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From: truecrypt
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  • Stops saying nonsenses!This is the best version.No one,nt even arrau or Argerich gets this soun...It is just as Chopin was playing!He never played fortisimo and the fortes keeped relation with the other notes...I doubted Chopin would have bang the first note of the beguining like almost all the pianists!

  • As much as I love Richter particularly when he was older, on the Ballade No. 1 it will always be Gilels, then Horowitz :-))

  • I absolutely love this interpretation... though it's a bit fast, you can really FEEL what he's playing. in every part i can imagine those emotions that he felt while playing.... that's the whole point, isn't it?

  • a pianist die everytime you post an opinion. just shut up and listen.

  • "The Pianist"

  • today people coughing meanwhile Lisitsa or Kissing playing, and nothing occurs.. these years people coughing with great pianists of their times like today we all do .. that richter version sounds perfect .. little faster but really magic! .... just comparable with '66 horowitz version..

  • Someone tell me please...6:28, did he do that flat on purpose? If I remember correctly it was a b flat, not, whatever he played. I mean it sounded good and all but.

  • @thejesusfreak919 probably did

  • Hm... normally I like Richter's playing, but here he hurries a lot and the slavonic spirit of this genial composition cannot really be felt as much as it should be... Listen to Olga Scheps's recording of this, it takes 10 minutes instead of 8 3/4 but she suceeds in freeing sprit of the polish stiving for liberty for which this peace is often considered a symbol ;) Richter seems a bit as he wanted the concert to end soon :D

  • @Clavileo

    Dear Clavileo, there is no need to to open a new account to promote Olga Scheps.

    I wish her the best of luck in "freeing spirit of Polish striving for liberty"... quite a task! ;)

  • @truecrypt

    Hehe, actually I didn't open a new account only for posting this one coment - one video has to be the first :D

    By the way, how do u know it is new?

    As for Olga Scheps, it was just her recording of the Ballade that came to my mind as I like it especially and she plays a bit more ... "transparent".

    I didn't intend to attack Richter as a pianist in general, not at all ;)

  • @Clavileo I argree, if rushed the piece doesn't carry the same weight as it should.

  • @Clavileo If one version is 10 min long and another 8 - the slow places can be played way slower and the fast places way faster in the shorter version, perhaps making the performance more dramatic. Who looks at the amount of time one artist gives to a piece parsing seconds???? Is this where artistry is measured? As far as a live performance goes - this is glorious. Who are we to judge him against Horowitz, Rubenstein or anyone else? Don't judge - bask in their greatness.

  • Richter for me the best...

  • I love this.

  • richter is the best

  • wonderful sound and with great expression

  • listen the version of a chilean pianist Oscar Gacitúa, then we talk ..... really

  • @oscargacitua Lol! It's funny how your username is oscar gacitua..conceited much. And you compared to Richter resemble a small small Flea. So why don't you go practice your scales.

  • lovely opening

  • Richter is the best playing Chopin´s Ballade nº1 and Bethoven´s appassionata sonate

  • Having heard Zimerman first, I just don't really like either Richter or Horowitz for the Chopin ballades.

  • @RpianoV Zimmerman owns Chopin's ballades :D

  • The Greatest pianist ever! Not because he was some kind of pure technical "virtuoso" per se. And he was!

    Because he knows BETTER than everyone the things, which are behinds those notes, bars. The music behinds these notes, bars, tempi.

    His deep knowledge and intellect make his interpretations more deep and profoundly true simply because he know better than everyone "the details".

  • Chopin and Richter are incompatible

  • R.I.P Richter!

  • I like the fact that every note is distinctly articulated.

  • Perfect!

  • they are all great pianist in their own right

  • Richter is awesome and beautiful, but doesn't even come close to the triumph Horowitz brings forth in this piece- one can feel his sheer passion & courage this Ballade communicates. Horowitz is best in this regard.

  • Chopin coughed while was playing

  • I cried. Actual tears. And I'm not ashamed to admit it.

  • Wow, this is simply amazing!

