Brahms: Concerto No.2/Beethoven: Sonata No.23 | Sviatoslav Richter, Erich Leinsdorf, ...

Brahms: Concerto No.2/Beethoven: Sonata No.23 | Sviatoslav Richter, Erich Leinsdorf, ... | Richter's Superb Studio Brahms & Beethoven

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	Brahms: Concerto No.2/Beethoven: Sonata No.23 Sviatoslav Richter, Erich Leinsdorf, ... RCA, 1993 average customer review:based on 29 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Richter was one of the those great virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced for something like 10 hours a day, even before a scheduled performance. But it wasn't just getting the notes right that he was after. He was looking for the way to somehow get an entire work "into his hands," and trying to figure out the relationships between all of its different parts. That's why his performances--even the very slow one--have such an inevitable sounding organic unity. This performance isn't one of the very slow ones, but it does have that sense of urgency and spontaneity, as though Richter and Leinsdorf were composing as they play. It's one of the great recordings. --David Hurwitz

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One of the better Brahms concertos - and a nice dessert

In his notebooks, Richter himself tells repeatedly how strongly he disliked this performance of the Brahms Second. Most significantly, he blames Leinsdorf for pushing the tempo all the time. For the rest we have to guess for what his motives could be. After all, it is quite strange that the pianist in what is perhaps the best-loved of all Brahms B flat's doesn't like it himself. What could Richter have had in mind? Perhaps he had even greater ideas for this piece - but as it is here, I cannot possibly imagine. Richter gives probably the pianistically most perfect rendition of the concerto ever made, coupled with a musical insight that most of his colleagues could hardly dream of. And considering Leinsdorf: his accompaniment is very correct and I don't hear him pushing at any time - actually, Richter's playing is so dominant that it is the piano which seems to take the lead in the piece, not the orchestra. And that's fine with me.

I like it better than the also much-revered Gilels/Jochum recording: Gilels takes his time and is philosophizing around, but in the end he almost drowns in his own ideas. Richter's playing on the other hand is full of richness too, but never makes the piece excessively ponderous and storms right at the gates with utmost certainty. Similarly, Richter possesses all the power of a Serkin but avoids the latter's sometimes ugly neuroticism and his patronizing focus on rhythms. He takes about as many risks as Schnabel, but is pianistically more reliable. This all is not to say that we have the perfect recording of the Brahms here: pianists like Schnabel, Fleisher, Fischer, Anda, Curzon, Solomon, Brendel et al. show many insights for which Richter has no space. In fact, I'd perhaps take Solomon and Edwin Fischer over Richter in the end, but that's really splitting hairs.

There are many unforgettable moments here: the piano solo before the first orchestral tutti in the first movement blazes with fire and excitement - and complete technical mastery. I've never heard it played as good as here. And then the following piano entry after 3 minutes - Richter's fantastic, illuminating tone and sonorous basses shine through so well here. And then, in the following minutes, we get a demonstration of how to connect phrases almost effortlessly (perhaps this is what the editorial reviewer refers to, although he has come up with his usual nonsense as well). The marcato after 7 minutes once again demonstrates his technical skills, but also an incredible feeling for rhythm and excitement. The tender scenes are just that - and a look forward to the great slow movement. The second Allegro I'd say has the same fury as in Serkin's recording, but Richter is far more flexible and less dogmatic. Richter's approach to the Andante is rock-solid and unfussy; it is wonderful to hear how he is able to play without any mannerisms and yet generate the highest level of expression. In the Allegretto, Richter's sweet but powerful tone again does small wonders; he seems to shape many small and lively episodes within this movement that is sometimes treated as a perfunctory and dull conclusion. Not here; the Allegretto makes the ideal end for this hugely impressive recording.

I haven't spilled a word yet about the Appassionata on this disc, and it should not be left unnoticed that this, too, is a masterful performance. The first movement is boldly shaped, with lots of contrasts in tempi dynamics. However, it perfectly adds up in the end and it betrays that SR had a strong sense of architecture as well. The slow movement is done solemnly and with beautiful tone-coloring. And there's the famous last movement that runs at incredible pace - and still Richter never loses control. Yet good as this one may be, it is completely outshined by a live performance by Richter in Prague from one year earlier - there he drops all his caution and you'll get more passion in the opening, more life in the slow movement and a final that is about the most exciting piano recording made, period. But enthusiastic as I am about even that live performance, the greatest Appassionata on record I believe is by Claudio Arrau (Philips), who is more faithful to the original text and responds best of all to the complex characteristics of this marvelous sonata. So, the recording included here is a nice dessert, but the main thing is definitely that wonderful Brahms which you just cannot afford to pass by. Certainly one of the finest documents of Richter's playing.

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Richter's Superb Studio Brahms & Beethoven

The editorial review here by David Hurwitz is in error when he states that Richter "was one of those virtuoso egomaniac genius types who was so insecure that he practiced something like 10 hours a day." Anyone who has seen the fascinating film "Richter the Enigma" knows that, by his own admission, Richter generally practiced 2-3 hours a day and even used a stopwatch to keep track. Richter did admit to a few exceptions, such as when he had to practice 12 hours daily just before his premiere of the Prokofiev 7th Piano Sonata (in order to quickly learn and master that extremely diificult piece). Perhaps that film's major revelation was just how amazingly modest and humble Richter was as both a man and a musician.

