Sviatoslav Richter plays Schubert-Liszt "Erlkönig"

[EC1M]

@jefftam1234 - Martha cancelled her latest Tokyo appearances... I had tickets.



[mycatsapunk]

Try Hofmann's recording (1913?), it's diabolical! I very much like Richter's playing as well. In fact, I think it's my favorite by Richter.

[EugenArbrakh]

Richter is wonderful... but I personally prefer the original tenor version!

[MySolmyr]

If I knew how to play the piano, I would find my self a new hobby. It may not be wise to compare but this is by far my favorite interpretation. Freakishly beautiful. Schubert's death was probably the most untimely death. Each "Lied" he composed is a true work of art. Those poets are the luckiest poets on my account. And Liszt is the perfect middle-man. Very briefly, THANK YOU for posting.

Thank you for posting.

[chizchizchiz]

the first few seconds actually sound like something by a rock band.

[paulostroff99]

Sensational.I would doubt it ever played better. TY tc for posting.

[fallenscripture14]

there must be 2 people playing this rite??

[Spiritakis]

Overblown and somewhat meretritious, but very dramatic and with some fine insights into Schubert's original. Still, the piece gains enormously from slower tempo and better articulation. Considering that I am no Richter fan - rather the opposite actually - very enjoyable recording, easily transcending the poor technical quality.

[willwei98]

is this all with one pianist???

[marcohorowitz8]

@willwei98 yep  just one pianist Richter

[willwei98]

is this all with one pianist

[franco96544]

Incredibile!!! non è possibile.. altro che tre mani: sembra un orchestra intera! raramente uno strumento fa venire la pelle d'oca, ma questa interpretazione riesce a ....emozionare, sussultare e quasi desiderare che arrivi alla fine!!

[MeganMcGraw]

smoke a joint and listen,the music is so neat

[4785689]

00:01? wrong note?

[paulostroff99]

Awesome

[unalegeli]

very nice

[Gargantupimp]

Liszt did like 50 schubert songs, according to Alan Walker the publisher was selling them like crazy so he contiunally demanded more and more

[mycatsapunk]

The Erlkonig may also translate to 'Alder King'. The Erlkonig is a Goethe poem written 1782? The short poem is fascinating and can be found on Wikipedia. It is about the terrifying journey of a man and boy/his son. Try Hofmann's recording (1904).

[silverbud]

I always thought Erlkönig means the devil who chooses to take a young unspoilt soul from earth. I may be wrong though.

[McTomson]

@silverbud

he's just a 'normal' allegory to death, kind of natural being.

[OrangeSodaKing]

Ha! The original Schubert version is hard enough... But of course this was Liszt.

[uhartchristian]

its a piece lots of pianists don t play as too difficult.

This interpretation is really astonishing. Richter goes to the last possibilities of big sound without breaking his muscles.

He would not have been able to ply this when older as his technique possibilites regressed. The last recordings show a richter with quite some problems.... (Horowitz too... only Martha Argerich continues to play as if she would still be very young....)

[pila406]

@uhartchristian An a diamond, brilliant comment.

Although he had few mistakes when he was older. I still prefer the newer recording due to more interesting /better [to my eyes] interpretation.

[jul54jazz]

@uhartchristian afaik martha never played this piece ?!

[uhartchristian]

@jul54jazz don t know if Martha argerich did play the Erlkoenig but there is a recording with Sofronitzky. Very interesting recording. I can recommend everybody to listen to Sofronitzky and Maria Yudina. Both were exceptional musicians with astonishing technical capacities. I have in my playlists all I could find from them.

[resonantdave]

@uhartchristian Eh, Martha is slowing down. :/

[jefftam1234]

@resonantdave uhartchristian was talking out of his ass.

[jefftam1234]

@uhartchristian That not true AT ALL! She by and large retired from solo recital because she didn't feel comfortable playing at the level she was at before, also she went through huge surgery after the breast cancer battle she had. You can watch the interview about her (it's right after the part where she played the jazz assemble).

