transitions; Freire I found…not sure how to explain it exactly but the most contemporary pianism (as is to be expected I guess), but didn’t really draw me in - was the same when I heard him live so maybe it’s me; Zif had some wonderful moments especially in the emaj theme where he treats it like an improv; Berman came across the strongest & most dramatic for me and manages those transitions the most effectively.
Anywho, enough of that.
And why is Freire not on Da Stone with a nickname?
Have you heard the Sudbin version I recorded a couple of years back?
overall, I think Harmonies du Soir is one of my least favourites of the set, it’s like what Arrau said ït’s close to kitsch".
Daim! It’s one of my favourite pieces of all time.
My 2nd favourite of the set after #10.
It feels very spiritual to me. The opening feels ‘cloudy’ - among the clouds and the soaring climax feels like a flight beyond and above the clouds. Then the end feels like a descent back into the clouds and back to earth with a calming sense of being at peace, with ardour spent and a renewed sense of the journey undertook being worthwhile.
Pardon the pun but it feels the most transcendent of the transcendentals 
After that - the TE12 always felt elegaic to me. The sequence of the etudes feels very programmatic to me, I think they are one of the best sets of music ever composed.
I’m not a huge fan of the TE’s to be honest. I definitely can’t listen to them in one go. Obviously some of them are wikid, but no.2 for instance drives me nuts. It might be something to do with my first recording was Ponti which had the most hideous piano sound ever recorded.
I think the TEs get much better as they go on. The first four I can totally live without. Feux Follets is a work of genius, Vision is OK, 7 and 8 are borderline, and the last four are pretty much the pinnacle of romantic etudes… imo. Da LAPD might be my all time favourite etude tbh.
My first set was Jando’s - which is actually good. And then da 
roque DVD had me hooked, watched that a LOT when I first got it.
Yeah the last 4 make a good mini-set! On their own.
Liszt is really ahead of his time in 11 (the opening pages) and 12. Not perhaps in terms of the writing, but in terms of the sonority both are practically impressionistic.