  • Also, really, none of these musicians saw each other as "their competition," but rather like "colleagues." We're talking about actual musicians, not worthless entertainers like Beyoncé or Kanye West.

  • @mario54671 No, but every1 around them did make a difference of the various pianists.

  • Why all the comparisons between pianists? It's like comparing apples and oranges. I'll just state my opinion since so many others are out there here. I personally prefer Richter's playing because of the sound. I love the clarity and the passionate sound. Also, when he chooses faster tempos, he doesn't make it sound rushed...I really don't know how it happens. I don't dislike Horowitz, if you ask if I can play as well as Horowitz, of course not. Just my preference, that's all. :)

  • I think, it's true, that some of the great pianist has better technique, than him, but in my opinion still he is the best pianist ever

  • In the opinion of most experts, the greatest technician had Horovitz. Indisputably

  • "Do you know of any other pianist that would surpass Richter in his technique?"

    Yes - Vladimir Horowitz, Glen Gould and some others. Greeting.

  • The recording sound is horribly muffled! Pity...

  • Sounds like KGB operatives coughing morriss code messages to eachother.

  • Not sure where this was recorded but Richter loved playing in simple halls and worker's unions....in other words not grand concert halls. This might explain the amount of audience noise, coughing etc. Some of these folks might have just walked off a 10 hr shift at a cold tractor factory. God bless Richter!

  • holy fucking assholes! so many coughs. i cant believe it. those fuckers must be tortured slowly till the blood drains out fully. or clip their eyes till they die. if i were richer, i would have stopped playing and left the stage. keith jarret used to do that. he gave cough syrups to people before he played since he fucking hate those ignorant fuckers. thank god he played till the end. i love you richer. u r the best!!!

  • This performance of Richter recorded in Prague was the very first recording of him I knew. I listened and I thought: What a floating sound and how intense the poetry and how male the aggression is... But I could not grasp why this recording is so good.

    And I still cannot catch the reason. It is simply a great personality recreating music far beyond just playing piano.

  • this is simply breathtaking !!!

  • Nejkrásnější Chopinova Balada a jak strhující provedení- nevím zda je to krásným tónem nástroje, ale Richtěr vždy překrásně zvýrazní melodii, která se nese celou skladbou.

  • Hope there is a technology to filter those disgusting cough. The noise ruined the beautiful music.

  • Was there enough air in the hall?

    Rude people... How ridiculous...

  • THIS is the real Richter ! I knew he is great !

  • people that cough while this is played should be shot

  • @Nealkohol haha have snipers watching everyone and as soon as someone is about to caugh.. bam!!

  • @Nealkohol lmao...agreed

  • @Nealkohol i'm sick :(

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  • @Bruce88keys ohhh please teach me mr super moral... just stfu

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  • @Bruce88keys to me a pig is someone who thinks he has more value than others.. and youre taking my saying just too serious..thinkin youre so perfect. guess youre just an old bitter man..

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  • @Nealkohol

    Perhaps a shot would be a little bit loud.

    I´d prefer removing that person with a hook from the roof, pulling through the neck and then leave him hanging as an example for the others to be quiet.

  • @guweck haha, that made me laugh! The worst i've ever heard from a coughing perspective is a video (it's on YT) of him playing Ravel's Pavanne....

  • @Nealkohol

    I've come to appreciate things on YouTube.

    I was at a piano concert once...and MAN. All these folks kept whipping out there little packets of mints and gums -- so much noise. I also remember at a climax/end of a piece (honestly, 10 seconds before it finished), this lady just leans waaay over to her left and starts whispering something to the person next to her. WHY!?

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  • @Nealkohol I don't understand it either.... but what you can do....

  • @Nealkohol

    1000% agree!!

  • @Nealkohol I coughed :)

  • For me, this is the best interpretation of chopin ballade 1

  • @naoishe

    I think you have very little understanding of rubato among many "other things". 

  • @truecrypt Strange comment from this naoshe, unfortunate :-)

    It's Richter the genius, a gift from above - and still the nonsense keeps boiling up to the surface like scum...

