Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concertos / Richter

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Although the late Sviatoslav Richter spent his later years concentrating on Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn, he never completely abandoned the music of his native country. His reading of Rachmaninov's most popular concerto, captured in fine late-'50s stereo, is one of the most glorious ever recorded. Richter's amazing technique is completely up to the demands of Rachmaninov's difficult writing, and he plays the heart-on-sleeve melodies with such refined intensity that they never sound sentimental. This performance is a truly amazing example of great pianism, very strongly supported by the fine orchestra and its little-known conductor. Unfortunately, the accompanying Tchaikovsky is a dud. Karajan and Richter recorded this work together as a favor to a record-company executive, but they don't seem to be in sympathy. The conductor's excessive refinement holds the pianist back, and the result is much too restrained for the music. Never mind. The Rachmaninov alone is easily worth the price of this disc. --Leslie Gerber

Tracks:

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C Minor: 1. Moderato
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C Minor: 2. Adagio sostenuto
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C Minor: 3. Allegro scherzando
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B Flat Minor: 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B Flat Minor: 2. Andantino semplice - Prestissimo -Tempo I
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in B Flat Minor: 3. Allegro con fuoco

Amazon.com essential recording

Although the late Sviatoslav Richter spent his later years concentrating on Bach, Beethoven, and Haydn, he never completely abandoned the music of his native country. His reading of Rachmaninov's most popular concerto, captured in fine late-'50s stereo, is one of the most glorious ever recorded. Richter's amazing technique is completely up to the demands of Rachmaninov's difficult writing, and he plays the heart-on-sleeve melodies with such refined intensity that they never sound sentimental. This performance is a truly amazing example of great pianism, very strongly supported by the fine orchestra and its little-known conductor. Unfortunately, the accompanying Tchaikovsky is a dud. Karajan and Richter recorded this work together as a favor to a record-company executive, but they don't seem to be in sympathy. The conductor's excessive refinement holds the pianist back, and the result is much too restrained for the music. Never mind. The Rachmaninov alone is easily worth the price of this disc. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Great performance, poor remastering.......2007-02-19

Previous reviews extoll the virtues of Richter's performance, and indeed it is magnificent. Unfortunately, the remastering of this recording did not produce a quality result. The dynamics are poor, resulting in fuzzy strings, and horns and a less than vibrant sound from Richter's piano. There is no sense of "presence". This is a valuable recording for those with two or more copies of the Rach 2, who want this one as a historic performance or for collectors of Richter. If this is your first copy and you have a decent sound system, steer clear.

Eloquence with hands of steel and a heart of fire.......2006-07-09

Richter's work has long been a benchmark in the library of piano virtuosity, but in these two selections, he has transcended normal experience. For an artist to insert himself into the world of music on such a grand scale is to take great risks, and that is exactly what he has done. I believe that at a point, Richter and the music become one and the same. It is as though he were fused to each note. The result is a performance that is both flawless and yet, warm, sonorous and full. There is nothing that he has left out. He is an artist for the ages, and we are richer for his presence at the keyboard.

A performance that will live as long as recorded music.......2006-01-19

There is nearly unanimous consensus that Richter's 1959 recording of the Rachmaninov 2nd rises to a height challenged only by the composer himself. Richter's ability to play the fastest passagework while moving from soft to loud and back again is breathtaking--speed doesn't change his control over dynamics one bit. But that's to pick out a single aspect of a performance that is by turns noble, lyrical, passionate, and poetic. One could spend the whole performance marveling just at the independence of Richter's two hands. He rescues this thrice-familiar work from its fulsome reputation. Rowicki conducts well, but the recorded sound is thin, and the Warsaw Phil. decidedly provincial. None of which matters a bit.

Reviewers here echo the Amazon critic in disparaging the Tchaikovsky First from 1963, although it is in better sound than the Rchmaninov and played better by the orchestra, too--Karajan had a special relationship with the Vienna Sym., a sorry ensemble under most conductors. I like this performance a great deal. Richter isn't highly individual--he plays for strength and dignity in the first movement, not for Horowitz's burn-down-the-house virtuosity, and in the last movement he applies restrained delicacy. Since the Tchaikovsky First is the deadest of dead horses to me, I liked hearing such thoughtful musicality. As for Richter and Karajan being on different pages, they sound together to me. Taste, what can you say? Five stars for both performances.

Idyosincratic Tchaikovsky , enigmatic Rachmaninov!.......2004-08-17

The Tchaikovsky piano concerto was approached for Richter as a imperial concert and not as a simple introspective and romantic work .
This idea is extremely remarkable since you muts notice the fact the three first symphonies are deeply imperials , epic and surrounded for the epic majesty and russian pride .
But since the four till the sixth , the conception changes completely . We see the man and his inner sorrows and his fears.
In this sense the most of the western pianist play Tchaikovsky , as the wounded man tired due his personal tragedy .
Richter turns around the clock and reveals Tchaikovsky with the same spirit that we know in his first Symphny , radian and filled with vitality and fierce.
The slow tempo does not mean a rendition but a clever statement about a transition between the youth and the mature age . Karajan in this sense did not make any special contributtion in this case . He respected Richter and knew about his special rapport for Tchaikovsky . I mean you will feel the required histamina in the last bars but as a natural consequence of the musical language and not a simple firework exercise.
In the case of Rachmaninov , Richter keeps the romantic mood , and he avoids the excesive self indulgence so typical of Rachmaninov .
The emphasis turns around another levels , such as the epic nosthalgy for the land he will never see again and obviosuly the hidden homagge to his beloved friend the hypnotist doctor Dahl who rescued him from the alcohol hell .
Rowicki was one of the best polish conductors in any age . He understood perfectly this rapture feeling and the key was simply overwhelming .
Fundamental issue in your personal collection.

POWER.......2004-05-20

Richter's performance on this cd reminds me very much of Rush's 2112 album. You are captivated from the moment you hit play, and you are taken on a journey. But by the end, you realize that every time you will pay it another visit, you will discover a whole new world of aesthetics that you had no prior perception of. Not just compositionally, but the same goes for what Richter's soul has to say. It's like getting two stories in one! This may initially sound ironic, given that his devilishly careful, almost brooding pacing, finds many listeners opting for Ashkenazy's spin. However, for me, the more thoughtful ... a performance is, the more intricacies there are to be found. When you listen to Rush, you barely get anything from the first listen... but you just KNOW that there IS an eternity of SOMETHING to be gathered, if you listen over and over again. So, in either case, you become strangely obsessed and fixated, drawn to listen just one more time. I suppose to really go out there, I will compare Richter to an artistic bag of potato chips. You must just keep going. That's not to say you get nothing from the first listen! Indeed, those familiar with the concerto and/or Richter will be blown away, regardless. But with every chord of the 1st movement of the Rach 2nd, you sense a world of unspoken stories, meaning, content! Warning, though - if you don't like being analytical, this isn't the recording for you. People complain of orchestral faults, injections of political issues, etc. etc.... but what captivates me every time I listen to Richter, is how superb he is at upping the ante for the utopian combination of brains and emotion. ... The same is to be said for the Tchaikovsky. Whatever stressors surround the nature of the recording, a true musician puts it all aside (OR uses it as fuel to the fire!) and performs a miracle at the piano. If you are openminded, buy this - you won't be disappointed. Rather,... you'll become addicted.

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