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Richter at Carnegie Hall, October 1960 - The Back Story · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler and welcome to the Piano Maven,
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your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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Consider taking out a paid subscription to this
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takes you to my Substack page and the link is
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month and you help to keep this podcast going
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throughout the year back in 1996 I wrote an article
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for the magazine International Classical Record
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Collector, and this article focused upon the
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Columbia Masterworks label's rare and long out
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-of -print series of LP releases devoted to the
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pianist Sviatoslav Richter and his October 1960
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Carnegie Hall concerts. These took place during
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the pianist's first visit to North America. After
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Richter began to travel in the West, he quickly
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became an international sensation, and most of
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the major classical labels jumped on the Richter
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bandwagon, so to speak, including companies like
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RCA Victor, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, who already
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had recorded Richter, the Phillips label, and
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British Decca. Although these record companies
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generally kept their Richter material in print,
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that Columbia Masterworks Carnegie Hall series
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proved to be rather elusive for many, many years.
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The LPs went out of print not too long after
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they first appeared. And I always wondered...
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why the folks controlling the Columbia catalog
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seemed hesitant or even reluctant to ever reissue
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these recordings. After all, Richter was Richter,
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and Richter collectors are obsessive maniacs
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who will buy anything with this pianist's name
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attached to it. I should know because I am a
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reformed Richter -holic, shall we say. Anyway,
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back in 1996, is that really 30 years ago? Yes,
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it is. I decided to do some detective work. about
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these recordings. And as a result, I managed
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to uncover this really fascinating story full
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of intrigue and strange happenings behind the
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scenes. And this was due to a number of people
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I interviewed, several who wished to remain anonymous
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at the time. But for the most part, Skyler Chapin
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was the director of artists and repertoire at
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Columbia Masterworks in the late 50s and early
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60s. He then went on to become vice president
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of Lincoln Center, and later he was the Metropolitan
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Opera's general manager. And when I met him in
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1996, he was the commissioner for New York's
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Department of Cultural Affairs. So I'll tell
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you the story about how these recordings of Richter
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at Carnegie Hall came about and what eventually
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happened to them. But first, let me give you
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a little background context. After the death
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of Joseph Stalin in 1953, performers from the
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Soviet Union very gradually started to appear
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in the West. loosening up the Iron Curtain just
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a little bit, at least in terms of arts. And
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in the U .S., we started to get bits and pieces
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of cultural exchange. And this was due in part
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to the legendary concert manager and promoter
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Saul Herock. For example, Saul Herock brought...
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David Oistrakh over here, and that caused a huge,
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huge sensation, of course, launching David Oistrakh's
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international career. And the same thing happened
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with the pianist Emil Gilels. Apparently, Gilels
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told American journalists who were praising him
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to the skies, he said something to the effect
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of, hey, if you think I'm good, wait until you
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hear Sviatoslav Richter. Now, Richter, already
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was a superstar in his native Russia back in
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the 1950s. He had started getting noticed in
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the 1940s as one of the prize pupils of the great
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Russian piano teacher Heinrich Neuhaus. And Richter
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also had a close association with Sergei Prokofiev.
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He performed Prokofiev's Sixth. piano sonata
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at the composer's request, and then he later
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gave the world premiere of the Prokofiev Seventh
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Sonata, as well as the Ninth Sonata. By the 1950s,
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Richter's melodia label recordings had begun
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circulating in the West on various labels through
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all kinds of licensing agreements. And he also
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recorded in Prague and in Warsaw for Deutsche
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Grammophon, including recordings of the Rachmaninoff
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Second and Prokofiev Fifth piano concertos, some
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Rachmaninoff Preludes, works of Schumann. And
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these recordings were getting a lot of notice.
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But it was a 1958 performance of Mussorgsky's
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pictures at an exhibition recorded live in Sofia,
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Bulgaria, that turned a lot of heads around.
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And it was my late friend Harris Goldsmith who
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wrote about this recording of pictures, claiming
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it to be the best one he ever heard, or words
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to that effect. And in fact, when Columbia issued
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that recording of pictures, it quoted Harris
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Goldsmith. Columbia also brought out further
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selections from that same 1958 concert, including
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some incredible Liszt transcendental etudes.