  • Terrible mistake at 4:44 on that high A chord. Just saying.

  • @TheMrClamberto Well I guess greatness comes from our noticeable little imperfections. I bet you don't happen to have any shortcomings. Regards.

  • @jeffatross I'm just saying that there are much more reasonable places in this piece to make mistakes, such as the part at 7:35. Of course I have shortcomings, but not when it comes to such a crucial (and not very difficult) chord like the one at 4:44. Also, when it comes to a professional, published recording, the tolerance for mistakes goes down to nearly nothing. That mistake is far more than nothing.

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  • @TheMrClamberto

    Thank you for pointing that out! It always makes me happy if a great pianist makes a mistake- they are human too! Best regards

  • How many people posting here play the piano? Anyone from NYC area?

  • 4:41--5:10

    Yah it made me cry

  • In short, we wouldn’t be blessed with what I feel is the essence of the music- Sviatoslav Richter! Richter’s Chopin Ballade No.1 is one of earnest quality, deeply serious, committed toward conveying the overall meaning of the piece. It is richly satisfying, direct, assertive and going right to the heart of music – in a word, classic.

  • What I love about this piece is the definitive air of sensitivity and more as it progresses to the end that it’s hard not to sense that something, someone is in great anguish/tribulation. If it weren’t for sensitivity in its various forms, along with our unique capacity for imagination, we would have neither music, nor art, nor religion.

  • neither mr. music critic or ness or whoever else spent more time than necessary being super smart on youtube have ph. D's in 'Extremely intelligent discourse'

    so people should learn to be the better person and just not reply

    because whoever has the last word is usually the bigger loser

    r.i.p sviatoslav richter

  • Fantastic!

  • probably the best version ever? Rubenstein's is great too. Horowitz just doesn't cut it. Richter is just.... amazing here.

  • from 7:20 on...oh my freakin' god. richter was genius...

  • God! I normally don't like Richter so much. But this is the best version of this piece I ever heard! The man had a idea about what he plaid.

  • That coughing is so fucking disrespectful. I never hear people cough like this in an average day..

  • Рихтер бесподобен.

    На мой взгляд, данное произведение ему удалось лучше чем Горовцу.

    Любимый мой исполнитель. Гений.

  • How the hell does he play that coda like he does

  • @shottykirby yeah man....you never walk alone with your questions...how the fuck can he only play that coda as he does?...interesting point that ; this is a concert record, one could take for granted that, he was in stress there....how could he play it in his "practice room" ?....

  • Wow. Lots of bitching on this page. I don't care who plays it: CHOPIN = GOOD. Thnx for posting!

  • On Richter: Artistically, it's powerful & a fantastic gesture of chopins emotion at the time of composition. Mechanically, not outstanding. One way or another, though, a timeless, glorious piece of music.

  • @lehrent Mostly true. Rhere are some parts of each master's interpretation that are, IMO, the better one. I love lots of parts in Horowitz's interpretation though sadly he's inconsistent. Rubinstein's the "standard". Richter's nice with this interpretation. If only someone can play and mash all the good parts of their interpretations.

  • Entremont, Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 (1959):

    watch?v=UDtFvJziKjg

    regards

  • You know enough to judge Richter? Richter is one of the titans of music and piano.

  • Why do people try to compare great pianists? Each one of them is pure genius in his/her own way. Of course that different persons prefer one over another, but having discussions about your preferences is stupid. WAKE UP, PEOPLE. Oh, and to clarify, Horowitz once said: "Of the Russian pianists, I like only one, Richter.", so that discussion about who's the greatest pianist would seem stupid to him.

  • @Ruimanuk Not really, criticism is one of the most significant pillars in performing arts.

  • @musiccritic1910 I can't help but laugh when i see read some comments saying that "Richter's technique is not so elaborated" OH GOD! And they say that because he made a few mistakes!Those people saying Richter's technique is "not as good as horowitz's or Asheknazy's" clearly don't know anything about the REAL technique; for them, the technique is gained when playing scales, or some czerny excercises. They don't know the real meaning of technique. I agree with you in all the things you mentioned.

