![]() Gramophone critic Bryce Morrison described Richter as follows: "Idiosyncratic, plain-speaking, heroic, reserved, lyrical, virtuosic and perhaps above all, profoundly enigmatic, Sviatoslav Richter remains one of the greatest recreative artists of all time." Richter, largely self-taught, was an eccentric genius who often performed in darkened halls so the public were not distracted by any of his mannerisms: "...I don't play for the audience, I play for myself, and if I derive any satisfaction from it, then the audience, too, is content." He disliked recording and many of his recordings are live but once engaged, took the process very seriously and teamed with Maazel and the Paris Orchestra, these 1969 studio sessions for EMI were magic. Curiously, he never recorded Brahm's first piano concerto. Side One
Side Two
Sviatoslav Richter, piano Orchestre de Paris Lorin Maazel Recorded on 24-28 October 1969 at the Salle Wagram, Paris. Produced by Christfried Bickenbach and Eric Macleod and engineered by Allan Stagg. Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional 'advance' playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process. |