Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter (Святослав Рихтер; March 20, 1915 - August 1… Read Full Bio ↴Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter (Святослав Рихтер; March 20, 1915 - August 1, 1997) was a Soviet pianist. Sviatoslav Richter was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. He was well known for his vast repertoire, effortless technique and poetic phrasing.
Richter was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine but grew up in Odessa. Unusually, he was largely self-taught although his organist father provided him with a basic education in music. Even at an early age, Richter was an excellent sight-reader, and regularly practiced with local opera and ballet companies. He developed a lifelong passion for opera, vocal and chamber music that found its full expression in the festival he established in Grange de Meslay, France. He started to work at the Odessa Conservatory where he accompanied the opera rehearsals. He gave his first recital in 1934 at the engineer club of Odessa but did not formally study piano until three years later, when he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory, which waived the entrance exam for the young prodigy after it was clear he would not pass. He studied with Heinrich Neuhaus who also taught Emil Gilels, and who claimed Richter to be "the genius pupil, for whom he had been waiting all his life". In 1940, while still a student, he gave the world premiere of the Sonata No. 6 by Sergei Prokofiev, a composer with whose works he was ever after associated. He also became known for skipping compulsory political lessons at the conservatory and being expelled twice during his first year. Richter remained a political outsider in the U.S.S.R. and never joined the Party.
Richter met the soprano Nina Dorliak in 1945 when he accompanied her in a program that included songs by Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev. "This was the first meeting in an association that would last the rest of their lives. Richter and Dorliak were never officially married, but they were constant companions. She was the practical counterbalance to his impulsive nature. She would wind his watch for him, remind him of appointments, and manage his professional commitments" (Geffen 1999). In 1949 he won the Stalin Prize, which led to extensive concert tours in Russia, Eastern Europe and China.
The West first became aware of Richter through recordings made in the 1950s. He was not allowed to tour the United States until 1960, but when he did, he created a sensation, playing a series of sold-out concerts in Carnegie Hall. Touring, however, was not Richter's forté. He preferred not to plan concerts years in advance, and in later years took to playing on very short notice in small, often darkened halls, sometimes with only a small lamp lighting his piano. He died in Moscow while studying for a concert series he was to give.
Richter's repertoire spanned the major works of the piano repertoire, although with many omissions (e.g., Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's Waldstein sonata and Fourth and Fifth piano concertos, Schubert's A-major sonata D. 959). Among his noted recordings are works by Franz Schubert, Beethoven, Bach (whose Well-Tempered Clavier part II he is said to have learned by heart in one month), Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin and many others. He was said to be the finest interpreter of the piano works of Robert Schumann. He gave the premiere of Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7 (which he learned in just four days before staging a performance of the work), and Prokofiev dedicated his Sonata No. 9 to him. Apart from playing solo he also enjoyed playing chamber music with partners such as David Oistrakh, Benjamin Britten, and Mstislav Rostropovich. He had unusually large hands, capable of taking a twelfth.
Despite his huge discography, Richter hated the process of recording. Glenn Gould called him one of the most powerful musical communicators of our time, and it was in concert that Richter's musical genius found its full expression.
Richter was born in Zhitomir, Ukraine but grew up in Odessa. Unusually, he was largely self-taught although his organist father provided him with a basic education in music. Even at an early age, Richter was an excellent sight-reader, and regularly practiced with local opera and ballet companies. He developed a lifelong passion for opera, vocal and chamber music that found its full expression in the festival he established in Grange de Meslay, France. He started to work at the Odessa Conservatory where he accompanied the opera rehearsals. He gave his first recital in 1934 at the engineer club of Odessa but did not formally study piano until three years later, when he enrolled in the Moscow Conservatory, which waived the entrance exam for the young prodigy after it was clear he would not pass. He studied with Heinrich Neuhaus who also taught Emil Gilels, and who claimed Richter to be "the genius pupil, for whom he had been waiting all his life". In 1940, while still a student, he gave the world premiere of the Sonata No. 6 by Sergei Prokofiev, a composer with whose works he was ever after associated. He also became known for skipping compulsory political lessons at the conservatory and being expelled twice during his first year. Richter remained a political outsider in the U.S.S.R. and never joined the Party.
Richter met the soprano Nina Dorliak in 1945 when he accompanied her in a program that included songs by Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofiev. "This was the first meeting in an association that would last the rest of their lives. Richter and Dorliak were never officially married, but they were constant companions. She was the practical counterbalance to his impulsive nature. She would wind his watch for him, remind him of appointments, and manage his professional commitments" (Geffen 1999). In 1949 he won the Stalin Prize, which led to extensive concert tours in Russia, Eastern Europe and China.
The West first became aware of Richter through recordings made in the 1950s. He was not allowed to tour the United States until 1960, but when he did, he created a sensation, playing a series of sold-out concerts in Carnegie Hall. Touring, however, was not Richter's forté. He preferred not to plan concerts years in advance, and in later years took to playing on very short notice in small, often darkened halls, sometimes with only a small lamp lighting his piano. He died in Moscow while studying for a concert series he was to give.