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But still, Richter was kind of a man of mystery.
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And whenever the question came up of his possibly
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coming over to the United States. The official
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word was always that he was ill or he was unavailable.
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However, that was about to change in 1960, as
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Scholar Chapin told me. Mr. Chapin told me, and
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I quote from my article, he said, One morning,
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I saw a piece in the New York Times that indicated
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that Richter was actually coming to perform in
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America, and the tour was to be presented by
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Saul Hirok, who had a special in with Goss Concert,
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the Russian musical agency, and he also had an
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in with RCA Red Seal, which of course is now
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BMG. And between my colleague Alan Keyes, who
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was the head of A &R at Red Seal, and George
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Marek, who was sort of a guru over the whole
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RCA Red Seal A &R operation, there wasn't any
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way for me to break into that channel. However...
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Skylar Chapin had heard through the industry
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grapevine that recordings were no longer Goss
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Concert's responsibility, and he told me that
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Russian recordings were now to be handled through
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an organization called Mezhkunika, I think. which
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is known more as MK. Some of you may recall there
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was a label called MK that was bringing out a
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lot of melodia recordings in the U .S. Anyway,
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MK was a firm that also represented Russian writers,
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and it dealt with copyrights in terms of Russian
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performers. And this implied that Richter was
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free to record for firms other than RCA Victor.
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So Mr. Chapin continued. He said, I put in a
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call to Goddard Lieberson, who was the president
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of Columbia Records, who was my boss and a wonderful
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man. He had not seen the New York Times article.
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So I told Goddard that I wanted to go after Richter,
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but I would have to give Richter something. And
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Lieberson was very much against the idea of large
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advances in royalties, and his crack back to
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me was, well, why don't you give Richter Cuba?
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In the meantime, MK had an American representative
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who approached me with the idea that Richter
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might be available for recordings in America.
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A meeting was set up, and Mr. Chapin remembered
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that MK's representative was this rather odd
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character in his early 20s, and he was accompanied
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by a woman who was wearing a very revealing outfit.
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And Mr. Chapin said to me that there was an instant
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sleaziness. about the whole thing but richter
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was richter and if these weird people were the
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ones who allegedly had control over where and
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for whom richter was going to record then i wanted
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to deal with them so clive davis who was then
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columbia's lawyer and later he was responsible
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for launching the recording careers of people
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like janice joplin and whitney houston clive
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davis accompanied Chapin to a second meeting
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with these people, and a deal was made. $60 ,000
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paid to MK for the rights to record Richter's
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five Carnegie Hall recitals. But Mr. Chapin was
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uncomfortable with the deal, he admitted to me.
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He said that, well, first of all, I had great
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admiration for Saul Herak, who once had asked
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me to work for him. Now, I didn't mind beating
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somebody out of the competition, but from the
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beginning this deal had a very tacky quality
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to it. For instance, Chapin was curious how these
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concerts were to be recorded, and he told me
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that The first indication that something wasn't
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kosher was that when I suggested that Columbia
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Masterworks tape the concerts with our equipment
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and our engineers, the MK folks said no. The
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recordings were made using Carnegie Hall's in
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-house recording facility, which is a service
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available to artists who want their concerts
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taped for their own private use. It seemed that
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MK most likely paid Carnegie Hall to record the
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Richter concerts, but one source indicated that
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the tapes were made at the behest of the Saul
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Hurok organization. Anyway, these tapes were
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delivered to Columbia Masterworks, and Skyler
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Chapin had mixed feelings about what he heard
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from the very beginning. He told me that There
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were wonderfully brilliant moments, but there
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were things that could pass in a recital that
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would not stand up to repeated listenings, and
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the sound was spotty and not very good. So after
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I listened through the tapes, I told the MK representative
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that I wanted Richter's approval. I then received
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a telegram signed by Richter. who gave his permission
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to release the tapes. However, I was sensible
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enough to notice that the telegram was addressed
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from Washington, D .C., and Richter was here
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in New York. So it seemed to me that the Soviets
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were just sending their approval in the colossally
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arrogant way in which they dealt with their artists
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and citizens traveling to the U .S. So I turned
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to Isaac Stern, who was a great pal of all the
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Russian performers, and I asked him to contact
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Richter in person. So Richter wrote a letter
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to Isaac Stern in Russian, begging us not to
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release these records, that he was nervous, that
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he was not happy with the performances, and that
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it was an embarrassment. and that he would be
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deeply grateful if these tapes could be forgotten.
