Sviatoslav Richter plays Bach Italian Concerto BWV 971 (2/2)

[Groek123]

The young Glenn Gould said he learns the Art of playing slowly from Richter .

[Lukecash12]

I want to shoot myself in the foot for saying it, but the tempo goes up noticeably. You'd be hard pressed to hear me say that about Richter.

[Geopholus]

You can count on Richter to give a profound and delicately balanced performance. He really knows Bach.. Gould was an amazing musician. But he often stumbled over his own obsessive thought process. Compare the Bass notes ( D,D ) in the Andante, Richter gently sounds them like a bell, sonorous and sweet,... Gould picks at them like an angry bird,..destroying the flow and feeling of the movement.. If Bach had wanted to make them 1/64th notes surrounded by 7/64th rests, he would have .

[NikkDriver]

needs some serious tunage

[ingullar]

Gould performed this piece more interesting way all the same... But still - it is performed great by Richter too:)

[Groek123]

@ingullar Gould himself said that he learned from Richters interpretation . He was faszcinated from Richter .

[jimbosingleton]

great performance. for me it is a revelation. it is now my favorite recording of this piece. one trusts him all the way through. no thinking. in the moment.

[FurutayoshimotoAgon]

1948！

[talaska]

exultant

[alienalienss]

Given that he admired Richter, it seems likely that this recording affected Gould's own version of the Italian Concerto. 

[385Mercedes]

Richter is brilliant, of course, but Gould is matchless in this.

[kikkimaki]

I think so many people are used to listen this from Glen Gould. You can find somethings more different in this playing than his. I remind you this is "interpretation", and also I remind you you are listening Richter who is extremely special pianist.

[Absurdistisch]

it;s too fast. like yudina's playing

[janmorez]

Nah don't think so

[janmorez]

Does he play the F# in the 3rd last measure here or not? I can't hear it it's too fast lol

[bucciflash]

Interesting that Richter apologized for playing F-sharp rather than F in the third measure before the end of the slow movement (4:24). This mistake he did through forty years (Wikipedia)

[Pischnaholic]

Listen to Yudina. This is rather tedious in comparison. "Good," of course, but offers no special insight and displays no particular character or temperament.

Gould's version may be iconoclastic, but it is so thoughtful and so artful it's completely fascinating.

The Presto fares better, because Richter is such a superb pianist, but it pales in comparison to the impudent, joy-filled romp presented by Landowska whose 1936 recording I regard as absolutely definitive.

[mltube]

Bachs music is architectonic and do not take well infusion of raw emotion. Yudinas performance is as striking as it is wrong. If anybodys playing is tedious, it is hers, as she pushes ahead ignoring the constructive logic of the piece. I am not a big Goulds fan, but savor great dexterity and zest of his earlier performance. Landowska plays a different instrument, requiring a mental illness to enjoy :-) Richter is marvelous, with real special insight the one that holds everything together.

[SsteinwayS]

Why is it bad to have emotion in Bach? I doubt that he never felt sad or happy...

[mltube]

Bach may have been sad or happy at times, Stainway, but it never occured to him to express those feelings in his music. He was writing it to get away from all that stuff, and to feed his family :-)

[SsteinwayS]

By the way, my YouTube name is based on the "Steinway" brand of pianos...so it's sort of sad you failed to spell it right.

Also, who told you that? Hear the joy and exultation in his religious vocal music and you can't think that he wrote music to be stale and money-making...if he did that it wouldn't still be so popular today!

[jonnsmusich]

@mltube You obviously never read Spitta, Schweitzer or Wolff... Better to make such observations afterwards...

[jonnsmusich]

@SsteinwayS I think the point might be that Bach sought to express the joys and pains of sacred feeling rather than profane contingencies. And he wanted the Biblical text used in the service to find expression through his music. So his music is profoundly emotional. He did it so well, I think, that the feeling comes through for everyone. Not just Lutherans.

[goethethegreat]

Thats funny, I regard Glenn's performance as difinitive.

[eilathan1]

Richter est sans conteste dans le tempo de Bach. Un réel plaisir d'écouter toutes ses prestations quelque soit le compositeur. sous le charme...

[InterBrian]

magnificent!!!

Thanks Isis Forever

Brian

[freeqwerqwer]

I started admiring Richter on Bach since he did the Prelude & Fugue books 1 & 2. His contrapuntal lines are lucid and his tones are divine.

