Added: 5 years ago
From: bugopolo
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  • The opening octaves of the cross hands seems to "flow" here, very different to several other performances on You Tube and Bing - truly Richter was simply a perfectionist (like Lipatti) and one of the greats. Alas his later recordings seem to be circumspect and like both Kempff and Backhaus lack polish - but savor the early ones!

  • Too bad the narrator covered up the initial horn solo....

  • Exactly how many wrong notes does a person have to play before biassed idiots notice?

  • The look at 1:50 *BEAT THAT YOU UNWORTHY VIOLINIST*

  • I love this. From it a get a BIG KICK !!

    So much energy here- so much GO.

    Merci, mon JR.

  • He looks like Sgt Slaughter from the WWF/E... "and that's an order!"

  • Hola. Was Dirigent und orchester ? Gracias.

  • Richter's showmanship is just too amazing.

  • I´m not rich. I would give very much money to see the rest of the video.

  • Superb! TY bugopolo for posting.

  • Boy, he hits a LOT of clams!

    Yes, there were pianists greater than Richter but they all had "specialties;" (think Schnabel and Beethoven); for a "generalist" Richter was the greatest pianist of his time; the man could play (just about) ANYTHING!!!

  • @SatchmoSings Richter had a wide variety of repertoire, but he was still a human. For example, he did not perform some French composers, like Faure. Obviously, Richter knew his limits.

  • @kh3205 True enough but I still maintain that for an "all around" pianist Richter was still the greatest.

    Actually, I think Richter would have done a good job with Faure!

  • Watched Richter playing for the first time ! VERY VERY INTERESTING INDEED ! TOTALLY WILD, ALMOST BARBARIC PLAYING OF THE BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 !! VERY UNIQUE, I LOVE IT !! If Brahms was alive, he could have instructed the pianist to play the passage exactly as Richter played in this document ! Utterly German in spirit, bold, manly interpretation of the score, certainly one of a kind, I will get his recording right away !!

  • Richter in early morning mood,not yet warmed,(or woken!)-up.There are some gorgeous bloopers,and apparently his rehearsals could be semi-disasters,depending on mood, leading to magnificence in the evening performance.I remember this as a news clip; i think Lorin Maazel conducts. They later recorded it together with L'Orchestre de Paris,but i prefer the 1960's Chicago/Leinsdorf, very firey. This is also pre-Yamahaha Richter,thank God,he can still get some full tone!

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  • I don't want to be arrogant or disrespect the genious of richter but this 2 minutes of video are full of mistakes....maybe he wasn't in a good mood

  • @Ultrazone91 I'm quite sure this is just a rehearsal, look at the way he's dressed and at around 00:40 he closes some book that was on top of the piano, this is a very informal setting. His whole expression shows he's not even trying, just practicing with the orchestra.

  • @MaximPodolsky

    yes,very observend,i think he was reading a cheap,russian novel.perhaps something with a "Fabio .zky",cover!!!!!

    meaning,he was brilliant.on top,he took the piss out of many "critics",by playing with score,plus pageturner!!!!!!

  • At 1:52 - "How's that?!!!".

  • Ahh. This is Richter's main theme song. Always was!

  • @MrKALODIA  Yes...... it's Mesmerizing!

  • Probably is not correct to define this concert as a romantic,it's a decadentistic piano concert,if we can find a whole word for inscribe this huge work...Richter,imho,shows,with his rapsodic playing,that also a Master of the great form like Brahms,write this work like an enormous puzzle,with characteristic episode and part well defined

  • wow!!!!!!!!!!

  • Too much aggressive for a romantic work. In my humble opinion, Arrau is far better in this concert...

  • Richter is phenomenal! Might I recommend Geza Anda (with von Karajan) from 1968 on DG:

    watch?v=ol2PQCROqL0

  • There is something about this man’s playing that arrest and attracts the listener, it’s unbelievable and hard to explain.