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So Mr. Chapin went on to tell me that there was
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nothing that I could do about the first two volumes,
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which were two double albums on Columbia Masterworks
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that were about to come out. But I decided to
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do as Richter requested, and I canceled the further
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volumes. So naturally, Columbia had invested
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$60 ,000 in this project, which counted for much,
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much more money in 1960 than in 1996. So I went
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to see Goddard, and I told him the whole story,
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including Richter's letter to Isaac Stern. I
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knew then that it was a big mistake that cost
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the record company $60 ,000, which had already
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been paid out to the folks at MK, and perhaps
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Goddard would want my resignation. So Mr. Chapin
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went on to say that, I remember vividly, and
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I will take to my dying day, the fact that Goddard
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was writing something at his desk when I was
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talking to him. He just looked up at me and said,
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You'll never do that again, and went back to
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writing. From the outset, I realized that I had
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went about this opportunity to get Richter in
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the wrong way. I left Goddard's office, and I
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thought to myself, Okay, that's the last time
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that you try to play wiseass because you wanted
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to do something to beat out the competition.
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And this is just not your way of doing things.
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So take a lesson from this. And it's a lesson
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I have never forgotten. Now, what's ironic is
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that Columbia did release volumes three and four
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of Sviatoslav Richter at Carnegie Hall. and like
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volumes one and two these records did not enjoy
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a long catalog life but in 1970 Japanese Sony
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brought out the entire Richter Carnegie Hall
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series in single disc volumes numbered 1 through
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7 because the American and British editions were
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double albums except for volume 3, which was
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just one disc. So volume 1, 2, and 4 were double
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albums and volume 3 was a single disc. But in
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addition to these, Japanese Sony issued two LPs
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worth of previously unissued material from these
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Carnegie Hall concerts. For instance, their Volume
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8 contained the Schumann C Major Fantasy, the
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Scriabin Fifth Sonata, Chopin Fourth Scherzo,
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and Ravel Jeudot, and the Pavane for a Dead Princess.
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And Volume 9 consisted of encores from all of
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the recitals. that weren't released before. The
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only encore that wasn't there, or one of the
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few encores that wasn't there, was a repeat of
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the finale from Prokofiev's Sonata No. 8. I think
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after Richter had played the whole sonata, he
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didn't feel satisfied with how he played the
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finale, so he just repeated it. Copies of these
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two Japanese discs were extremely scarce, and
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at one time they commanded... Anywhere from $125
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to $5 ,000 per disc on the out -of -print market,
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I remember. So for years, this Carnegie Hall
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series was kind of a holy grail for Richter collectors.