At least Hurwitz likes these performances, and we are thus spared one of the nasty & vituperative reviews that he writes frequently for classicstoday. There he called Barbirolli's Mahler 2nd the work of "a slob," and concluded a review of a Barbirolli BBC Legends CD with "I'm flushing this one down the Glorious John." Not to mention his callow analogy to a sexual encounter from an episode of "Sex and the City" in his negative review of Boult's Rachmaninov 3rd Symphony. Frankly, I didn't care for those recordings either, but such mean-spirited and tasteless notices do nothing but compromise Hurwitz's reputation as a "professional" music critic. And that's a shame, because many of his reviews are perceptive and highly insightful.

At any rate, this extremely well-transferred CD captures two of Richter's finest studio performances. The Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto is beautifully played, and the often unsympathetic Leinsdorf is here a wonderful partner. The Beethoven "Appassionata" was one of my earliest Richter recordings (on a budget Victola LP) and, while many of its details are rather mannered, I continue to be astonished by the tumultous, breathtaking virtuosity of the last mvt.

Alternatives? Richter also left a remarkable "live" Brahms 2nd with Georges Georgescu and a Bucharest ensemble that is even more spontaneous and poetic, if not as well played. That is on a Doremi CD, which also contains Richter's ONLY available recording of the Brahms Handel Variations. My other two favorite studio versions of the concerto are the Curzon/Knappertsbusch (a Decca LP that is now available on a Living Stage CD set) and the Backhaus/Schuricht (Decca). Just for the conducting, the older versions by Max Fiedler and Furtwangler are gorgeous, but the pianists (Elly Ney and Edwin Fischer, respectively) hit an awful lot of wrong notes.

There is also a superb Richter "live" Appassionata on Melodiya, coupled with 8 Bagatelles, the Pathetique, and the Fantasy for Piano, Chorus & Orchestra conducted by Sanderling (see my review). Other great Appassionatas include those by Rubinstein (RCA), Yves Nat (EMI) and Ernst Levy (Marston).

But for a combination of great playing AND great sound, this Richter CD is an essential purchase. [Update 8-2-07: For a lighter, more playful approach, with a superb cello soloist in the slow movement, the Rubinstein/Krips on RCA is another version worth serious consideration].

Jeff Lipscomb

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Best Romantic Piano Concerto by the Best Pianist ever lived

Brahms' Piano Concerto #2 is a classic masterpiece that dwarfs many other nice concertos with its vivid texture, color & romanticism at its zenith.
Richter's playing of the first movement leaves Emil Giles in the dust. His pace is superb, & superior to that of Giles who plays it more restrictively within the orchestral compass. Richter's pace commands the orchestra, thus setting the pace & tone of the concerto. And what a virtuoso pace indeed!
Recording sound is awesome compared to Richter's many other old recordings.

Bethoven's Apasionata Sonata simply goes with Richter's character & the way he plays the piano. Dramatic, Violent , Fortisimo passages without sacrificing the score's structure. This is really good stuff folks.

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About as good as it can possibly be played

When Richter first arrived on the musical scene in the West, he went on a whirlwind tour of America, including numerous concerts at Carnegie Hall. This recording is part of that well-anticipated tour. Power, subtlety, angst are all present here. Richter really understood the heart of the pieces he played, and it shows from the very few opening bars of the first movement. There are some passages which are truly oustanding, but I dont have a score with me to point them out. It's just that you feel truly at ease when you listen to this CD that a master (Richter) is truly playing another master's (Brahms') composition.

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Great beginning, tapers off

I first heard this recording in the mid-1960's. I'd been listening to Richter on Russian recordings for several years (some Beethoven sonatas, the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, etc) and knew what a superb artist he was. Initially I was blown away by this recording. The first movement is extraordinary. Richter reimagines and recreates the piece, bringing spontaneity to his performance as only he could. My only point of comparison for such a strong recreation in the piano concerto repertoire, interestingly, is Ivo Pogarelich's reading of the first movement of Chopin's second piano concerto (Abbado conducting). There is a headlong quality, romantic and passionate and noble. Just astonishing.

The second movement is nearly as original, and nearly as good. The third and fourth movements are lovely and gorgeously played, and if it hadn't been for what Richter did in the first movement, they would be just fine. But somehow they seem ordinary after such an extraordinary beginning.

A word about Leinsdorf: he was at best a maddeningly inconsistent conductor. Here he provides good accompaniment to Richter, but he is still an accompanist in a piece which requires the orchestra to be an equal partner with the piano. I understand that at the end of his life Richter complained that he was unhappy with this recording and that Leinsdorf pushed the tempi. Whatever Richter's reasons for saying that may have been, I have a hard time believing that the choice of tempi, in the first two movements in particular, were not Richter's. His whole approach is so integrated, the phrasing and dynamics flow so perfectly from the tempi, that Richter either chose them himself or he responded incredibly to Leinsdorf's preferences.

The sound is fine. The Reinter-era Chicago Symphony plays well (although they play better for Reiner himself in his nearly contemporaneous recording of this same piece with Emil Gilels). 4 stars, not because the performance isn't fine, but only because it could have been so much more extraordinary.

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