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Sviatoslav Richter's 1977 Salzburg Recital Revisited · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  you This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  I'd like to invite you to subscribe to The Piano
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  Maven through my Substack page, and I've provided
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  a link to do so in our episode description. Subscribers
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  get a free download at the start of each month,
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  usually in the form of a rare piano recording
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  from my big collection of recordings. there is
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  anything that you would especially like that
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  you can't find anywhere else. But your paid subscriptions
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  help keep this podcast alive and afloat, so please
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  consider doing so. The other day, I uploaded
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  an episode about recordings of the Chopin Barker
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  Roll, and one of you wrote me to ask about...
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  a recording of the Barcarolle that I had not
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  included in my list, which was a live performance
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  with Sviatoslav Richter that came from his Salzburg
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  Festival recital of August 26, 1977. And he mentioned
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  how this recital was a particular favorite of
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  his. Concert was issued on the Orfeo label in
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  1998, and I'm not sure if it's still in print
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  or not. And to be honest, I had not listened
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  to this disc in quite a while, because, as you
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  know, there are massive amounts of live Sviatoslav
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  Richter material out there. quality of the performance
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  and the sonics tends to be variable and you just
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  have to wade through all of this to find the
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  best of richter i mean there's so many you know
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  he tends to be pretty consistent but You know,
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  you find the same works popping up over and over
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  again over the years. I think once I counted
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  something like 56 surviving Richter recordings
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  of Chopin's Polonaise Fantasy, or some number
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  like that. But that said, I think that this August
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  26th, 1977 recital is really worth talking about.
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  talking about because first of all the engineering
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  is really superb and it captures richter's tone
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  wonderfully well and it really gives a sense
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  too of the warm acoustic of the kleine fest field
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  house in salzburg and also for the most part
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  richter is on top form in this recital The concert
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  opens with Beethoven's Andante Favori, which
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  was the original and ultimately rejected slow
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  movement for Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata. And
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  although Richter made an excellent studio recording
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  of this work for EMI, I think around the same
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  time, there is a lightness and a flexibility
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  to the Salzburg performance that I frankly prefer.
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  And Richter, of course, makes child's play out
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  of the double notes and octaves. They are just
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  so suave. And the limpidness of his legato is
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  positively seductive. And you really notice the
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  composition first and the pianism second. Of
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  course, the pianism is really spectacular. Next
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  in this recital is a Chopin group. The A -flat
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  waltz, opus 34, number 1, has a nice sense of
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  line, but no particular charm. But the muted
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  introspection that Richter brings to the slow
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  A -minor waltz, opus 34, number 2, works really
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  well, and he meets out the rubato with real care,
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  almost as if a conductor is in charge. the Opus
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  34 No. 3 waltz in F major, the so -called 2 -4
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  waltz. Richter plays rather fast, and maybe he's
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  a little perfunctory about it. It doesn't have
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  the charming character of, let's say, Rubinstein,
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  to be honest. But I really like Richter's straightforward
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  and meticulously detailed account of the scherzo
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  number two in B -flat minor. And this always
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  was a piece that Richter played well throughout
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  his career. Maybe some of his earlier live versions
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  from the 50s and 60s are more ardent. have a
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  little more abandon, but Richter really does
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  wonders in how he times the phrases and transitions
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  in the trio section in the Salzburg performance.
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  It's really quite gripping. Now, I can't say
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  that I agree with our listener 100 % about Richter's
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  Salzburg performance of the Barker Roll. For
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  my taste, I think it's a little too inward and
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  sober for the most part. It lacks the rocking
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  lilt and soaring melodic shapes with which Rubinstein's
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  versions still spoil me. But Richter does gather
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  up his energy for the coda, which has real power
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  and proportion, and he ties everything together
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  really well. But perhaps it's a matter of too
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  little, too late. It's not really my favorite
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  Barcaroll, although I can say I respect it more
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  than I love it. But Richter really works his
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  tonal magic in the Debussy's Sweet Bega Masque.
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  His tempos for each of the four movements are
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  perfectly judged, and so are the balances between
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  his hands. It's a beautiful, beautiful performance.
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  The etampes of Debussy that closes this disc.
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  I think are almost as good. He plays the opening
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  pagode in a slower and dreamier style than in
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  his live Deutsche Grammophon recording from 1962,
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  which I think has more rhythmic backbone and
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  forward motion. But La Soiree de Grenade is gorgeous,
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  the second movement of this suite. And I think
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  Richter handles the textural levels like... someone
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  playing three -dimensional chess. He plays the
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  toccata -like Jardin sous la pluie with lots
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  of color and tonal shading. But it's only when
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  you compare this Salzburg performance to the
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  earlier live 1962 DG version that you realize
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  that the younger Richter's articulation is just
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  a little more incisive and crisp. I should mention
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  that one or two notes fall ever so slightly out
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  of tune over the course of this Salzburg recital.
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  I mean, there's nothing nearly so apparent or
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  blatantly out of tune that distracts in the way
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  that that live Concertgebouw Beethoven Diabelli
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  variations does from 1986. Anyway, I'm very happy
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  to have reconnected with this Salzburg recital,
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  especially for the Andante Favore of Beethoven,
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  the Chopin A minor wall, some B flat minor scherzo,
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  and the Debussy Suite Bergamasque. These are
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  my top choices of this recital, although everything
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  really is top drawer, but those are the ones
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  that I keep coming back to. So is this disc absolutely
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  essential for your Richter collection? No, not
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  necessarily. But if you do collect Richter, you
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  will be happy to have this well -engineered recital
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  in your library. I'm certainly glad that I've
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  held on to it in my collection. This is Jed Disler,
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  and you've been listening to The Piano Maven,
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  your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Thank you for tuning in, and I look forward to
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  being with you for our next episode.