    Please! Please ! please!

    Those who are responsible for uploading, please upload the entire concerto.

    This is like receiving a tea-spoon of water after crossing a long desert.

    We’re thirsty for more!!

  • CRISTI BRINKI

  • I was priviledged to see Richter's debut playing this concerto with the Chicago Symp. Must have been 60?Still my favorite recording..

    I had 12th row left center seats and was on the edge of my chair the whole perfornmance. Real hair on the back of my neck experience. I've never seen or heard anything like Ricther before or since.

    The conducter was Fritz Reiner. He recorded it a few days later with Liensdorf for RCA not Columbia?

    Also like Cliburn and R. Serkin. Richter stands alone!

  • Best of all recorded versions.

  • Gran energía contagiante bravo!!!

  • Richter was very special.Brahms composed from his heart and soul and Richter became Brahms when he played.

  • What I particularly like about this video is the way the orchestra all lean in attentively and in fascination from about 0:40

    They realise they are in the presence of something really quite special, and they don't want to miss any of it.

    What I also like is Richters ability to control the sound exactly. You shut your eyes and hear something quite different to what you would imagine it sounds like if you watch him without any sound. There is no waste movement, it's all about getting that sound.

  • incredible power welded to incredible musicality.

  • Powerful hands at work around 0:58

  • The other musicians look so attenciously at him.

  • Goes to show you you can have a great performance without hitting all the rights notes. At least that makes me feel better!

  • sublime

  • My god! I got this Columbia record in 1965 and listened to it every day through high-school. Amazing to see it performed. Is the full-length available?

  • his gestures are so relax and natural ; the strength comes as if it was in him before.

  • I suppose they will edit out the bungled notes at mixing time??

  • Normally, we love very little display on the faces of our pianists.(Not to fond of Lang Lang, obviously!) but Richter has a technique that it actually works with....a nice way about him and a huge talent. ....we are diehard Van Cliburn fans when it comes to THE WHOLE PACKAGE even though I hate to admit this man is more technically prof.....ahhh, I don't even like to say it!

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  • I absolutely must find these videos. Richter with Eric Leinsdorf and the Philladelphia Philharmonic (Capitol, ~1960i is the single most beautiful version. In H.S. I listened to it every night for 2 years and 40-yrs. later I'm still in love with it.

    Thank you so much for this.

  • I'm not sure exactly when this is from, or if it's rehearsal for a recording or a live performance, but it's the one concerto that Richter recorded that he was never happy with (his performance that is) and fought to keep the recording (unsuccesfully) released.

  • better than horowitz

  • great!!!

  • richter looks self-taught. and very well practiced

  • Richter set out to be a conductor and only at age 18 did he decide to be a pianist. After only a short time at the Moscow (I think) Conservatory his teacher told him "I have no more to teach you." Unfortunately, he suffered from mental illness, but a towering genius nevertheless.

  • Richter suffered from mental illness? Well that's pretty typical for people to find "mental illnesses" in genius people. He sure wasn't like Nash (mathematician), even if he had some condition it wasn't that obtrusive or anything. He was not normal? Well not normal just means not like the majority :)

  • Actually studies show "geniuses" have higher mental health than most.  Richter's genius had nothing to do with his having a mental illness

  • what did he have?

  • no he wasnt mentally ill he had depression at many periods of hes life he said its because he wasnt the person he wanted to be and that he didnt like him self..

  • homosexuality might also have been the reason.

    they were ostracized for it back then

  • and only at 22 took piano seriously....where does it say he suffered from mental illness

  • I heard this from the Juilliard trained pianist I study with.

  • the truth is that he was an excellent pianist from a very young age. And he actually had his first concert when he was 19 or smth, he talks about it in the movie "Richter: The Enigma", so I don't know where you got the "only at 22 took piano seriously". He was earning money by playing piano long before he was 22 that's for sure. It's kind of misleading, if anyone thinks he can "start taking piano seriously" when he's 22 and become Richter... All the best, but...

