Sviatoslav Richter plays Beethoven: Royal Festival Hall, 18 June 1975

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This is an astounding disc. It contains some of the greatest piano playing I have ever heard, and the most profound interpretation of what is, for me, Beethoven's greatest piano work, the Hammerklavier... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2013, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 29th Oct 2012
Catalogue No: ICAC5084
Label: ica classics
Series: Legacy
Length: 80 minutes

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 3 in C major, Op. 2 No. 3

Work length27:01

$7.00

$9.05

Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
Recorded: 18 June 1975
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Allegro con brio

Track length10:34

$3.00

$3.85

II. Adagio

Track length7:53

$2.00

$2.60

III. Scherzo. Allegro - Trio

Track length3:28

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Allegro assai

Track length5:06

$1.00

$1.30

Excerpt, Beethoven: Bagatelles (6), Op. 126

Work length10:25

$3.00

$3.90

Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
Recorded: 18 June 1975
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London

No. 1 in G Major

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

No. 4 in B Minor

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

No. 6 in E-Flat Major

Track length3:49

$1.00

$1.30

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'

Work length43:17

$11.00

$14.15

Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
Recorded: 18 June 1975
Recording Venue: Royal Festival Hall, London

I. Allegro

Track length10:55

$3.00

$3.85

II. Scherzo. Assai vivace - Presto - Tempo I

Track length3:01

$1.00

$1.30

III. Adagio sostenuto, appassionato e con molto sentimento

Track length17:37

$4.00

$5.15

IV. Largo - Allegro risoluto

Track length11:44

$3.00

$3.85

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About

The Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997) was one of the greatest interpreters of the 20th century, along with his compatriots Emil Gilels, David Oistrakh and Mstislav Rostropovich. As Richard Osborne says of Richter’s playing in his booklet note, “Bravura technique matched to high intelligence and a richly developed musical imagination is a rare combination of qualities in any instrumentalist.”

Richter made his debut in the West in 1960 with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata op.2 no.3 at a recital in New York. Beethoven’s ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata was one of the main features of Richter’s programming in the summer of 1975 in Prague, London and Aldeburgh, the latter performed one week prior to London and recorded on BBC Legends.

Richter’s live recitals catch him at his very best compared to the confines of the studio. The 1975 recital in London was considered a landmark, one of the greatest that Richter gave in this country. Richard Osborne has written in the booklet notes, “As Richter’s performance vividly attests, the ‘Hammerklavier’ is from first note to last a work of extraordinary lucidity and clear-sightedness.” The Beethoven Piano Sonata No.3 op.2 no.3 and the three Bagatelles op.126, which formed the other works played in all the 1975 concerts, attest to Richter’s great understanding of Beethoven.

This is the first time that this London recital has been issued commercially on CD in an authorised version and it is remastered here in excellent stereo.

Reviews

February 2013

This is an astounding disc. It contains some of the greatest piano playing I have ever heard, and the most profound interpretation of what is, for me, Beethoven's greatest piano work, the Hammerklavier Sonata...any musical soul will be grateful for this issue of this historical recital.

May 2013

The quietly knotty contrapuntal sequences in the first movement of the Hammerklavier boast shimmering transparency

6th May 2013

The ICA recital opens with a magisterial, commanding, textually aerated but often powerfully conceived performance of Op. 2 No. 3, possibly the greatest Richter gave of this work...There’s refined limpidity in the first of the Op.126 Bagatelles and corresponding fire and energy in the Fourth

8th November 2012

this CD, taken from the BBC's recording of the concert, conveys the electricity of the occasion and the power of Richter's playing more vividly than anyone might have dared hope. Richter's musical presence and the sharply focused energy of his playing course through every bar of the all-Beethoven programme

24th November 2012

Right from the start of the "Piano Sonata No 3 in C major", there's a great declamatory authority about his delivery...before tackling the Piano Sonata No 29 in B flat major like a mountaineer scaling an imposing range of peaks. Particularly impressive is the long third movement Adagio, like rain falling softly on the soul.

Sviatoslav Richter plays Beethoven

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