Do we think we can argue the insight of a person like Richter on this huge and tremendous piece of music? Just get used to this tempo, because it allows Schubert to tell the whole emotional story that he meant to tell us. This performance is genius!

I am usually not a great commentator of pieces displayed on KZread. But this time, I chose to comment. Schubert's D 894 sonata is a fantasy, literally, in the sense that the actual notes, id est, the hammering of the piano strings is made to reveal the echo of them, which consists in their "remaining" in the air, creating a constant anamorphosis of the tunes. I know there's no point to explain music, but this piece needs to be played sufficiently slowly for these echos to be living. And in this perspective, I think that Richter's interpretation is a very outstanding one. Too slow the tempo turns to ridicule, too fast, and it spoils the music. That's where this work is one of the greatest of Schubert. Of course, D 958 959 and 960 are three beautiful sonatas as well, but this one is very special in this aspect, especially the fist movement. The traditional critic concerning Schubert's work, repetition, collapses there, in these anamorphosis of the theme & themes. It is not just beautiful, in an aesthetic sense, it is a lesson of metaphysics.

@tronduick7028

9 жыл бұрын

I've been listening to the repertoire fifty years, and music realized slowly enough to let me hear it wins every time, period. The past two decades' fascination with "boy look how fast we can play" reflects the zeitgeist. Mr. Maloumian I learned from you, and learned something about the divine piano, too. Many thanks. Richter knows what he's about: Schubert.

@nicolasmaloumian4565

9 жыл бұрын

I am so very happy to have succeeded to communicate, as I read your comment, this "so-difficult- to-express" thing, which consist in being focused precisely at keeping oneself out of any focus (on a particular part of the melody/tune"). That's where and why I was speaking about anamorphosis and metaphysics not in a theological sense but in a philosophical one for the latter, id est, as a way to apprehend not one particular state of nature, music, or whatever we are considering, but as a path to keep all possibilities alive simultaneously. Music is outstanding in this aspect, since any precise "sense" of things is kept on the side, and music deploys itself in time, time itself being stretched or expanded, This is sometimes easier to apprehend with other pieces, as in Bach, or very precisely for instance in the "Dixit Dominus" of Haendel (a nice record is the John Eliot Gardiner's version, a former erato record, with Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra).

@tronduick7028

9 жыл бұрын

Nicolas Maloumian Well good. I am studying what you wrote. A cursory search for "fantasy" brings the wiki article and Copland's 1957 comment on his for piano. Neither comes close, no surprise, to your "hammering of the piano strings is made to reveal the echo of them" with consequent "exegesis" in time (how language fails us!). Your use of anamorphosis as another window if you will also interesting. Too bad Franz Schubert isn't with us this evening to give his view. I will revisit Dixit. Been a long time since I heard it. I am in conversation with a friend who is a concert pianist about his read of Rachmaninoff 23 #4. I will ask him about time and string echo and about keeping any particular part of tune out of focus. Fascinating stuff and comprehensible. This sonata is sublime. Thank you for writing.

@julianglantz

9 жыл бұрын

Bravo. Your words echo everything I feel about this interpretation. Mr Banfield complains that somehow this artist has "failed" the composer. How very sad. And he (Mr. Banfield) is the loser - precisely because he misses out on something sublime.

@klausehrhardt4481

7 жыл бұрын

Dear sir, Have you any aquaintance with maestro Celibidache´s point of view? If not, it would much the like enhace your knowledge on the subject further, specially concerning the sonic material and tempi conditions which, tended accordingly, cause music to arise in its true form and by doing so, ground the musical substance in the level it actually belongs. Music moves the soul as the affections and thought's affections do (They fly as birds, don't?!), and the affections of the soul can be most perfectly be expressed by music also: no wonder that great music shares its soul proportionally to the virtues, vices and affections of the soul of the of the listener in general, and of the performer and critic in particular. Music is clearly also an intellectual´s matter too, but the aproach to the subject has mostly treaded dead-end alleys, as did aknowledge and demonstrate Victor Zuckerkandl in the first chapters of his "Sound & Symbol" book. The cause I do adress thee with these words is that by thy comment, you made on me the impression of a man of fine perception of particulars allied to a will to generalise most typical of true intellectuals. Brazilian Regards.