[SsteinwayS]

I agree! In the presto movement, I especially love his attention to the forte and piano markings, which are very rare in Bach. The "voicing" (though they are often only two or three is splendid) . His technical control is ASTOUNDING! I love it. His second movement is dissapointing though...I'd have loved more rubato.

[mariafernandamusic]

Such a beatiful piece and an amazing interpretetion!!!

[SsteinwayS]

The first movement is also lovely!

[andre2av2]

why does he play so much rubato? the presto is slower the the allegro

[truecrypt]

"so much rubato"? What are you talking about?

[SsteinwayS]

Are you insane? He doesn't use rubato in the second movement, but in my opinion he should. And presto slower than allegro? Presto means as fast as possible!!

[saemundar]

I'm am totally at your side! I wondered why people think this was so expressive! I myself play this piece with much tempo changes because it doesn't have so many melody strings, and these pianos, that are so rare, mean to let the piano sing a very sad song! Nobody made me feel yet like I do playing this one. I think I will post a video of my own interpretation, if I can manage it. This can't be! I'm disappointed of the people not taking this piece serious enough...

[SsteinwayS]

I love playing it expressively, because it IS expressive.

There are two views of Bach: he wrote for the harpsichord and therefore it should be flat and boring or that it's now being played on a modern piano, so live with the expression, buster. And obviously we choose option two! Why not exploit such beautiful emotion?!

[dolofonos]

I rather believe 'It was written for the harpsichord and therefore it _isn't_ flat and boring'--Bach put enough in the notes themselves, his keyboard music is in no want of expression; that's not to say it is impermissible, only not in want. Nevertheless, I find his music more brilliant on the harpsichord; not like snobby historically informed performers who do so because it was written _on_ it, but because it was written _for_ it.

[SsteinwayS]

Yes, I agree. Looking at his vocal music and orchestral music just shows how much emotion and power he's capable of. Also, there is SO much potential for expression in Bach's keyboard music, so why do you ignore it just because the harpsichord is inexpressive itself? I think that's ridiculous.

[yekhaty]

I agree with this for a small number of Bach works only, which obviously written with many doublings in mind, such as Italian Concerto, French Overture, Fantasia BWV 904 (but not the fugue). No wonder, pianists make transcriptions of the Fantasia. Hearing these on good double harpsichord makes piano sound like a compromise. But with someone like Richter I can make exceptions! :)

[advisorC101]

I agree. And the thing is Bach was one of the few composers who's music works on just about any instrument.

There is no "reason" to not play it on the piano.

[madaboutvoice]

@dolofonos

Which/whose performance of this on the harpsichord do you think shows the "brilliance" you refer to, I'd be very curious to know. IMHO the harpsichrd cannot ever come close to displaying the emotional depth of the middle movement and I truly believe Bach would absolutely go for the piano were he able to hear GG play his music on it. IMHO

[dolofonos]

To elaborate would clearly be a waste of time; so I shall keep my answer short: _Johann Sebastian Bach's_ performance.

[Tiszt]

u miss one tempo marking - prestissimo

[danenhod]

slightly too fast.

[Terrdemarzielle]

No it's not.

[SsteinwayS]

The second is a tad faster than some, the third is definitely slow compared to how Gould plays it.

[diditrich]

Glenn Gould hated this piece, did Richter liked it? I do.

[polymath7]

Gould hated this piece? Really? I don' t suppose you can recall a source -I'd be most interested to hear what he had to say about it at length.

[nuaHucTka]

and where is the first movement?

[truecrypt]

Check Part I in "related videos" to the right of video.

[ohmygoditsjames]

i've learnt this on classical guitar - sounds amazing!

[CronosPrime1]

how much, if any, of the harmonies do you play in your guitar version? Probably just the melody, right? Which is still pretty amazing...

[ohmygoditsjames]

@CronosPrime1 like pokemon; i try to catch 'em all, but i may occassionally leave out/ miss a couple. At the end of the day i'm only a self taught tab-reader who uses classtab dot org (which is a really good advert free resource for those non-elitist budding classical and flamenco guitarists out there!) so it's just interpretations from different instruments and notation!

[geneyarovo]

@ohmygoditsjames i bet those tabs don't include all the parts though. This piece sounds like it has at least 4 independent melodies. On the guitar, I suppose that would be likely to be reduced to melody+chords.

[phnaargos]

@ohmygoditsjames

let's hear it :)

[etermami]

He is a fantastic pianist... I am playing this piece now :)

[bafr1]

this deserves 5***** , cool