  • Richter started to play piano at age of 8. is father gave him a few lessons ans after he continued alone. Hi didn't have a teacher untill he got 21 or 22. The concerts that Richter gave when he was 19, he gave them just for fun, for people he knew, who liked music. When he was teenager, he got a job in some kind of theater in Odessa. He accompanied amateur singers and was payed for that, but never got an idea to become a pianist at that time...

  • I'm telling this to give some precisions.

    And just to let everybody know.

  • no hes not self taught in classical few are..and actually he did not practiced a lot at all i heard him say he never practiced more then 3-4 hours a day weird right? considering hes the greatest interpreter of the 20th century, i also know that he used with the piano a lot not playing but just looking for new sounds on the piano make it sound like a trumpet and etc..

  • i heard even 2-3 hours.

    i think thats still possible id the allocation of time is perfect. he probably had a fixed schedule of learning a new piece every day and kept track of variables such as acquisition speed, and the increase of acquisition speed with experience...

  • you are absolutely right, that's exactly what he did.

  • I love this concerto and also love Richter. Ever hear him play Rachmaninov's Prelude in Gm opus 23 No.5? And I've heard many other pianists play this concerto, my favorite being Andre Watts. But this...this is terrible! I am shocked! This must be a practice or something because I know this man was a perfectionist. Either that or he's been at the vodka.

  • i think you've been a little bit on the vodka your self..

  • And he just happened to mix it with beer.

    This was actually a recording I think, not a concert, hence the informal clothing

  • actually, i agree with you. but this is just a rehearsal. i heard watts live, and i wasn't terribly impressed either. my favorite interpretations of brahms 2 are leon fleisher and alfred brendel.

  • Who is this Digitalmunition..nut?

    What is his IQ?

    He is on the wrong forum.

    He should be banned from intelligent forums-in that way we shall get rid of him definitely-

  • i'm not in the class of most who post here. i just love classical music and this concerto is my favorite, (my parents forced piano lessons on me) in my opinion richter's tempo and interpertation is the best i've ever heard.

  • Love the way he rings out the melody from 1:00 - 1:20

  • AHhhhh that first B flat...had me right there

  • Jaw dropped .. I love this recording it's great to see it fleshed out on video. Any chance of more (or even the whole .. ) !

  • Sama grałam ten koncert i nigdy nie słyszałam bardziej genialnego wykonania niż to Richtera. Szacunek.

  • Wow!

  • richter is god.

  • Stop say bad things about Richter,he was a huge pianist,one of the 5-best pianist I've ever heard and known about,and if he was gay, what's the problem about it?If a person is gay will follow being the same person if would be "normal",I hate you talk about Richter sexuality, because I'm also gay and I know a gay person is exactly same to a "normal person" and even more,he was gay and also better than lot of other "normal" pianist and musicans, and he can do whatever he wants to do with his ass

  • I enjoy seeing Richter's or Argerich's bottoms and particularly, listening to their music far more than seeing jurmu11 sinking in his deepest sex disorders and continual "pervert's sex talk" with obscenities that he likes to spread all around him.

  • you would think that this was a hip hop or pop video reading some of these dumb ass comments grow up adults

  • One track mind pony has spoken once again!

    Ok kid, now that we know Richter's untold biography by an official source, can you please piss off, change the channel and go get your diaper changed by your daddy-gay-proffesor or else?

    Come on, do us that favor, I know you can...

  • This was a just a rehersal, try his studio recording. Beautiful!!!

  • Look I understand this is YouTube only, but their Richter negative idée fixe is over the top. By the way, I am no Richter "fan" but recently I listened more to his performances I stunned by quality and depth.

    I suppose now I can see / hear why he is hated so much by mediocre people who are even jealous (hatefully) of less successful musicians.

  • I am Rither fan as for Horowitz, Kapell, Solomon, Cziffra, Lisitza, Brendel, among others.