  • Chopin as it is, as it supposed to be.

  • @musiccritic1910 "@ness8135 It is sad that you have studied piano but did not learn anything.." Have you ever studied piano? No? Then shut the hell up.

  • @ness8135 Are you the only one bestowed with a privilege to reason about the classical music with a savory of insolence and boorish impudence? I claim that your vocabulary then does not reveal the sophisticated person, rather a self-center, foul-player lunatic.

  • @musiccritic1910 Addendum to my comments....for you being homosexual will not make you a pianist: :))

  • @musiccritic1910 Of course not, only people that actually know what they're talking about can have more depth in an opinion. That is unquestionable. Congratulations on owning a thesaurus. By the way, 1. "savory" as a noun is a herb, so it makes no sense in your comment. 2. It's spelled "self-centered". 3. Foul-player is not an adjective, so try again there too. 4.Anything I said in that brief sentence can impossibly be used to describe me as self-centered or a foul-player.

  • @ness8135 Dear looser homosexual, I apologize for minor misspellings yet it does not signify the riddance of your remarks from the savour of not only the insolence but plebeian ignorance….. I am not surprised at all, because instead of spending your time in the silence of the libraries harvesting the wisdom you spend your time in vain making ridiculous, attempt to lisp on Richter’s performance.

  • @musiccritic1910 I certainly agree with many of your perceptions and your general evaluations of musicians, etc. Bravo!--for what it is worth to you. However, I can't help but wonder what you are doing to increase your already profuse knowledge of music if you spend so much time subjecting yourself to the "plebeian ignorance" that infiltrates YouTube. I might comment on a few things occasionally, but I certainly have better things to do. Continue fighting the morons for as long as you wish!

  • @Musicbiz1 Dear Musicbiz1, Thank you for the support. I would not even bother on commenting and I would not initiate an argument with “ness8135” but I could not stand his disdain and complete arrogance while talking about Richter. I cannot pass by when the memory of such musician as Richter is being humiliated. In a way it was my duty to show him that the rebuke will be immediately retaliated at any of the comments vilifying Richter.

  • @ness8135 Why don’t you conceal your presence, I pray you to withdraw since I can no longer stay the whiff of your comments…

  • @musiccritic1910 Seriously, put down the thesaurus. " the riddance of your remarks from the savour"? That makes absolutely no sense. And stop using definite articles where they are not required. It's not misspelling, it's poor grammar. Before you claim that my single remark about Richter has kept me away from studying, consider that you spend much more time looking up insulting words about people that know more about music than you ever will, you hypocrite. You've been outwitted again.

  • @ness8135 Do you even know what ballade is?

  • @ness8135 And how dare you do judge Richter, that is my second question. WHO are YOU????????????????? (besides that you are mammal and classified as vertebrate)

  • @musiccritic1910 I am a classically trained pianist. I've been playing since I was 5. I know more than enough to judge Richter.

  • @ness8135 Oh, I am soryy!!!!!! I am so sorry that mistreated you so badly, Mister Wolfgang Amdeus.....

  • @ness8135 I saw that you are from the Netherlands and that explains a lot…are you under the fumes while trying to judge Richter and teach me English grammar? What an arrant knave!

  • @musiccritic1910 A knave is someone without principle of loyalty. Again, that does not apply. I've lived in America and England long enough, and furthermore studied english long enough, to know how to spell and make coherent sentences. You might insult me again, but so far you've made countless errors and I've made none. You don't know music or language and are obviously jealous of those who do.

  • @ness8135 I know that you did, mu beloved friend, but you spent all that time in vain!!! Better if you swept the streets all that time…our cities would be much cleaner then.

  • @ness8135 Hold your reply,cretin, you entertain me no more.

  • @ness8135 “Savour of insolence” is not a herb but the figure of speech in English language, in the language of Shakespeare, moron.

  • @musiccritic1910 Only when savour is used as a verb. Owned again.

  • @ness8135 I said it was dicrepancy. I was glad to enrich your primitive vocabulary anyway.

