Mozart /Chopin/Rachmaninov: Richter - Classic Archive

Mozart /Chopin/Rachmaninov: Richter - Classic Archive
Most of this DVD was made at a 1989 London concert filmed by the BBC. The 74-year-old Richter insisted on a darkened hall, a 40-watt gooseneck lamp trained on the music stand the only light source on stage while he played. His purpose was to focus audience attention on the music, not on the performer. Whatever the intention, the results can be compared to a mystical ceremony, the pianist as High Priest invoking musical truths. This ceremonial aspect of the concert is heightened by Richter's austere platform manner and the black backgrounds that engulf the picture. Fortunately, the BBC crew was able to capture closeups of Richter's hands on the keyboard, giving us lessons in finger control, dynamic gradations, and legato playing. To see how Richter accomplishes these and other effects is priceless. But whatever idiosyncrasies were part of Richter's rare concertizing in his last years, the musical performances are extraordinary. Richter's Mozart was unique in its tempo variations and his infusion of strong Romantic overtones, digging deep into the inner dramas of the scores. His E Flat Major Sonata, K.282, for example, begins slowly but gains depth and gravity via his powerful bass line, while In the C Major, K.545, Richter's Andante sings soulfully. The A Minor Sonata, K. 310, perhaps Mozart's greatest, has great cumulative power while the slow movement becomes a tragic operatic aria in all but name. The Chopin works, selected Etudes, take that composer out of the drawing room and into the larger frame of full-blooded Romanticism. In Opus 10, No. 2 we see Richter's scintillating right hand figures while Op. 10, No. 4 is a pianistic version of shock and awe, especially after the songful No.3, and watching Richter in the finger-breaker of Op. 25, No.8 is riveting. A black-and-white bonus of three short works by Rachmaninov and Chopin show Richter 20 years younger, the playing as extraordinary, the body language and facial expressions far more mobile, making a fitting close to a DVD all admirers of great pianism will want. --Dan Davis
Customer Review: Richter at the Barbican
This recital was originally broadcast on BBC-TV in 1989. Richter was 74 then but clearly had not lost any of his powers. He had, however, developed some idiosyncrasies that have a bearing on this recording. He was playing this recital, consisting of three Mozart sonatas and a selection from Chopin's Op. 10 and 25 études, before a live audience but insisted on having no lighting on the stage except for a crook-neck lamp shone directly on the keyboard and on the scores from which he was playing. This came as news to the BBC-TV crew and they had to, at the last moment, make do with filming him on a darkened stage. Still, after a few moments one does not mind this at all because the filming is primarily of his hands which, for me at least, was an education in itself. Needless to say, Richter's playing does not need any describing to those who are his fans, but for those who are new to Richter's playing I'll offer brief descriptions. Before the intermission he plays three Mozart sonatas: No. 4 in E Flat Major, K.282; No. 16 in C Major, K.545; and No. 8 in A Minor, K.310. His Mozart is both pristine and romantic. That is to say that both his ability to bring out with utmost clarity the musical line and his penchant for highly personal rubati is very much in evidence. This makes for somewhat unusual Mozart but it is convincing nonetheless. (I'm reminded of his recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier which has these same characteristics. And I confess that his WTC is my favorite piano recording of that masterpiece.) In the second half he plays twelve of Chopin's Etudes (Op. 10 Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11 and 12; Op. 25 Nos 5, 6, 8 and 11 'The Revolutionary'). His Chopin is masculine, dramatic and exciting. His playing of the C sharp minor étude (Op. 10, No. 4) is one of the most breathtaking I've ever heard. (Interestingly, there is a bonus of three tracks recorded in black and white in 1969, twenty years earlier, where he also plays the C sharp minor and although it is noticeably faster than the 1989 performance, it is not quite as exciting.) The 'Revolutionary' étude is also fantastic. The three bonus tracks include a fabulous performance of Rachmaninov's Étude-Tableau Op. 39, No. 3 in F Sharp Minor that fair makes one gape with admiration. I have given this DVD five stars even though visually some may be disappointed by the above-described limitations. But as I said, I found myself not even much noticing it after the first few moments. Indeed, I found myself focusing far more on the music and Richter's hands than I did on the setting. An unqualified recommendation, then, for Richter's legion of fans. Perhaps slightly less so for those newly coming to Richter's artistry. Running time (with bonus tracks): 90mins; Format: NTSC 4:3; Sound: PCM stereo; Region code: 0 (worldwide) Scott Morrison