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I remember in the late 80s, I think, that my
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friend Tim Page played the entire Richter series,
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at least the ones issued in America. over a period
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of five days on his radio program, New, Old,
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and Unexpected. And then fast forward to the
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mid -1990s when Phillips authorized Richter edition
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and dozens of releases from independent labels
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were indicating that there was a big peak in
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the Richter market for whatever reason. there
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were questions as to whether or not Sony Classical
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should consider reissuing the Carnegie Hall series
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on CD. Because, you know, after all, these recordings
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had legitimately appeared on LP. But then, on
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the other hand, Richter strongly disapproved
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of the performances. But more importantly, it
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wasn't clear for years if Sony Classical owned
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the master tapes outright and had the rights
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to them. According to one source of mine, the
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recordings had been leased from MK to Columbia
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Masterworks for 10 years, giving Columbia the
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rights to use the tapes up until 1970. And at
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one point in the 1970s, there was talk about
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reissuing them, but by then Columbia's rights
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have expired. And then at the time of Richter's
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death in 1997, MK still existed as an independent
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firm, and they may have still been the rightful
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owners, even if they did not physically possess
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the master tapes. So this whole series remained
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in limbo. Now, the Do -Re -Mi label brought out
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an unauthorized version of the Richter Carnegie
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Hall series on CD. However, in 2015, the folks
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at Sony BMG asked me to write booklet notes for
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a box set that was going to contain Richter's
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complete live and studio recordings for RCA in
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Columbia, which would include all of the October
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1960 Carnegie Hall. recordings that appeared
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on columbia as well as some items that were never
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released before and the set also included recordings
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that rca had made on professional equipment at
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Carnegie Hall in December of 1960 when Richter
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returned to play there, as well as Richter's
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concerts at the Mosque Theatre in Newark, New
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Jersey. And there was a lot of unissued material
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there, so all of that stuff came out in the box.
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Now, I never found out what source tapes were
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being used for this box set, what their provenance
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was, but all I know is that this was going to
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be the first complete ever reissue of the October
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1960 Carnegie Hall recordings legitimately, so
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I'm very happy that they came out. Although there
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are some collectors who complained about the
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remastering and saying that, oh, they don't sound
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as good. oh, they don't sound as good on CD as
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they did on LP. And there have been some people
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who've monkeyed around with the sound and that
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they've posted their remasterings in newsgroups
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and so on and so forth. Now, are these recordings
20:49
worth hearing? Because after all, there is so
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much Richter out there in this repertoire and
20:55
often in much better sound. I think these recordings
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are well worth considering because notwithstanding
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there's Sonic and musical limitations they still
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give a strong sense of occasion and basically
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Richter is at the peak of his technical powers
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and you're hearing him in full recital programs
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without the safety net of post -production editing
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and you get a sense of Richter's willingness
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to take chances in the heat of the moment and
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these little derailments and little mistakes
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are really inconsequential and as with similar
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in -house quote -unquote in -house tapings from
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this era the sonic image conveys Richter's subtle
21:46
gradations of color and dynamics and pedaling
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as you might perceive from a good seat in the
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hall. Now the sound becomes kind of splattery
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and distorted in loudest movements which happens
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during the Scriabin fifth sonata which is a wonderful
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performance. But you also have that live 1962
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recording on Deutsche Grammophon, which is much,
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much better engineered. On the other hand, probably
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because of the slightly diffused sonics, the
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Debussy selections have this special kind of
22:23
aura about them, like the image book one. They're
22:27
very beautifully shaded and nuanced. He also
22:31
plays the sweet Bergamasque and the Lillejoie.
22:34
of Debussy beautifully, although the Ravel Pavane
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is kind of more like a dirge in Richter's heavy
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tempo. But I think that the Prokofiev recital
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is probably the high point of all of these concerts.
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Richter is on really great form. He played the
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sixth and eighth sonatas on this concert, and
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I think the eighth has a little more edge and
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spontaneity here than in his Deutsche Grammophon
23:03
studio recording. And the Schumann C major fantasy,
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I think, has a big sweep in continuity that his
23:12
EMI studio recording really didn't have. I always
23:17
felt that studio recording to be kind of bogged
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down in details. And the Beethoven sonatas are
23:24
interesting. They're very uneven, but they're
23:27
also kind of exciting. But to be honest, I think
23:32
the live appassionata, I think you get the same
23:35
kind of excitement and volatility in the studio
23:38
recording he did for RCA Victor in 1960, but
23:42
under controlled conditions. I probably should...
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go through this whole series, chapter and verse,
23:50
sometime on a podcast. But I really did want
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to tell you the whole story with Skylar Chapin
23:56
because it's just fascinating how these recordings
24:00
came about and the whole aftermath of the event.
24:05
And tell me what you think. If you know these
24:07
recordings, I'm curious about your opinion about
24:10
them. This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
24:14
to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
24:17
to piano recordings. And I look forward to being
24:20
with you next time. Take good care.