Richter Archives, Vol. 4: Brahms Handel Variations (Live)

Richter Archives, Vol. 6: 1972 Szeged Recital (Live)

"• Played by Sviatoslav Richter 1952-55 • Richter shows all the needed skills and understanding of the composers mystical compositions. • Reference recordings!"

First time on CD! Featuring Richter’s debut with the Boston Symphony, here is volume 19 of the prestigious DOREMI series featuring one of the most admired pianists of all time at the height of his power.

His passing most unfortunately coming on the same day as the dreaded Stalin's, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), most fortunately, left to posterity a far better, less lethal legacy. His music, often marked rhythmically and instrumentally by the violence and war which surrounded him after his return to the Soviet Union, is all the more dramatic as a result. Few could capture that drama as well as his countryman Sviatoslav Richter, a pianist seemingly born to play his music. These 1956-8 Moscow recordings of the Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 9, capture Mr. Richter at the height of his interpretative powers.

Richter Archives, Vol. 16: Poulenc & Reger

Includes work(s) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Ensemble: Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Rudolf Barshai. Soloist: Sviatoslav Richter.

Richter Archives, Vol. 12: Brahms (Live)

Richter Archives, Vol. 20: Janácek & Hindemith (Live)

While there is no disputing Richter’s extraordinary technique, what set his interpretations apart was his ability to immerse himself completely into the music he performed, allowing the purity of the composer’s original vision to dominate his musical choices. Richter himself said: “The interpreter is really an executer, carrying out the composer’s intentions to the letter. He doesn’t add anything that isn’t already in the work. If he is talented, he allows us to glimpse the essence of the work that is in itself a thing of genius and that is reflected through him. He shouldn’t dominate the music, but should dissolve into it.” This extraordinary approach is on full display in this programme. Collectors have long regarded Richter’s performances of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces as definitive, while his Ravel emphasizes the inherent neo-classical structure underlying the virtuosic display.

Delos International is proud to bring The Great Hall Series to the worldwide Classical Music audience. This premiere offering highlights the legendary Svitaoslav Richter performing four from the Bach English Suites. Listeners to these exclusive performances are the first to experience Richter's incredible piano mastery, in the Great Tchaikovsky Concert Hall of the Moscow Philharmonic. This special performance took place on May 20th, 1991 and reveals for the listening audience the great interpretive insights, exceptional density of sound and creative spirit that set this LIVE performance apart. The recording incudes Suite No.1 in A Major & Suite No.3 in G Minor (on disc one), and Suite No.4 in F Major & Suite No.6 in D minor (on disc two).

Beethoven Sviatoslav Richter Piano Sonatas, Op.10 no 3; Op.26; Op.57

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Sviatoslav Richter, piano; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Karel Ancerl; Live recordings: 1956 & 1962. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Concerto No. 1 in C major for piano and orchestra, Op. 15; Concerto No. 3 in C minor for piano and orchestra, Op. 37

Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler is progressively releasing all the recordings that the great Soviet virtuoso made in his Sturm und Drang period between 1945 and 1963. Most of them were largely unknown in the West during the Cold War, as Richter could only perform till 1960 behind the “Iron Curtain”, that is to say, in the Soviet Union and the satellite states of Eastern Europe. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler has already released box sets with Richter’s interpretations of works by Ludwig van Beethoven (PH 16030), Franz Schubert (PH 17005), Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms (PH 17967), Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin (PH 18041), Dmitry Shostakovich (PH 20054) and Sergey Rakhmaninov and Sergei Prokofiev (PH 19052). The present 13-album set is devoted to all the works by Russian composers that Sviatoslav Richter recorded live or in the studio between 1946 and 1963.

REVIEW:

I do have to ask how many different recordings of the same work by the same pianist need to be made available. Some of us might be happy with a couple of the best ones. That said, there are a number of first releases here and my overall response to this set was WOW, this is the one to have. At around $40, it is not an insignificant investment, but think of it as $3 a disc and you'll feel a lot better. Booklet notes and production values are up to Profil's highest standards.

– American Record Guide

It is impossible to talk about Sviatoslav Richter and his mastery of the piano in normal terms of speech. Each time an article on him comes out, it is liberally dotted with superlatives, reminiscent of an ecclesiastical way of speech fathered by the church and which now seems to be going out of fashion. Both critics and concert-goers associate Richter's name with expressions of wonder and enthusiasm. It would therefore seem that Richter appeals to the soul of his listeners rather than to their intellect. The present release features Grieg’s Lyryske Stikke and Debussy’s Six preludes, recorded live in Athens, Kozani, and Cosenza