She is still a great musician, and is playing along with Kissin for 2 piano concert later this month in Tokyo. But please, check your facts before make any claim.

[Akkun1157]

最初が痛いなぁ・・・

あと所々にミスがあるな・・・

[adelfiano]

What a beautiful treat!! Thanks for posting.

[sprund2009]

If you want to hear the original Schubert song, look down the Related Videos and you'll see a young and fat Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing it. A bit crazy translating it into a piano solo. But then Liszt's taste wasn't always perfect.

[Toxxic88]

Ok is it just me or did he mess up the beginning? ...amazing performance nonetheless *****

[OrangeSodaKing]

Lol yeah he did mess up... But it's still good haha.

[frecklesmich]

From what I remember from learning about this piece a few years ago, the title translates as 'Earl King'. The song is a narrative about a father and son riding through the woods on horseback (you can hear the galloping portrayed in the left hand octaves), and the son is trying to tell his father that the Earl King is trying to take him away. However his father does not believe him, and finds his son dead in his arms at the end of the journey.

[TwelfthRoot2]

@Sephirothson, I think ksmoonbeam is correct, "The Elf King"

[benji104]

It's a german poem and a german (like me) says "Erlkönig" which has no obvious meaning. We don't say "Elfenkönig" which would mean "elf king". So "elf king" is a kind of explanation and not a literal translation.

[Obversity]

Wiki it. The title is a mistranslation of the danish word for elf-king. Assuming wiki is correct, this confirms my other sources.

[McTomson]

is this the man with three hands?

[truecrypt]

Dear maxtanz;

Poor and tasteless comment ("half-brain") on your part... Actually a brainless one...

[maxtanz]

dear truecrypt, se lo dici tu...

[gerryrains]

@maxtanz

Go read the article on Richter in Wikipedia. Most importantly, read the statements about Richter from his contemporaries. My favorite comes from Vladimir Horowitz, "Of all the Russian pianists, I like only one - Richter" Then read Van Cliburn, Rubinstein et al. When you are as good as them then your opinion is worthwhile. Otherwise I have to assume that your lack of knowledge and ear drums just won't do.

[SimonSpieltKlavier]

@McTomson:

sounds so, doesnt it

[jimbobsmaug]

Is this really Richter? I don't see this listed in the comprehensive Richter discography on Paul Geffen's web site, and have never known it to be part of Richter's repertoire. Does anyone know about the provenance of this performance?

[christophleipzig]

This is a good question!

[micheldvorsky]

It's Richter alright. I have the whole recital. He played Schubert Bb Sonata, Mussorgsky Pictures, and this piece. It's a fabulous recital. Interestingly, a lady announces the pieces before each of the performances.

[bratupir]

@micheldvorsky it wil be nice to post it

[weikko79]

Richter says himself in the interview with Bruno Monsaingeon that this is one of the very few transcriptions that he has performed in public.

[benji104]

I don't remember this!

[ksmoonbeam]

Title translates to :"The King of Elves" Schubert compsed the orriginal, the arrangement consisted of solo voice and piano. The solo voice preformed the poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Frank List transribed the piece for just solo piano, heard here. It is so amazing how musicians inspire one another, Lizst admired Schberts work greatly.

[smallfilou]

Thks ksmoonbeam, except Liszt is not written neither List nor Lizst, and Schubert not Schbert....

[Obversity]

The content of his comment is informative, and from what I can see, accurate. Why bash his spelling?

[soami2u]

All the drama, terror and tragedy of Schubert's great song is here. Thanks for another rarity of Richter's magnificent playing!

[Ecthelon]

His playing is so clear! Amazing

[geoslav]

sounds like mine...

[liszt111]

this is great, one thing I don't get is why he breaks the legato, are those schubert's or liszt's markings? or is he emulating human voice with some of the pauses?

[wehwalte]

dear truecrypt, can you tell me what was the year of this recording...i have a doubt...

[truecrypt]

December 8, 1949 in Moscow. Live recording.

[weikko79]

Incredible! I had no idea so early live recordings of Richter existed...