Every time I listen to this piece, I die and am born again. It is one of the finest piano interpretations of Schubert I am ever likely to hear. Thank you SR, your genius bends time and laughs in the face of death.

@wernerbkerner9690

3 жыл бұрын

Your comment goes hard.

When the tempo is molto moderato, there is every reason to play it so slow. Richter was a man who never had to ask anybody how to play. He just knew. Bravo!

This extraordinary performance of an enchantingly beautiful composition demonstrates how silence is such an integral component of classical music. Richter's leisurely pace allows the silences and the lingering "echoes" of the notes to emerge. His slow pace also helps the listener fully appreciate the way in which the music from one hand meshes lovingly and harmoniously with the music of the other. To understand what I'm saying, I suggest you listen to Richter's performance a few times, and only then compare it with much faster performances put forward by other talented piano players. Their speedy renditions obliterate the amazing delicacy and subtlety of Schubert's composition as demonstrated so powerfully in Richter's genius performance.

every time i liesten to this great piano play i burst into tears. great, great man's great optimism, which includes all the pains of lives.

@elissarachel

6 жыл бұрын

I find Richter has such power and depth of understanding. I find myself completely transfixed when I listen.

@AB-vd8rt

5 жыл бұрын

All the pains of our world, yes

There is a tension and mystery! Richter was a musical genius!

This is where the composer and the composition so awe the player that they direct and steer him- or her-on a path of reverence and humility, yet no less stir a devout and tireless earnestness to do all three components justice: Richter, as a servant, perhaps unusually, rather than master, proffers consummate skills and sensitivity in the service of an extraordinary and thrilling introspection,consuming, breaking with relief, as harsh- with honesty- as gentle in its beauty. Schubert and Richter elide.

Divina lentezza, divina lunghezza e divina bellezza. Schubert visionario e ipnotizzante in questa sublime lettura di Richter.

listening Schubert again and in Richter´s hands, how wonderfull, thanks again!

those outbursts of fortissimo are so powerful when everything else is so subtle

0:00 - Molto moderato e cantabile 26:59 - Andante 35:14 - Menuetto - Allegro moderato - Trio 39:51 - Allegretto

@_PROCLUS

6 жыл бұрын

TY very much for this

@jennyjang5894

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for posting informative details!

Richter understands the psychological content of this Sonata very well. Schubert created his own world, to understand this you have to have enormous fantasy and musicality, Richter had all the necessary requirements.

30 years ago I bought my first Richter recording of Schumann because it was in a clearance sale at a music shop! Having never heard Richter play before I became transfixed by the sheer technical brilliance, profoundness of interpretation, and simplicity of his playing. It took me just a couple of years of adding his recordings to my library to come to the conclusion that he was a true genius. I haven't changed my mind in those nearly 30 years - this recording merely confirms my conclusion.

It is a wonderful thing to "go inside the music" through the experience of the meditative state, or trance.

more reflective and sensual than emotional - always great Richter

Majestic performance! Richter is the Best Ever :)

Jeune fille, adolescente encore, Richter, devenu un "vieux monsieur", venait en Touraine, à la Grange de Meslay et, à de rares moments, j'ai pu écouter ce pianiste qui laissait derrière lui l'envie d'écouter Chopin ou Schubert comme on l'avait jamais fait, comme on avait toujours oublié de le faire... C'était l'époque où les Russes nous venaient rarement. Un temps déraisonnable, comme disait Aragon... Oups, pardon, c'est en français ! Tout est si anglophone, ici !

@geoffradnor9357

6 жыл бұрын

Welcome in any language. Merci

@ciriliyeho

4 жыл бұрын

Quel privilège vous avez eu 🙏🏻

@Fritz_Maisenbacher

3 жыл бұрын

Ce n'est pas grave, chère Mademoiselle, vous avez été comprise.

@fishmangregory6888

3 жыл бұрын

Si.on vous comprend

Master Performance!! I am trying to listen to Richter's performances one by one.

I like the way Richter played this sonata..and Richter's interpretation of this piece >3

Richter is surely the greatest player ever. On so many great works, his versions are clearly the most emotional. This, Schubert's A minor and G major sonata, Beethoven's Appassionata are obvious examples

@GlynGlynn

9 жыл бұрын

Your first sentence may be true: I can't possibly comment. However, right from the beginning Richter has failed the composer: if my memory serves me right, the time signature is 12/8 i.e. 4 beats in a bar, each beat having 3 quavers to it. Richter plays this movement so slowly that it sound as if it is in 3/4 time. I shan't listen to any more of this!!

