Sviatoslav Richter - Concerto Edition (2011)

A generous and adventurous collection of piano concertos played by the Russian Giant of the Keyboard, Sviatoslav Richter. Next to standard concert repertoire some novelties, like the Franck, Britten, Berg and Hindemith works. Famous conductors like Evgeny Svetlanov, Kyril Kondrashin and the recently deceased Rudolf Barshai (his favourite conductor).

One of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Sviatoslav Richter was also one of the most self contained, enigmatic and elusive artists of the time.A fierce self-critic he seldom was happy with the results of his recordings. His criticism often embraced conductors, producers and sound engineers.

These recordings capture him a wide range of concertos from Bach to Britten, via his beloved Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (though he only recorded his concertos 1&3 and the Triple Concerto) and Brahms. Many of the recordings date from prior to the commercial releases. The Dvorak here is from 1966 and conducted by Kondrashin. The famous EMI LP with Kleiber appeared in the 1970s – Richter claimed that neither he nor Kleiber were in the best form. In the case of the Britten concerto with the composer conducting, the recording here is from 3 years earlier than the famous Decca LP. Richter was unhappy with this as Britten was apparently ill and ‘a shadow of himself’. The Brahms 2 and the Schumann are from private tapes owned by conductor George Georgescu who is at the helm in both concertos. A good example of Richter’s self - criticism can be found in his comment on his later RCA Chicago Symphony/Leinsdorf recording ‘one of my worst records…I can’t bear it’. It won a Grammy! This set also includes some of the lesser known works Richter championed - Les Djinns by Franck and the Dvorak Piano Concerto which he played more than 25 times from the 1960s to the 80s. He did more than any pianist to restore this work to the repertoire.

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, …
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter, Oleg Kagan
Conductor: Kurt Sanderling, Yuri Nikolayevsky, Karl Eliasberg, Kiril Kondrashin, …
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, …

Tracklisting:

1. Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor, BWV 1052 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kurt Sanderling
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1738-1739; Leipzig, Germany

2. Concerto for Harpsichord in D major, BWV 1054 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yuri Nikolayevsky
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1738-1739; Leipzig, Germany

3. Concerto for Harpsichord in G minor, BWV 1058 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yuri Nikolayevsky
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1738-1739; Leipzig, Germany

4. Concerto for Piano no 9 in E flat major, K 271 "Jeunehomme" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1777; Salzburg, Austria

5. Concerto for Piano no 17 in G major, K 453 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1784; Vienna, Austria

6. Concerto for Piano no 20 in D minor, K 466 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Karl Eliasberg
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1785; Vienna, Austria

7. Concerto for Piano no 27 in B flat major, K 595 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kiril Kondrashin
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1791; Vienna, Austria

8. Concerto for Piano no 14 in E flat major, K 449 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Rudolf Barshai
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1784; Vienna, Austria

9. Concerto for Piano no 3 in C minor, Op. 37 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kurt Sanderling
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1800; Vienna, Austria

10. Fantasia in C minor, Op. 80 "Choral Fantasy" by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kurt Sanderling
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra, USSR State Radio/TV Chorus
Period: Classical
Written: 1808; Vienna, Austria

11. Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 54 by Robert Schumann
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: George Georgescu
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1841-1845; Germany

12. Concerto for Piano no 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kiril Kondrashin
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia

13. Concerto for Piano no 2 in B flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: George Georgescu
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1878-1881; Austria

14. Burleske for Piano and Orchestra in D minor, AV 85 by Richard Strauss
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1885-1886; Germany

15. Concerto for Piano no 2 in F minor, B 43/Op. 21 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yevgeny Svetlanov
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1829-1830; Poland

16. Les Djinns, M 45 by César Franck
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kiril Kondrashin
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1884; France

17. Concerto for Keyboard in D major, H 18 no 11 by Franz Joseph Haydn
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yuri Tsiryuk
Orchestra/Ensemble: Minsk Chamber Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: by 1784; Eszterhazá, Hungary

18. Concerto for Piano in G minor, Op. 33/B 63 by Antonín Dvorák
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yevgeny Svetlanov
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1876; Bohemia

19. Concerto for Piano no 3 in C major, Op. 26 by Sergei Prokofiev
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Kiril Kondrashin
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Youth Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1917-1921; USA

20. Concerto for Piano no 2, Sz 95 by Béla Bartók
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yevgeny Svetlanov
Orchestra/Ensemble: USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1930-1931; Budapest, Hungary

21. Concerto for Piano no 1, Sz 83 by Béla Bartók
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1926; Budapest, Hungary

22. Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin and 13 Winds by Alban Berg
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano), Oleg Kagan (Violin)
Conductor: Rudolf Barshai
Orchestra/Ensemble: All-Union Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1923-1925; Austria

23. Kammermusik no 2 for Piano and 12 Instruments, Op. 36 no 1 by Paul Hindemith
Performer: Sviatoslav Richter (Piano)
Conductor: Yuri Nikolayevsky
Orchestra/Ensemble: Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1924; Germany












Thanks to the original releaser