    Richter had a hugh personality, he embraced the audiences with his playing, not all pianists have that kind of natural skill.

    When you read about his life, he declined to go and living in USA, he declined the glamour life of New York, inseatd of that, he spend his life in an apacible place living ONLY for his music. That's an example to follow my good friend...

  • z666 is gay

  • No francorussie . I am not gay . if you have any doubt , ask your mom.

    666

  • i would like to see the whole piece, nice performance if only he would have worn a trousers that fit shirt:)

  • Damn it would be so cool to be sitting right there watching...

  • Richter = Richter (and some yt users here = vandals)

  • Not exactly his best. Still some nice moments.

  • I suppose it wouldn't be bad if you had one of the great Richter's worst :-)

  • primer compositor clasico que conoci en 1983

  • Richter's section from 1:35 to 1:50 was the most passionate interpretation of that section I have ever heard.

  • A pity it's so short. Though Richter ' s only human :-), he's genius (!!!)

  • :-) the depth

  • I believe it is Bernstein because it is linked to him. Richter is disassembling a perfectly good innocent Steinway. (By the way, I love Richter but enough is enough).

  • Yes Richter 's amazingly beautiful and beautifully amazing. As pianos :-))) I read a very interesting article about Steinway, Yamaha, and Bechstein. Very convincingly the author tells how good Bechstein pianos are and Richter had no particular striking preference for Yamaha, though he appreciated them. I'd like to test them now

  • Which recording is this???

    The Grammy-winning one???

  • Grammy recording is w/ Erich Leinsdorf and Chicago Symphony...you can't see this conductor because of the open piano in the video; maybe yes, maybe no?!

    It's certainly just a practice session and not 'the take' used in the actual disc (I have listened to the actual recording hundreds of times)...

    Wish this video were longer.

  • not even a complete portion, and impressive!

  • When he pushes the bench back and almost stands up at 1:17...cool.

    Richter means business as always!

    I also like how the orchestra is fixated on him playing, not the conductor!

  • Maybe that because it is cadenza, and they not need to look at the conductor. How does that sound? You want them to look at the walls instead?

  • Actually, this is a radio orchestra, with no audience, so they could've looked at the walls, because they didn't have to look at Richter for appearances sake. also, they're actually engrossed in what he's doing, (usually ppl don't listen with that intent) not just half- listening and glancing at the score/conductor every now and then to see if it's over yet. Remember the looks on their faces, and (if you ever get an ochestra) notice how half-interested they are in your cadenza.

  • yes not one of his good days

  • jvmalfi, where is your famous comment "argerich is better"?

  • you're so stupid argerich never recorded this concerto

  • i know argerich recordings. you should see the rest of jvmalfi comments to understand what i was talking about. you're a good match to jvmalfi.

  • People are entitled to their opinions here on the informal, YouTube. My usual comment is that Cliburn is still my favorite. Maybe a more appropriate comment than jvmalfi's "better" but still thank God for the availability of these videos. As far as a pianist having the "overall package" ....dominated by Cliburn (in our opinion!!). ...and like jvmalfi....you will see this comment everywhere!! Let us share without fear...it gets our children talking and learning. Love Arger, and Rict. Too.

  • In fact, it doesn't matter if you're/I'm a professor at Juliard or whatever. There's a reason why Richter is a legend.

  • Let's face it, Richter is one of the legends. People who are posting whatever here can say whatever they please, including me. Sure, we can have an opinion. But these opinions of yours and mine don't matter at all, and I'm sure that's nearly a fact.

    If we had such an understanding of classical music that our opinions mattered to these people, we wouldn't be posting stuff here on YouTube, would we...

  • so true,these petty commentators sitting on the toilet typing insulting remarks about great pianists-the mind boggles! i wish they went back to their shallow end of the gene pool and evaporated in the rays of the sun or[richter]?