  • @musiccritic1910 I assume you mean discrepancy, but alas wrong again. There is no dispute when it comes to expressions like this.

  • @ness8135 Do you want $1000 bet on this?

  • @musiccritic1910 Oh, by al means! Enrich my vocabulary. Anybody can grab a thesaurus and spout irrelevant insults. No academic would ever brew up so many ungrounded insults. Honestly, you have made it abundantly clear that you have a poor knowledge of music & the English language. On top of that, you have made countless errors in logic. Bottom line: I know what I'm talking about and you don't. I'm done with this. I can't believe I stooped to your level.

  • @ness8135 Psychiatrists are usually available by appointment, so you can call them any time and they can cure your illness. Yet the self-centered narcissism and delusion of being significance, underestimation among the peers are very hard behavioral abnormalities to deal with. I am sure that there are some good Jewish doctors in the Netherlands.

  • @musiccritic1910 Look, your ungrounded insults don't bother me at all, or change a thing. I just thought that you should now that as a so called "critic", you should try to be a lot more objective & back up your opinions with actually relevant arguments, instead of blurting out pointless insults.

    By the way: "delusion of being significANT", not significance

  • @ness8135 “Indignant Voltaire silenced in the presence of monk”. For you not being considered a serious opponent I vouchsafe no discourse about the classical music; you are just a source of jokes for me since you are the perfect example of arrogance and ignorance. Indeed without the fools our life would be too boring. Get a book and start reading and reasoning.

  • @ness8135 Do you want me to inform you of all of your English mistakes? Do you even know whom are you talking to ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha))))))))))­))))))))))). Your childish ignorance exceeds even your arrogance.

  • @musiccritic1910 Dude, you've been outwitted. Just leave it.

  • @ness8135 For me being a critic of music my destination is not to "outwit" the philistines but to elucidate the truth. (if you need my assistance for you to comprehend this phrase do not hesitate to ask ).

  • @musiccritic1910 It seems rather that your goal is to insult all that do not agree with you. You asked me "Do you even know whom are you talking to?" (By the way, that would be ending a sentence with a preposition, another English no-no) While this is not a game of "who the hell are you", I know you can't possibly be a critic, because you "elucidate the truth", whereas critics offer convincing opinions. Feel free to correct me on my grammar, by the way, I always stand to learn something new.

  • @ness8135 I have only one question. Why do you think that Richter’s technique is not elaborate? I mean, where are you senses? Do you know of any other pianist that would surpass Richter in his technique? Every sound of Richter is crisp, precise, of an ideal tune and length. What is your problem? Can’t you hear that?

  • @musiccritic1910 he can hear it but he cannot bear it...

  • @musiccritic1910 Not exactly, Horowiz is one leauge above then the great Ricther in any aspect, although it takes a lot experiance to understand and hear it.

  • @surrealillness

    Way to be condescending. Personally I favour Arrau's interpretation over any other, although mad props to any pianist who can play this well.

  • @musiccritic1910 look!! i understand ness8135!! ness are looking to his nose when the philosopher is showing the moon! i listened a lot of to richter this last days!! and actually i just found it was not "perfect"!!! uhmmmm probably the quality of the record! but also something in the technic!! but!! it's may be just normal :) the flow of the music is so large that there is no need to control it!! i think he just open his heart and make us touching it!!! but everybody is not so courageous enough

  • @musiccritic1910 I agree but Richter is not exactly technique-first pianist like Ashkenazy for example.

  • @Freddran

    Just check size of repertoire- Richter played almost all music... looks like you are played not to much recitals....

  • @celloshed wtf? I've played a few. But that's not the point. I was just pointing out his style. I didn't mean that his playing is somehow bad. Some pianist are more interested in tone color, some in brilliancy. It depends. If it offended you, I apologize :-P

  • Arrau is so much better

  • @musiccritic1910 yes, that's why he made over a dozen mistakes and didn't hold the pedal over the last three chords as indicated in the score

  • @retrogamerdave he clearly had more soul in a hair on his arse then you have in the whole of your body. Delete your account.

