Sviatoslav Richter plays Scriabin Etude Op. 42 No. 5

Alexander Scriabin: Etude Op. 42 No. 5 in C sharp minor
Live recording, Moscow 1952

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sviatoslav
• richter
• scriabin
• etude
• piano
• classical

[Bruce88keys]

I find this messy and punchy playing I don't care if its your holy relic "Richter" this is ugly

[truecrypt]

@Bruce88keys

Something wrong with your perception if THIS is "messy, punchy and ugly". As a "personal opinion" you can say whatever you wish, but it doesn't make any sense.

[lovesGenet]

Richter was rarely kind to other pianists Vladimirviardo and Sofronitsky do better than most. .Monsai...book tells us a lot.Nothing insightful or interesting to say about Hofmann or Annie Fischer .

[truecrypt]

Very strange comment...

What Richter's "kindness to other pianists" has to do with Scriabin performance? Viardo and Sofronitsky belong to different "categories". Sofronitsky's Scriabin is unsurpassed... "Monsai... book" is not about Hofmann or Fisher - obviously you're a little confused about the subject.

[ancatiberian]

no the best interpretation is evgeny kissin

[truecrypt]

I assume you express your *personal* opinion...

Otherwise it sounds like a diagnosis.

Kissin is an outstanding pianist - may be you should outline why do you consider Kissin's performance the best.

[BrackenClelk]

Horowitz's version is more romantic... but Richter's contains more fire and insanity, which I think is truer to Scriabin's original intentions.

[camaysar222]

One wonders what Richter and Horowitz thought of each other's playing. Could there be 2 more different approaches to this piece? Richter is direct and true to the score, but always musical. (Pianists will smile that he misses the troubling high G sharp in the repetition of 2nd theme). Horowitz is all imagination and individual personality. Both are masterful! Vive la difference!!

[klausknulp]

@PIANO101528 me too!

[klausknulp]

I love svjatoslav richter very very much, but comparing to sofronitzky and horowitz he was playing this piece like a russian tank.

[PIANO101528]

i love gilels

[th3wing3dpaint3r]

I don't think comparing Richter and Horowitz's version is possible, simply because I think both pianists are incomparable to one another. Their overall approaches and goals were completely different.

Horowitz was all about imagination & reinvention. He was an artist who liked to *interpret* the music his own way.

Richter's absolute aim is always to try and convey what other people (composers) thought. He could read scores very well.

[ChrisWatch]

Listening to Scriabins personal recordings. I find his technique and speed separated from a romantic point of view. Scriabin was terror and fear and an odd moldy sorta beauty. beautiful fragrance and perfume like but pieces such as this in mind I would imagine Richter is sorta playing the way Scriabin would have played it. Kinda, but not exactly.

[wilou62]

Hello,

Wow ! It's the first time I listen this piece played by Richter, and I definately love it very much. Perhaps even better than Horowitz's. Listening to this, I feel like something burning and extinguishing slowly at the end, not without a fight. Even if its not some of the late Scriabin work, we can hear what it will become, a genius with a tortured soul, a visionnaire. Difficult to explain as english is not my native language. In one word : Fabulous !

W.

[darkblueangel1956]

E' incredibile come Richter riesce a liberare una potenza sonora così limpida, omogenea e stabile, nei punti più pericolosi di questo Studio ! Ho notato le stesse doti eccezionali anche nel meraviglioso Concerto op. 33 per pianoforte e orchestra di Antonin Dvorak. Anche in quella esecuzione ... sembra il Mago Merlino che sposta i pianeti da una parte all'altra dell'Universo !!!!!!!!!

[ggn1234]

"Affanato" (breathless) indeed!

Richter, Horowitz and Sofronitsky are the summit of Scriabin pianism.

[cbuhlayza]

Oh, Richter. Of course he'd play this in only two and a half minutes... :P

[Bruce88keys]

@jiggareactmilitant This piece has more notes than God-and a pitfall many great artists fall into is making the listener aware of that fact. Horowitz is the only performance that communicates the intensity and rich writing with grace and clarity. I love the way he suddenly finds "light" in the redemptive melody that is surrounded by Russian pathos. This etude is the combination of intracacy and passion-