  • It looks like being "straight" is these people only quality so they have to trash a genius to feel better with themselves!

    So let them! There is nothing they say could ever raise them and diminish such a great artist like Richter - his fame is going to stay forever and nobody remembers his sexual tendencies!

  • Richter is number 1 playing: Brahms's No 2, Rach's No. 2, Grieg's No 1, Shumann's No 1. I don't need to listen other performances, I just love Richter!

  • a true musician doesn't strain his ears in search for flaws, but rather sits back and takes in the music and interpretation. If it's TERRIBLE, then there is reason to complain.

    Me being in a family of musicians running past my grandparents, and myself being a teacher as well, would say that the Richter-hating is ridiculous. But that's just me...

  • Maybe it's just a limit of mine, but I can't understand why people shout hurrah for Svjatoslav Richter; I of course consider him a monster of technique, but thats it; I feel him gelid and in most cases also violent, brutal. It seems to me he wants to discharge some kind of interior frustration on the keyboard, without any care to the persons Brahms' (or any other composer) message is intended to. No, thanks: I still have to listen to an interpretation I like more than Emil Gilels' one.

  • bdgiusti;

    It is a limit of yours! You watched only 38 videos (as per today) and making quite a bold statement about Richter's "interior frustration". May be you need to learn a bit more before commenting on Richter's performance.

  • I'm sorry, truecrypt: I've been listening, watching and playing classical music since before I was born, having my father been a concertist. Mine is just something professors like you tend to avoid as hard as they can: an opinion. Thank you for judging it.

  • bdgiusti;

    Given your musical background (as you presented it) it's hard to believe one would come up with such. I've heard enough "arguments" about the *right* to post "negative" comments. Of course you can exercise it, but in this case I should have a right to "judge" your views. "Professorship" has nothing to do with it though... ;)

  • Dera truecrypt, I don't find anything bad in having and commenting preferences, with enough argumentation. I know Richter is one of the greatest pianists ever lived and I'd like to have 1/100 of his technique. However there's something close between he and me: there's no communication; I said, surely it's my fault. However I don't like the way he plays. ;) Regards!

  • Does any of "brilliant" Americans have ears to appreciate the depth of Richter's sound and interpretation? They just (ignorantly) ignore Russian Maestros like Richter or Gilels with their polluted tastes. Poor guys because they don't know about themselves at all how their ears are poor!

  • I'm American and I appreciate it! Not all Americans are ignorant!! at least not all of them

  • Richter must have destroyed a lot of piano strings in his life.

  • o yeah :))

  • Uhmmmmmm if you sapeak about Dmitri Feofanovich (he used to cancelled the "ich", and is the same guy, he should be now around 50 years old. He was a littel crazy person woth good hability to play piano, but with a strange technique. He studied at Mannes College.

    yt`piano7

  • there are occasional mistakes here, but they're actually quite refreshing to hear.

  • A beautiful and passionate interpretation

  • I luv this ! ! !

  • what a pity most of the videos featuring richter here on youtube are partial. i hope that his full recordings are still out there in the world

  • Exactly, a full Richter performance here is such a rarity and there are some very promising partial ones. Like the Chopin 2nd scherzo and the 4th ballad.

  • Hahaha 1:38 is sooo just waiting to happen!

    I love watching Richter play; he looked like he's just ripping and smashing the keys off the piano - and somehow played very accurately!

  • A quite wonderful pianist; I willalways regret never having heard him "live"

  • The most important thing my piano teacher ever did for me was to guide my playing in such a way that I learnt to understand what Richter was aiming at in his "objective" playing. My teacher studied with Neuhaus in the 1940s and he idolised Richter.

    It doesn't worry me that I don't have a tenth of Richter's talent. I'm happy just to listen to him. I don't think Brahms 2nd Concerto was quite suited to him, though his recordings of the Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 are superb.

