Schubert: Piano Duets / Richter & Britten
Schubert: Piano Duets / Richter & Britten
Decca | BBC | Britten at Aldeburgh | 2000
EAC | ape (img+cue) | log | 230 MB
As these electrically intense performances demonstrate, Richter and Britten, favoured fast speeds, which yet allowed crisply sprung rhythms and warmly lyrical phrasing, with phenomenally crisp articulation from both players. The two major works were recorded in 1965 in Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, the Variations in the Parish Church ayear earlier, both with clear, immediate stereo-sound balanced for radio by BBC engineers.
Penguin Guide
Schubert's piano duets were designed for the home and not necessarily the concert hall, yet why not have an audience present to share in the spontaneous, beautifully nuanced camaraderie that Sviatoslav Richter and Benjamin Britten brought to their unforgettable 1964/65 Aldeburgh Festival collaborations? Better still, why not have Decca release these performances in their finest sonic incarnation for the rest of the world to enjoy, or for ArkivMusic.com's on-demand reprint program to ensure that this disc will remain available?
The pianists face the Grand Duo's thicker, orchestrally informed textures head on, without compromising the music's linear, chamber-like give-and-take between primo and secondo parts. Other instances of this occur in the fourth and sixth A-flat Variations. Although the booklet notes do not indicate who is playing what part, I'm tempted to guess Richter on top for the F minor Fantasy, on account of its main theme shaped with artless simplicity and mesmerizing legato. However, I could be wrong! But no Schubert lover possibly could go wrong with these classic, well-preserved archival BBC recordings.
–Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
At music parties, piano duets are usually a thing to do rather than listen to, enthusiastic performances generally met with fixed smiles that wear a bit thin after a while. But in the right hands, the gems of the piano duet repertoire come alive, and you could not ask for two safer pairs of hands than those of Sviatoslav Richter and Benjamin Britten. The extraordinary thing about these performances is the sense of intimacy–you get the notion that the two players would have been just as happy making music with no audience whatsoever. But this sheer enjoyment of the act of music making communicates through performances that sparkle throughout. The recordings were made in the mid-sixties, and the sound is not so close as you would expect from a modern recording. But if you value musicality over audio brilliance, this is the recording to have. The best-known piece is the Fantasy in F minor, written in the year of Schubert's death. The opening is one of Schubert's most hauntingly beautiful melodies, his trademark major/minor shift used to full effect.
–Keith Clarke (amazon.co.uk)
Franz SCHUBERT:
Fantasy in F minor, D940
Variations in A flat major, D813
Grand Duo in C major, D812
Sviatoslav Richter & Benjamin Britten, piano duet
Recording locations:
Parish Church, Aldeburgh, 20 June 1964 (Variations);
Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, 22 June 1965 (Fantasy & Grand Duo).
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Password: gv80
Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009
EAC extraction logfile from 18. February 2010, 13:48
Sviatoslav Richter & Benjamin Britten / Schubert: Piano Duets
Used drive : MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ880AS Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\wapet\wapet.exe
Additional command line options : %d -t "Artist=%a" -t "Title=%t" -t "Album=%g" -t "Year=%y" -t "Track=%n" -t "Genre=%m" "C:\Program Files\Monkey's Audio\MAC.exe" %s %d -c2000
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
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1 | 0:00.00 | 4:20.52 | 0 | 19551
2 | 4:20.52 | 2:19.73 | 19552 | 30049
3 | 6:40.50 | 5:50.25 | 30050 | 56324
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16 | 58:47.05 | 5:40.40 | 264530 | 290069
17 | 64:27.45 | 10:57.55 | 290070 | 339399
Range status and errors
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Filename E:\Uploads\SCHUBERT Piano Duets - Richter & Britten\Sviatoslav Richter & Benjamin Britten - Schubert Piano Duets.wav
Peak level 93.8 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC B770DCE9
Copy OK
No errors occurred
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Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [707BCEBC]
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Track 14 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [E49FCB8C], AccurateRip returned [B0F98C85]
Track 15 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [85859A95], AccurateRip returned [CBADC83B]
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4 track(s) accurately ripped
13 track(s) could not be verified as accurate
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End of status report
EAC extraction logfile from 18. February 2010, 13:48
Sviatoslav Richter & Benjamin Britten / Schubert: Piano Duets
Used drive : MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ880AS Adapter: 0 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 102
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\wapet\wapet.exe
Additional command line options : %d -t "Artist=%a" -t "Title=%t" -t "Album=%g" -t "Year=%y" -t "Track=%n" -t "Genre=%m" "C:\Program Files\Monkey's Audio\MAC.exe" %s %d -c2000
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:20.52 | 0 | 19551
2 | 4:20.52 | 2:19.73 | 19552 | 30049
3 | 6:40.50 | 5:50.25 | 30050 | 56324
4 | 12:31.00 | 5:16.37 | 56325 | 80061
5 | 17:47.37 | 1:34.10 | 80062 | 87121
6 | 19:21.47 | 1:24.23 | 87122 | 93444
7 | 20:45.70 | 1:24.47 | 93445 | 99791
8 | 22:10.42 | 1:46.10 | 99792 | 107751
9 | 23:56.52 | 1:27.43 | 107752 | 114319
10 | 25:24.20 | 1:54.07 | 114320 | 122876
11 | 27:18.27 | 1:25.03 | 122877 | 129254
12 | 28:43.30 | 3:25.15 | 129255 | 144644
13 | 32:08.45 | 3:47.12 | 144645 | 161681
14 | 35:55.57 | 13:05.08 | 161682 | 220564
15 | 49:00.65 | 9:46.15 | 220565 | 264529
16 | 58:47.05 | 5:40.40 | 264530 | 290069
17 | 64:27.45 | 10:57.55 | 290070 | 339399
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename E:\Uploads\SCHUBERT Piano Duets - Richter & Britten\Sviatoslav Richter & Benjamin Britten - Schubert Piano Duets.wav
Peak level 93.8 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC B770DCE9
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [4CD3E8B2]
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [E1A27075]
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [707BCEBC]
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 2) [76D3787C]
Track 5 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [D603EDFE], AccurateRip returned [83C899F0]
Track 6 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [5686FA12], AccurateRip returned [B01BD067]
Track 7 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [915E27F1], AccurateRip returned [92C46C84]
Track 8 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [091E99E8], AccurateRip returned [32200DEF]
Track 9 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [EF52372B], AccurateRip returned [27A9E8FB]
Track 10 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [0FD839D6], AccurateRip returned [C0296B7E]
Track 11 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [F5A9EDFE], AccurateRip returned [2C37598E]
Track 12 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [B6212F28], AccurateRip returned [5FEE608E]
Track 13 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [723B541E], AccurateRip returned [DE9AE483]
Track 14 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [E49FCB8C], AccurateRip returned [B0F98C85]
Track 15 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [85859A95], AccurateRip returned [CBADC83B]
Track 16 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 4) [C905A443], AccurateRip returned [B8EE9BCB]
Track 17 cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 3) [A6D884BF], AccurateRip returned [8321462C]
4 track(s) accurately ripped
13 track(s) could not be verified as accurate
Some tracks could not be verified as accurate
End of status report