Sviatoslav Richter - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Sonatas Nos. 22 & 23 (2004)

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Sviatoslav Richter - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Piano Sonatas Nos. 22 & 23 (2004)

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These Beethoven performances were recorded in 1960 during Sviatoslav Richter’s first tour of the United States, and they sound marginally fuller and more vivid here than in RCA’s deleted Papillon series transfers. The C major concerto has a lot to recommend it. Richter’s Olympian command and control of the keyboard, tonal solidity, and emotional reserve remind me of the Michelangeli/Giulini and Pollini/Jochum versions from nearly two decades later. Charles Munch’s robust and powerfully projected accompaniment proves how underrated this conductor was (and still is) in the central German repertoire, although Szell’s sharper accents and astringent textures better suit the music’s witty subtext. I’m still bothered by Richter’s sentimentalized first-movement entrance at a slower tempo than the opening ritornello establishes, and by that unnecessary cut he makes in the cadenza.
Richter intones Op. 54’s opening theme in measured breaths that give the dotted rhythms their full due, only to speed up and pounce on the triplet octaves that follow. It’s almost as if they’d been pasted in from another sonata rather than emerging from what came before. Perhaps Richter’s fleet pace for the second movement overshoots Beethoven’s Allegretto marking, yet the poise and clarity are still remarkable. If you follow the Appassionata with score in hand, you’ll quickly realize that the high-handed tempo modifications and distensions of phrase are Richter’s rather than Beethoven’s. Such pianistically-oriented liberties usually give the music a sectionalized, stop/start quality that undermines the structural unity and forward momentum that Schnabel, Serkin, Gulda, Goode, and Rubinstein (his stereo version) proudly reveal. But Richter’s concentration and astonishing facility draw you in, shake you up, and leave you awestruck (nobody unleashes the prestissimo coda at Richter’s insane clip–because they can’t!). And for all this interpretation’s volatile drive and dramatic extremes, it’s never vulgar, largely due to Richter’s technical finesse, innate musicality, and intense conviction. Powerful stuff.