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everything you need to know about Sviatoslav Richter The 20th century's most enigmatic genius of the piano. The Russian Richter was a true virtuoso, yet never used this virtuosity to any other end than to reveal the essential poetry of the music. Eccentic and temperamental his performance style was sober and controlled, and as a man he was modest and secretive. Listen [in RealAudio] need audio help? Prokofiev: Piano Sonata no.6 Praga PR 250 015 Beethoven: Sonata in F minor "Appassionata" Philips 456 949 Born: 1915 Died: 1997 One sometimes senses clearly that the whole work, however gigantic in scale, lies before him like a vast landscape, seen with incredible clarity as if with the eyes of a great hawk. Heinrich Neuhaus, Richter's teacher. within bbc.co.uk music: Richter concise biography Classical news, reviews and listings Profiles A-Z listing Classical CD Search: Look for Richter CDs elsewhere on bbc.co.uk: BBC Four's Sviatoslav Richter: The Enigma Find out about Radio 3's BBC Legends programmes and listen to the latest edition elsewhere on the web: Trovar's Richter pages - with essays by Neuhaus and Schnittke The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. RICHTER IN ONE MINUTE In 1937 Richter began his piano studies with Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory - Neuhaus remembers there was little he needed to teach him In 1942 he premiered Prokofiev's 6th Piano Sonata, leading to a lasting friendship and performing partnership with the composer A highly independent spirit, Richter preferred to follow his own instincts rather than to learn from other pianists - as a result each of his performances became a new exploration of the work Not until 1960 was he finally allowed to travel abroad, making his US debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and then 4 days later playing an all-Beethoven solo recital at Carnegie Hall - he was then in his forties Richter disliked recording sessions and would normally record during the night, preferring long takes and re-doing whole movements rather than small sections He performed and recorded a wide repertoire ranging from Bach and Haydn to Debussy and Shostakovich - for him, Beethoven's Hammerklavier and Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues presented some of the greatest pianistic obstacles, as did Mozart Temperamental and moody he came to prefer smaller, more obscure venues - notorious for cancelling if he didn't feel right about the performance, his public appearances became all the more precious related by time: Prokofiev profile Shostakovich biography Rostropovich profile Britten biography related by location: Sofia Gubaidulina profile Tchaikovsky profile Stravinsky profile Khachaturian biography Scriabin biography related by genre: The Concerto A Quick Guide to Classical A Quick Guide to instrumental music A Quick Guide to orchestral music The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. Sviatoslav Richter GOOD RECORDINGS A GOOD READ Dvorak Piano Concerto Bavarian RSO/C Kleiber EMI Angel Classics 66947 Rare work with equally enigmatic conductor. Schumann Symphonic Etudes Olympia OCD 339 Inspired recording of monumental work. Prokofiev Sonatas 2, 6 & 9 Praga PR 250 015 Probably the greatest performer of his works. Beethoven Appassionata Sonata Philips 456 949 Powerful performance of this and other sonatas. Richter: Notebooks and Conversations by Bruno Monsaingeon (Princeton UP, 2002) A rare insight - taken from conversations, diaries and notebooks. More Like This? Try the artists by A-Z page (listed by surname or group name) or find artists grouped by genre of music Artist Search: Search for profiles, biographies and discographies on 15 000 artists across all genres. Enter a name: Album Search Advanced Classical Search How to get about the Music site: Music: for all the latest happenings in the world of music Home | News | Reviews | Concerts/Gigs | TV/Radio More Music: delving a little deeper into the world around music Profiles | Features Search: If you're looking for a particular artist, composer, or group Try the search box to the right, or the Artist Profiles. Music » Artist Profiles All pictures are copyrighted - picture credits

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