  • @jazzbox111 dude, I'm not making an objective criticism of Richter. Many of his recordings are excellent

    this one just highlights performance jitters. Good thing Richter didn't have a memory lapse in this performance. You know that's why he decided later in his career to always play with the score. What really pisses me off is when people deify pianists and can't view them objectively. Even Krystian Zimmerman is starting to lose it i his old age. Don't be a fanboy. Have an open mind.

  • @ness8135 Richter was a favorite pupil of Neigaus, and I agree that Neigaus saw him a romantic embodiment of music for which Richter was a perfect fit. But being romantic does not mean a clumsy porridge-like sounds (something you hear from the modern mediocre “pianists” like Chang-Chang), it means a gust, a mental turmoil which fits the Chopins’s spirit perfectly.

  • @musiccritic1910

    Neuhaus you mean...

  • @djfunked Neigaus is a way of transcribing Neuhaus from russian script

  • @ness8135 Or, perchance, in judging Richter you give an utterance to your jealousy?

  • @musiccritic1910 Congratulations on sounding slightly more objective, but your first and third comment are still obviously aimed to insult me. In my opinion,the problem is that the dynamic and tempo in the performance, are in many measures played much differently from how it is written in the composition. You might still have a beautiful piece, but in this case, richter's own interpretation clashes negatively with the emotion that is embedded in the song & that Chopin was trying to express.

  • @ness8135 Don't criticize people's sentences if you use a dependent clause and omit the verb and the pronoun. You can't say "another" because there was no precedent. And usage of a preposition at the end of a sentence isn't always wrong. "Talking to" is a prepositional phrase. As Churchill replied to people bitching about his usage of prepositions: "That is the sort of thing up with which I will not put!" (You don't learn jack watching the Big Bang Theory, it's just a fun show)

  • @michielgrillet Christ, I thought that I was a grammar Nazi. Cheer's to enforcing others to learn how to write properly! lol

  • I really love this piece. Now I'm confused as to which one made the best interpretation - Ricther, Horowitz, or Rubinstein. If only Chopin were here to judge or make us hear his take on his piece...

  • @NFIn843v3r  Zimmerman for me :)

  • genious

    

  • genious!

  • Unsurpassable chef-de-oeuvre of performance art, absolutely divine overtones and romantic waves surrounding, and filling the soul with grace and beauty. FOR THE MEDIOCRE CRITICS: will you please shut up.

  • tooo good!

    the bad recording doesn't matter, if so a great pianist play

  • the people, who listen to the concert smoked a bit too much :D

    great pianist!

    although the recording isn't so good because it was recording a few years ago^^

    its so delicious to hear!

  • High end artists like Richter and Horowitz laught at their mistakes and certainly don't have our obsession for perfection and comparison. I see nothing wrong with this extended utilization of rubbato, well balanced overall, i like a lot.

  • @AgerMusica: ironic considering Richter was HIGHLY perfectionist

  • best coda i ever heard after horowitz

  • OOOHHH !!!! WHAT a narrow minded CELLS are here ! talking about MISTAKES ... IS THIS CAPITAL JESTING ? OR YOU JUST CONFUSED , AS YOU FIRST TIME LISTENING & GET, AT LAST. . . WHAT MEANS GENIUS !?!? astronomo 16 !!! ASAP LOOSE your IDIOTIC & CHEAP "comment "... your "knowledge" about Art in general in level of z class..p.s.turn on some electric - piano & enjoy automated playing without ANY MISTAKES ... YOU DESERVED THAT ! NOT THE RICHTER !!!

  • It may partly be the sound quality -- no criticism intended, thanks for posting this performance! -- but this reading has a brooding feel to it that I find completely drawing me in. Rubinstein and Ashkenazy have their takes on it, moving emotionally and technically valid, but I think I would like this Richter for that introspective quality alone, and of course there's a lot more to be said for it.

  • Not too fast,it's inevitable

  • i love it

  • Нет пианиста прекраснее Рихтера!

  • WHO on Earth dares to cough during such an outstanding performance!? Shut the hell up god dammit!