Ah, no. Not to m knowledge. There were a few concerts that just didn’t go well but I would imagine that’s nerves more than anything.
Plus the dude was trying out new rep all the time
Some due to failing health at the end too - he sounded incredibly tired at some concerts from around 1986 onwards. In the 90s there was the same pattern you begin to see with Sokolov now - if he had the last few days off ahead of a concert, and hadn’t driven half across Russia in the meantime, he normally was fine (though still clearly past his best years).
Apparently Richter’s biggest problem near the end was his hearing - sense of pitch changes as you age and having perfect pitch must have fucked with his outer ear to inner ear connection when playing.
I find it interesting that Horowitz loved Mozart near the end of his life, but Richter controversially loved Haydn more…a view I’m inclined to partially share, I think Haydn is on par with Mozart.
Yes, definitely. I particularly agree with what Richter said about Haydn - there’s something fresh about him. For me it’s essentially Haydn in sonatas and Mozart in concertos.
Yeah Mozart has some golden moments in his sonatas but overall he seemed to save his best tunes for the concerti, they’re as tuneful as his operas.
Haydn was a very industrious composer, and his music is especially brilliant when you immerse yourself in classical era music and realize the way he plays with tropes and defies expectations.
On a side note - I love Bruce Adolphe’s lectures, he did some particularly fun ones on Haydn :
Yes, and I think he was practically always worthwhile (both of them in fact). Even the little sonatas Sokolov have just abandoned… despite that they clearly had the character of tuesday night compositions, there’s such craftsmanship to them.
I think SR’s inclination is natural too incidentally - of all composers he played, I think the one he did worst was Mozart. His Haydn however is very good, often even top notch.
Mozart’s music seems to flow with melodic genius, Haydn’s seems to have part of that too but his music has more intervention in a deliberate sense, like he isn’t satisfied with the way his musical imagination plays out and intentionally diverts musical traffic into other directions just for the hell of it because it’s fun to subvert expectation.
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My teacher was a Haydn specialist and used to talk about how Haydn was always trying something new, that none of the sonatas were the same.
hahahaha i haff to chooz tha HO fo thiz bazd on hiz influenza on mahzelf even tho i wud probably ratha lizten to an ultimat RECTUM interp 
zumtymz when i lizten to a rectum zheeyat i git tha imprezzion that he ztill iz bazing every zound he makez on every otha zound around it fo exampl a random g majah mforte triad 12 minutez into a zheeyat iz ztill playd relativ to tha mp e triad he playd 10 zecondz into tha zheeyat…pozzibly even relativ to a random d majah chord he playd 10 yrz previouz to that 
and tru thiz all perfectly relativ to tha breakfazt burrito he ate 5 yearz befo that 
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he wuz juz that focuzd 
FWIW, after the talk here about Richter and the Chop Ballade, I listened to his Prague broadcast of it on my way home today. It was overwhelming.
I then listened to Zimerman’s DG rec of the same work, which was my favourite as a kid. It was not so overwhelming…
I know you’ve said that’s your favourite of his 4th Ballade recs, but how do you feel about the Warsaw '54 rec? For me that one is just perfect.
Also, has anyone found the Bucharest 4th Ballade yet? Ballades 1-3 from that concert are my favourite recordings… so surely the 4th is great too.
ahahahah da canadian cuntveniently ignore zum inzane BRAPAGET book1 endin fakerudy/rape combo dat even da zepp noe iz eazily tubed 
Tru, I’ve heard of that. Never listened to it myself though.
I haven’t heard it since I received the recital, which was way back in another millennium. Richter’s legacy is so vast that I’m not sure I always return exactly to the “best” performances. I revisit those I remember and which left a strong impression the first time I heard them.
I see Warsaw 54 is a first half encore however, so he must have been really in the mood to play it.
…and nope, no Bucharest Op.52 here.
I haven’t collected Richter in probably a decade however. For latest info on new finds I’d talk to Romeo today.
Really like this work and having a giant like Richter performing it has raised Myaskovsky’s recognition considerably
Is Sviatoslav Richter the greatest pianist of the 20th century?
- Yes
- No
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