@milton3204

9 жыл бұрын

Glyn Banfield You think Ricthter didn't know how to read music? All of what you said, he knew it first-hand lmfao. Richter doesn't care about the composer, he cares about the music he plays.

@jvranjes

9 жыл бұрын

Milton Enosse There is one segment in the movie Richter Enigma (see it you will not regret, best see in parts vol 1, 8 parts, vol 2, 7 parts). There he replies on question why he was reading notes during many of his concerts. He says it is because it is impossible to remember everything and he wants to follow the notation by composer, otherwise this would lead to improvisation and interpretation which he clearly disliked. So I would not say that he does not care for composer. But I do agree, he does care for the music. The greatest in my modest opinion, and an exceptional personality.

@tlahe2

3 жыл бұрын

​@@GlynGlynn​-- Your loss!

They say, when you die, you can hear the most beautiful music. I wouldn't mind hearing this when I lay down my body and pass into the universe.

@jamesnickoloff6692

2 ай бұрын

I am in complete agreement. In fact, as I've been makng a list of things that I would like people to listen to when they remember me, there are so many Schubert-Richter items, that the "ceremony" is already way too long!

Dramatic and divine - thanks for sharing!

one of my favourite renditions.

@sean8470

2 жыл бұрын

richter has the definitive interpretation of this piece of music

Την πρώτη φορά που άκουσα την D.894, σ' αυτή την ερμηνεία της από τον Richter, ξενίστηκα πολύ, σχεδόν απογοητεύτηκα από το τόσο αργό 'παίξιμο' του 1ου Μέρους. Πόσο ...ανόητος ήμουν. Είναι ανυπέρβλητη!

@IXN1990

6 ай бұрын

Η 894 στη Μόσχα το 1978, στο Άλντεμπουργκ το 1977 και η 960 στη Πράγα το 1972 είναι αποκάλυψη. Είναι μία κατάσταση μεταφυσική που ακουμπά το πνεύμα και ηχεί στα ενδότερα σημεία της ύπαρξης. Δεν υπήρξε και ούτε θα υπάρξει Ρίχτερ ξανά φίλε μου.

Upon hearing the first chord, I knew the performance would be great.

the best pianist, el mejor pianista

can i just say thank you for your amazing channel and the beautiful pieces you share here. it is much appreciated :)

Ich danke Ihnen, Maestro.

This is a must-listen, really! You can find it here on KZread. Do a simple search with these words: svjatoslav richter plays liszt sonata Only a musical genius can play something with so many wrong notes and yet peak out all other takes of all other pianists. His intention comes through despite the wrong hits, and it is simply grandiose how he raises the tension, after each return of the main theme, until a final burst that blows you away in its majestic power! It's mind-boggling, really.

Wow, is there anything the great Richter didn't record? Every piece of piano music I look up seems to have at least one Richter recording of it. It's unbelievable the repertoire this man had!

@MrAviron

9 жыл бұрын

Echoherb Surprisingly he never played or recorded Beethoven's 4th or 5th concertos nor the moonlight sonata. Strange for someone I regard as the greatest interpreter of Beethoven's music.

@milton3204

9 жыл бұрын

MrAviron Do you really need another recording of those overplayed works?

@richardbroderick7923

9 жыл бұрын

HERENIGGA IAMHERENIGGA Apparently, though, you feel we really need another example of pointless snark.

@searchers

8 жыл бұрын

+Richard Broderick Richter himself wrote that he did not really want to play (or record) works that were too well known, and he did not have anything to add to them. He always wanted fresh works, and that is the main reason he played with the music the last 20 years-he then did not have to "waste" time memorizing, but could learn many more pieces that otherwise he could never have played in concert.