  • I find appreciating richter somewhat difficult- to me he sounds somewhat montonous, mechanical and I don't like his 'texture', but I guess I feel this way perhaps because I don't understand his playing as so many people seem to idolise him..is this true?Do you need to cocncentrate more into his style of playing than you need to with the other greats? Are his variations of tone and voice perhaps more subtle than usual?

  • mehandas(1): Richter consciously aimed to be 'objective' in his approach to interpretation. It's true that objectivity sometimes leads to playing which lacks personality and individuality, but often objectivity leads to a fresh view of what is notated in the score. Many of Richter's recordings of Beethoven & Schubert sound unexpected because of sharp accents and dynamic extremes, yet when we study the score we see that this is because he is observing markings which most pianists ignore.

  • mehandas(2): It sounds like media hype to say this, but Richter GENUINELY was an eternal seeker after artistic truth and a dedicated servant of the composers whose works he played. He never had ego-trips. When his playing seems mechanical I think it's probably because he was trying hard to avoid being personal because he didn't want his personality to obscure the composer's personality. This objectivity even affected his technique (chord balancing & phrasing are sometimes 'neutral').

  • If artistic truth is hitting the keys harder than anyone else. As if artistic truth is turning music full of life into a bleak, choppy abstraction. You know what to do with your cliches.

  • mehandas(3): if you try listening to lots of Richter CDs you might love his playing - it took me several years to do so. Always remember that he questioned every aspect of traditional interpretation and never accepted the 'standard' way without re-examining the score, so often his results are unexpected. Recently I read someone (can't remember who) talking about the experience of "rediscovering something which we already knew". Listening in that way helps us to understand Richter's art.

  • thanks for the reply!- I shall try and listen to more of his work..

  • Horseshit of the first degree. Go back to writing about Shostakovich.

  • Again I find this paardelul, this time in his element, talking about horseshit...bashing one of the greatest musicians ever as usual...well I must say that this anti-Richter clique on YouTube is starting to annoy me. BrucknerEnthousiast is no longer with us, so it seems, so your comments are double useless...

  • BrucknerEnthusiast, aka Allan Ho, was a lousy liar who claimed to make big bucks for piano recitals.  He was nothing but a useless little academic in East Bumfuck, Illinois, writing shit that no one read.

  • Enough insults. Let's hear why an angry young man from the United States hates Richter so much. Is it just for the attention, or do you have a deeper meaning with your outrageous statements concerning Richter. Explain yourself!

  • That I don't have to explain, as it is very clear to everyone with musical ears, taste and knowledge.

    To be honest, I don't give a damn whether or not he destroyed Russian pianism, because his (and Gilel's) recordings are enough for a lifetime...

  • I like Gilels very much.

    I have all three of those things in scads, and I can't understand the worship of Richter. I have made an excellent hypothesis that it goes back to the mystery of the Soviet Union and the curiosity aroused by his inaccessibility to Western ears.

  • My brilliant young friend is very wrong, as great music and great musicians have a timeless quality, far removed from political quarrels. When I heard him play live the only mysterious things were his enormous expressiveness and complete dedication.

    That you like Gilels but hate Richter only tells us more about your peculiar taste...

  • well...not exactly too much. Richter is a very differnet pianist than Gillels. In general terms i prefered Guilels, but Ricghter sometimes made beautifull things.

    ytpiano7

  • You hate richter because he is gay.

  • can somebody please post the entire performance???

    it would be greatly appreciated

  • Richter is the greatest pianist of all times. There are no words to describe his pianism.

  • I respect you but I prefer Horowitz

  • Une puissance maîtrisée... les fausses notes... on les pardonne. À cette époque, les pianistes prenaient plus de risques aussi et il ne faut pas oublier non plus qu'il s'agissait ici de répétitions.lyhpcl ... what about Glenn Gould ?

  • I love Richter, but agree that here are too many mistakes. The Leinsdorf recording is superior

  • Los españoles siempre con los cojones por delante...