[flugelmaniac]

I find the Erlkonig one of the most taxing thing to play............and that's just the standard lieder piano part.

It's maintaining the fast repeating almost totally unrelenting right hand octaves that

make this composition notorious amongst pianists.(many cheat and split the octaves) This solo transcription sounds fiendishly difficult......I take my hat off to anyone who can carry it off as well as this, albeit

with a few wrong notes here and there.

[prongated]

...I think the octave 'passage' is regarded by many pianists to be the most difficult and taxing in at least the entire mainstream piano repertoire...so you're not alone =)

[pianopera]

Yeah, really stupid...the remaining 3:52 was quite good though.

I would rather buy (and drive) a Richter-Jaguar with a dirty spot on it than a spotless Howard-Toyota (that is, if I would have enough money to choose).

[weikko79]

All I hear at 3:52 is applause. That was the only good part in the performance in your opinion??

[pianopera]

No, dear weikko, all I meant was "the rest of the performance". Why can't I include an ironic smiley on YT when I write an ironic comment? ;-)

[caijpp]

Is " ;-) " your ironic smiley?

[pianopera]

NO ;-)

[caijpp]

A double negative? How can I ever trust you again?!

[pianopera]

Don't forget, sunflower: minus x minus = plus! :-)

[caijpp]

My compliment to you, dear monk. Math is beautiful, isn't it? Will you take someone else's compliment on your beautiful playing even though he can't express it on your videos?

[pianopera]

Now who might that be? ;-)

[caijpp]

Probably the last person you would expect to hear a praise from...

Erwin, will this ancient war ever end?

Strange that I chose to stop fighting...

[pianopera]

I am not at all glad that Smith praised one of my performances, I know his incoherence. Though it's nice of him to openly admit that he liked (some aspects of) it.

[caijpp]

How nice of you too! If a beggar on the street tells you that he is truly touched by your playing, will you tell him you're not at all glad of his appreciation? Please imagine me as that ignorant beggar and from now on, dismiss all my applauses...

[caijpp]

By the way, in your standard I'm probably more incoherent than Smith, so you can dismiss on this term too.

[pianopera]

I had a long history with Smith, and this is not the right place to discuss it, nor is it your business.

[palcsi]

No more than spots on the sun.

[palcsi]

Almost every time I hear Richter playing something technically difficult I always have the impression that he is not playing with ease, and that it is an excruciating struggle and physical burden. But I have to say that he always seems to come out victorious in the end.

[pianopera]

That's strange, especially in his earlier recordings I almost never have this impression, I am on the contrary impressed by his fluency and quasi-effortlessness.

Here, he's close to the limits of what is physically possible.

That said, Frederick Lamond's amazing version of 1919 (possibly on a lighter instrument) remains my favourite.

[francescaemc2]

Richter's Schubert is unlike any other. Knocks my socks off and always has.

So exciting without loosing any of the fine points of the music.

[sagalat]

Manic driven yet not wayward. Richter's usual superb sense of total construction; and who ever heard a 3:12 like this?

[weikko79]

A great discovery yet again! Where did this come from? Richter called this one of the four or five most difficult piano pieces ever composed.

[RabidCh]

"Technical difficulties of this order are harmful to your health" (transl.)

[truecrypt]

My friend from Italy sent me these files.

[celpiano2]

FranzFrenerecLiszt?

a.k.a Lorenzo

[truecrypt]

oh, no! he is mostly specializing in Leslie Howard ;)

[mecagoenlapichorra]

Dear Truecrypt. Thank you so much again. You are the man. I had a little request, if you may... Do you have any recording of Richter playing Wagner/Liszt Isoldes Liebestod? I play and admire this transcription and I heard that Richter, since he was, actually, a trully wagnerian, had this piece in his repertoire. Thank you again for givin us such wonderful pleasure.

[truecrypt]

I wish I could help you, but I don't have such recording... I'm not even sure it exists.

[mecagoenlapichorra]

maybe Liszt73????? Well, he is also a Leslie Howard specialist :-P