@philipcaron5227

6 жыл бұрын

Some famous works Richter didn't play because certain other specific pianists played them, for example, Neuhaus or Gilels. If I recall, it was Beethoven's 4th concerto that Heinrich Neuhaus had played so well that Richter didn't want to disrupt his memory of it. Some other famous works Richter didn't really like or find congenial. (Going by my out-of-date memory of Monsaingeon's book.)While Richter did state he found memorization dispensable as being external to expressing the music, he also complained that his playing from memory was marred by his hearing change later in life, whereby he heard notes as higher pitches than they really were. Apparently he relied largely on "ear memorization", and his originally perfect pitch was part of that.In any case, Richter had a colossal repertoire, possibly the greatest of any of the "Great Pianists".

When I hear Richter play I believe in god. Time stops. I cannot do anything but listen.

@user-vs4ch8kp6h

8 жыл бұрын

+Joel Cooper Neither can I. Sviatoslav seems to makes us enjoy each tone by strong or weak touch.

very beautiful and soulful

I have heard this sonata played by dozens of pianists (most of which of the highest level), but none comes close to the aura of highest degree Richter achieves.

Рихтер всегда отличался тонким чувством понимания замыслов композиторов, чьи произведения он исполнял. Эта его интерпретация божественна!

Perfection exists.

@jgrab1

8 жыл бұрын

+simón pc Can you believe Richter once said he despised this recording and didn't authorize its release?!?!

@stonefireice6058

3 жыл бұрын

@@jgrab1 ? When was that?

@stonefireice6058

3 жыл бұрын

If it exists, how do you measure it? There is no standard for measuring quality of artistry, hence there is no perfection, only subjective judgment. The established “standards” by special committees, judges and historians only proves bias toward unique and unusual.

@jgrab1

3 жыл бұрын

@@stonefireice6058 I believe it's in Bruno Monsaingeon's book on Richter (though that specifically is not mentioned in the accompanying documentary. Richter said all the Philips "Authorized Richter Edition" releases with his "signature" were in fact not authorized by him.

Perfect interpretation of Schubert.

I love how the exposition plus repeat of first movement takes more time than most Mozart sonatas

This is one by Shubert is one of my favourites. Interpreted excellent here to. I fell in love with it about 15/16 years ago. Received it 21.5 years ago back in 1999. Although I'm not sure if it was this interpretation as I no longer have the CD, but it sounds incredibably similar. This sounds live, you can hear the audience ie about 19/20mins into this uploaded version of the recording ie lol where you there if you know what I mean. I can just sense some members of the audience getting up to go to the toilet or somewhere private for a cry. One thing for sure it's very relaxing and peaceful

Extremely stunning..~

very beautiful and elegance!

This is for me the ultimate proof for the fact that we should always follow our deepest intuitions, untouched by what our surroundings tell us. Richter says clearly in 'The Enigma' that his colleagues also told him, 'you have to play Schumann, not Schubert', Richter contradicted and announced he would play Schubert, but definitely in a different manner than this composer was ever played before. In my Richter site I will show that his ultimate work of genius is his Schubert ...

The most wonderful version I've ever heard! played by the greatest genius pianist of the 20th century..

Esta música tiene tanto que decir, que la podrías escuchar una vez al día y encontrar algo distinto cada vez.

Absolutely staggering reveal of this music by Richter.

Schubert is the master of the masters, the music he wrote is the soul itself. Liszt, L V B, Chopin and W A M are great but Schubert must have wrote with his heart lying on the table.

@nicksatie4722

8 жыл бұрын

+Magnus Jönsson So true, great comment my friend.

@user-vs4ch8kp6h

8 жыл бұрын

+Magnus Jönsson I quite agree.

@gijsschubert7901

8 жыл бұрын

Indeed Magnus, Franz has written such passionate and soulful music. The hundreds of Lieder, Winterreise, the Andantes of his last Sonatas.....

This is philosophical!

The first movement of D.894 evokes me an scenery where an old man leafing through his old-day's photo album.

@hugowoods1986

8 жыл бұрын

+gomagoma313 It sounds like that. But I doubt it was Schubert's intention. He died when he was 31 years old.

@gomagoma313

8 жыл бұрын

+Hugo Woods Yes that's true. I think my impression owes more to Richter than to the composer. That seems to be also the case with Richter's interpretation of D.960.

@benji104

8 жыл бұрын

+gomagoma313 sounds like you have watched the documentary about Richter :-)

Usually Critics comment on the slow 1st movement. Wait till you hear the 4th movement, a bit faster than most of the pianists, creating a vivid recapitulation. The contrast to the slow 1st movement expands the total elasticity of the work. Richter was definitely out of the tension and stress he put into at the beginning and add the piece with more humanity and emotion. To me this Finale is a passionate Schubert with a touch of Beethoven. This version is controversial with a great success at the end.