Richter's repertoire spanned the major works of the piano repertoire, although with many omissions (e.g., Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's Waldstein sonata and Fourth and Fifth piano concertos, Schubert's A-major sonata D. 959). Among his noted recordings are works by Franz Schubert, Beethoven, Bach (whose Well-Tempered Clavier part II he is said to have learned by heart in one month), Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin and many others. He was said to be the finest interpreter of the piano works of Robert Schumann. He gave the premiere of Prokofiev's Sonata No. 7 (which he learned in just four days before staging a performance of the work), and Prokofiev dedicated his Sonata No. 9 to him. Apart from playing solo he also enjoyed playing chamber music with partners such as David Oistrakh, Benjamin Britten, and Mstislav Rostropovich. He had unusually large hands, capable of taking a twelfth.
Despite his huge discography, Richter hated the process of recording. Glenn Gould called him one of the most powerful musical communicators of our time, and it was in concert that Richter's musical genius found its full expression.
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01The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 1 in C, BWV 846/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:58Sviatoslav Richter
02The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 1 in C, BWV 846/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:30Sviatoslav Richter
04The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:38Sviatoslav Richter
05The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 3 in C sharp, BWV 848/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:14Sviatoslav Richter
06The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 3 in C sharp, BWV 848/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:03Sviatoslav Richter
07The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 4 in C sharp minor, BWV 849/Prelude - 2004 Remastered3:14Sviatoslav Richter
08The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 4 in C sharp minor, BWV 849/Fugue - 2004 Remastered6:22Sviatoslav Richter
09The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 5 in D, BWV 850/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:08Sviatoslav Richter
10The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 5 in D, BWV 850/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:51Sviatoslav Richter
11The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:26Sviatoslav Richter
12The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 6 in D minor, BWV 851/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:32Sviatoslav Richter
13The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 7 in E flat, BWV 852/Prelude - 2004 Remastered3:41Sviatoslav Richter
14The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 7 in E flat, BWV 852/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:27Sviatoslav Richter
15The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 8 in E flat minor, BWV 853/Prelude - 2004 Remastered4:25Sviatoslav Richter
16The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 8 in E flat minor, BWV 853/Fugue - 2004 Remastered6:27Sviatoslav Richter
17The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 9 in E, BWV 854/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:05Sviatoslav Richter
18The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 9 in E, BWV 854/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:05Sviatoslav Richter
19The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 10 in E minor, BWV 855/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:54Sviatoslav Richter
20The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 10 in E minor, BWV 855/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:06Sviatoslav Richter
21The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 11 in F, BWV 856/Prelude - 2004 Remastered0:55Sviatoslav Richter
22The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 11 in F, BWV 856/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:16Sviatoslav Richter
23The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 12 in F minor, BWV 857/Prelude - 2004 Remastered2:09Sviatoslav Richter
24The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 12 in F minor, BWV 857/Fugue - 2004 Remastered5:20Sviatoslav Richter
25The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 13 in F sharp, BWV 858/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:23Sviatoslav Richter
26The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 13 in F sharp, BWV 858/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:14Sviatoslav Richter
27The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 14 in F sharp minor, BWV 859/Prelude - 2004 Remastered0:51Sviatoslav Richter
28The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 14 in F sharp minor, BWV 859/Fugue - 2004 Remastered4:19Sviatoslav Richter
29The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 15 in G, BWV 860/Prelude - 2004 Remastered0:48Sviatoslav Richter
30The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 15 in G, BWV 860/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:22Sviatoslav Richter
31The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 16 in G minor, BWV 861/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:57Sviatoslav Richter
32The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 16 in G minor, BWV 861/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:50Sviatoslav Richter
33The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 17 in A flat, BWV 862/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:10Sviatoslav Richter
34The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 17 in A flat, BWV 862/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:55Sviatoslav Richter
35The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 18 in G sharp minor, BWV 863/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:24Sviatoslav Richter
36The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 18 in G sharp minor, BWV 863/Fugue - 2004 Remastered3:25Sviatoslav Richter
37The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 19 in A, BWV 864/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:11Sviatoslav Richter
38The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 19 in A, BWV 864/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:38Sviatoslav Richter
39The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 20 in A minor, BWV 865/Prelude - 2004 Remastered0:55Sviatoslav Richter
40The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 20 in A minor, BWV 865/Fugue - 2004 Remastered4:08Sviatoslav Richter
41The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 21 in B flat, BWV 866/Prelude - 2004 Remastered1:05Sviatoslav Richter
42The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 21 in B flat, BWV 866/Fugue - 2004 Remastered1:28Sviatoslav Richter
43The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 22 in B flat minor, BWV 867/Prelude - 2004 Remastered2:26Sviatoslav Richter
44The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 22 in B flat minor, BWV 867/Fugue - 2004 Remastered4:19Sviatoslav Richter
45The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 23 in B, BWV 868/Prelude - 2004 Remastered0:51Sviatoslav Richter
46The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 23 in B, BWV 868/Fugue - 2004 Remastered2:33Sviatoslav Richter
47The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I/No. 24 in B minor, BWV 869/Prelude - 2004 Remastered7:51Sviatoslav Richter
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Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Sviatoslav Richter Lyrics
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