Absolument unique...métaphysique...

Sometimes people speak too much. I would just simply say: GRANDIOSO!

I love the languid tempo of the first movement in this recording. It's probably slower than what Schubert intended, but I just love the way Richter draws everything out in this version.

@gerardbegni2806

6 жыл бұрын

I often wondered about what Schubert had wanted to say in that movement, which I always found strange. I realiez now that only the tempo chosen by Richetr gives some sense to that movement.

This is my secret heaven.

Thank you!

Richter was a living paradox. He could produce some of the the most seductive, ravishingly beautiful sounds that ever anyone has coaxed from a piano, yet the next moment he would treat us to some of the harshest, ugliest ones. Both are in evidence here, so I wouldn't describe it as an unqualified delight. But it is utterly compelling. I thought the tempo of the first movement was so absurd that I was going to turn it off; but I couldn't: it held me in thrall for no less than 27 minutes!

@norgorzg

4 жыл бұрын

An unfathomable cosmic statement. Created by 3 Gods: 1) by God God who created Schubert 2) by Schubert in conversation with God 3) by RIchter who helped our souls be elevated up to the height where THIS Schubert, or, the epitome of Schubert, can, in the last instance of yet living and before passing on to eternity, be percieved.

@yvesgerard1308

4 жыл бұрын

Surely , first movment too low i think , but it's magic !

this is a sound and a link to god. all the best from vienna. where franzl schubert lived.

Wonderful :)

Yes, and your statement is true for both the performer, and the listener. This is because in this psychic condition, we possess an increased capacity of creative imagination.

Ноты Шуберта, тишина между ними Рихтера!

w o n d e r f u l ~ thank you!

All notions of tempo or tempi are relative to the musical content. Listening to Richter and playing some of the music he plays, over more than thirty years now, I felt that Richter's tempi are always organic. That means there is somehow a reason why he chooses a specific tempo; it is never a fancy. But most musical critics are not sensitive to such nuances, because they judge 'by principle'. Academia, more often than not doesn't understand genius because genius is creative, not imitative.

Me and this song is love at first sight..

@sandrinemamessier8100

Жыл бұрын

So am I

You express it very well! I do not understand that criticism of Richter's Schubert. In my view, it is the greatest achievement of his musical life, for he has revolutionized the way we perceive this music. It was a revelation for me, personally when I first discovered it at age 22, in Germany. It put me into a state of mind I never realized before, and that today I know is called a 'meditative state'. Before this revolution, Schubert was never really understood and Schumann was preferred.

Lots of depths

Deeply disturbing music, phenomenal interpretation

Wonderful

@michelrenard500

6 жыл бұрын

FirstPublicChannel: could you please tell me witch recording is it exactly. Date, place. I like so much this Schubert sonata by Richter ! Thanks

The first movement is a scream, a memento mori and a melancholic elegy

This legend, such as so many about Schubert, is invented. Schubert dedicated a piano duet piece to Beethoven (op. 10 D624) and Beethoven is reported to have played it several times. This happened in 1822 and there is no evidence that S & B were personally in contact until B's death. Anyway you*re right about the numerous prejudices about Schubert's music (partly due to such invented stories) and that Richter was one of the very first to show what a prodigious riches there is in Schubert's music.

Primavera!

C'est simplement "inouï" (= qu'on n'a jamais entendu) C'est comme si Schubert était au piano !

😍😍😍

MITICO !

30:10 and 30:36, so beautiful.....

Der Superlative über diesen Künstler sind wohl alle gesprochen. Seit fast 60 Jahren nun ist er für mich gleichsam ein Idol, und inzwischen möchte ich kaum einen Anderen mehr wie eben nur i h n in seiner vorbildhaften, aber unnachahmlichen Art hören und er-"leben" - sei es bei Schubert, bei Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms und, und, und...

près de cinquante minutes d'une musique des sphères d'ici bas... Schubert au summum!

I have never heard Richter's Dante Sonata and can't locate a performance. Knowing Richter, I agree with your comments. He was determined that he was only a link between composer and listener so my first guess is he believed this was the correct tempo for the Schubert's sonata. Videos of Richter playing do not show him in a trance-his conscious mind was very much in control-that's the way it seems-rather than playing from his subconscious which might have indulged in personal interpretation.

Schubert sonatas may (will?) lead one along a wonderful, fascinating, strange musical journey. Richter gets down in there and pulls out some very compelling Schubert sounds, songs One can follow, willingly or not so willingly.

I listened to jazz right before listening to this sonata. It's amazing how these composers could create such master pieces considering the harmonic and melodic limitations of the style.

@ch3m13ch3m13

8 жыл бұрын

+Christopher Boston You are the only one who sucks

@Mr1300SKIPPY

8 жыл бұрын

+Christopher Boston Music Christopher, sorry but - like Andres Alcala - I also love both jazz and classic music, and have true affection for very different styles... do you allow yourself opera, in this apparently very stiff regime ? Open your mind and arms to all music, there is so much to harvest here ,-)

@sebastienheps9316

7 жыл бұрын

'harmonic and melodic limitations of the style.' wtf ? there's no limitations ahaha

I've heard several of Richter's sublime recordings of this sonata, but this one stands out for its mystical atmosphere right from the first bar. Where and when was this recorded? And where can I find this on CD?

@yassinet.benchekroun5087

7 жыл бұрын

I am looking for a CD of this recording as well, but I can't seem to find it. Let me know if you have found one.

@sarabande90

6 жыл бұрын

Richter the Master, Vol. 5: Schubert on Decca.

¡Soberbio! Debe ser la mejor interpretación en disco de esta bellísima sonata.

I have been playing the piano from early childhood on, and always despised the strict accurateness of my piano teacher. For me my piano was my barometer ~ and so I played always according to my inner 'moods' and with the utmost expression. Sometimes to such an extend, that I would humbly look up to the heavens, and apologize to the composer. I was always forgiven ;o) To this very day actually ...

@jamesnickoloff6692

2 жыл бұрын

Such a beautiful comment, Karin. You remind me of my brother who played the piano the same way.

Delicious!

A very thoughtful and provocative comment - and I concur, except maybe with your use of "absurd" to describe something I find at first, perplexing, but ultimately, like you, enthralling.

Schubert, my solace.

Yes, I agree, although I do worry about the performers sometimes, as they seem about to sway off their chairs. I think they are safer sitting down. I attended a concert where Isaac Stern was the soloist standing (as usual), and he would creep forward until he was at the edge of the stage, then he would come to himself and back up - then he would do it again.

Thanks for your reply. I hope you are right and I am wrong. I have done my musicological research on Schubert long ago, while still being in Germany, at Saarbrücken Conservatory. Are you presenting new findings? May I know the resources you rely upon? I agree with you of course regarding Richter's unique rehabilitation of Schubert, I really have to use this word, while it's not commonly used in musical performance (rather in science). Hope you reply further. Thanks!

Perfect ! isn't it ?

Hello, it's the best interpretation of this Sonata, my option. Someone know where this piece come from... I need it.

Arca queen

Trop mes oreilles... et le cerveau en orgasme!!!

Thanks so much for uploading, but isn't this the 20 March 1989 performance at the Barbican in London?

@michelrenard500

6 жыл бұрын

I would like to know. Because I want to buy the cd !

unfassbar

I. Molto moderato e cantabile (Repeat 07:42; Development 15:14; Recapitulation 20:12) 27:00 II. Andante 35:15 III. Menuetto: Allegro moderato 39:51 IV. Allegretto

헹..❤ (죻아서 마음이 ㅅㅏ륵ㅅ ㅏ륵 ㅠㅡㅠ❤ 쨜 텃치 되시겠쯤) 관크 터지면 내적극대노 될 것 같은 짤 곡 & 좋아하는 사람과 함께 듣고 싶은 곡. 되시게쯤. ㅎ

Which recital was this ? Thanks.

BIBLICAL

It's a live recording? Or studio?

@jellosapiens7261

7 жыл бұрын

Judging by the coughs, I would say live.

Richter has also been praised for playing Schuber too slow. And rightly so in my opinion! I find his Schubert irresistible.

Do you know the exact date and place of this performance?

Richter declined to return to America after a concert tour early 1970.