Pictures at an Exhibition played by Richter

[Guest]

I'm already familiar with Richter's Sofiensaal performance, but don't much care for it, owing to the dodgy sound.

There is at least one other Richter peformance, also live and in mono, but with a much better recording. Does anyone know where it can be obtained?

Thanks.

[amateur51]

I don't know the Sofiensaal, Vienna performance to which you refer.

However there is an extraordinary 1958 Sviatoslav Richter recital in Sofia, Bulgaria

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0000523QI

I hope that this helps

[Mandryka]

I don't know the Sofiensaal, Vienna performance to which you refer.

However there is an extraordinary 1958 Sviatoslav Richter recital in Sofia, Bulgaria

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0000523QI

I hope that this helps

Ah! That's actually the performance I'm already familiar with. Got my 'Sofias' muddled up....:blush

Sorry about that.....the search continues.

[reinerfan]

There are at least 2 studio recordings that I know of, as well as a live BBC Legends version. Your best bet is the recent Regis CD, coupled with Prokofiev's 7th. Sonata.

[umslopogaas]

I have an LP of the 25th February 1958 Richter recital from Sofia, which I guess is the one referred to; you get Schubert's Moment Musical op 94 no 1, Impromptus in E flat op 90 no 2 and in A flat op 90 no 4, Chopin's Etude op 10 no 3 and Liszt's Valse Oubliee nos 1 and 2 and Transcendental studies 5 and 11, but not the Mussorgsky 'Pictures', presumably that was too long to fit on the disc. Its a Philips mono, ABL 3301.

The sleeve note makes some apologies for the sound quality:

"The present recording was made under particularly trying conditions. An outbreak of 'flu of unprecedented violence was raging in Sofia and numbers of the nevertheless exemplary Bulgarian audience could not restrain their coughing, whilst on the other hand, it had never been forseen that this recording might one day be transferred to disc, and the microphone had been installed with a simple broadcast in view. At the same time I am anxious to praise the engineers of the Bulgarian State Radio who, despite these difficulties, succeeded in capturing so living a reflection of the recital." Translated from the French of Igor B. Maslowski.

Well, I've just played some of side 1 and the sound quality is very good and the coughing, while perhaps a bit more frequent than usual, is not obtrusive. I cant really see what the fuss was about!

[amateur51]

I have an LP of the 25th February 1958 Richter recital from Sofia, which I guess is the one referred to; you get Schubert's Moment Musical op 94 no 1, Impromptus in E flat op 90 no 2 and in A flat op 90 no 4, Chopin's Etude op 10 no 3 and Liszt's Valse Oubliee nos 1 and 2 and Transcendental studies 5 and 11, but not the Mussorgsky 'Pictures', presumably that was too long to fit on the disc. Its a Philips mono, ABL 3301.

The sleeve note makes some apologies for the sound quality:

"The present recording was made under particularly trying conditions. An outbreak of 'flu of unprecedented violence was raging in Sofia and numbers of the nevertheless exemplary Bulgarian audience could not restrain their coughing, whilst on the other hand, it had never been forseen that this recording might one day be transferred to disc, and the microphone had been installed with a simple broadcast in view. At the same time I am anxious to praise the engineers of the Bulgarian State Radio who, despite these difficulties, succeeded in capturing so living a reflection of the recital." Translated from the French of Igor B. Maslowski.

Well, I've just played some of side 1 and the sound quality is very good and the coughing, while perhaps a bit more frequent than usual, is not obtrusive. I cant really see what the fuss was about!

I seem to remember that there some problem with a the sound of some primitive air-conditioning too. But the sound & fury as well as the fine tracery of some of Richter's Mussorgsky performance makes me filter out all the extraneous sounds.

What other performances of Pictures would you recommend? It was a piece that Shura Cherkassky used to revel in at concerts, playing not perhaps as devilishly fast as some but boy could he conjure up some wonderful sonorities.

And then there's Maria Yudina ...

[umslopogaas]

Dunno about Yudina ... she crops up in 'Testimony' and other books about Shostakovich and sounds a very eccentric but quite formidable musician.

Recordings of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures' on piano seem much rarer than the orchestrated versions. I have only one, an LP with Ashkenazy playing the solo version on one side and Mehta conducting the LA Phil in the Ravel orchestration on the other. I dont know if it made it to CD. The Penguin Guide recommends versions by Yefim Bronfman, Pletnev and a famous 1951 live recording by Horowitz, who apparently wasnt content with the prodigious difficulties of The Great Gate, so makes his own arrangement with some extra notes thrown in for good measure!

[amateur51]

Dunno about Yudina ... she crops up in 'Testimony' and other books about Shostakovich and sounds a very eccentric but quite formidable musician.

Quite a formidable human being I'd say.

She not only stood up to Stalin, she sought to provoke him & he bottled it (well maybe that's a bit exaggerated but I like to think it's true) She was a convert from Judaism to Christianity and she told Stalin "I'll pray for you!"

A formidable musician? Make your own mind up ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxIBmbLJfv0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLF2aZ-Ftos&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mKfnFQDEkI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoQ9-AUEE1Q&feature=related

Don't we live in wonderful times (in certain respects) ... that such a wonderful performance should be available so easily

[silvestrione]

'Richter in Budapest', WHRA-6023, has a live performance from 1958, in slightly better sound, a fine performance, but not quite so extraordinary in intensity as the famous one with the dodgy sound. It's a CD well worth having, as it includes a wonderful version of the Schumann Toccata, the one played by Stephen Plaistow on CD Review a few months back. Lovely Debussy encores too.

[Barbirollians]

The Sofia Recital is stunning - and includes much the most moving performance of the op 10 no 3 Etude by Chopin I have ever heard.

[barber olly]

Recordings of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures' on piano seem much rarer than the orchestrated versions. I have only one, an LP with Ashkenazy playing the solo version on one side and Mehta conducting the LA Phil in the Ravel orchestration on the other. I dont know if it made it to CD.

I believe it's on the wonderful Australian Eloquence label, but he also recorded it later coupled with his own Orchestral arrangement. I also have recordings by Brendel, Janis and Piers Lane and Olli Mustonen.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Recordings of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures' on piano seem much rarer than the orchestrated versions. I have only one, an LP with Ashkenazy playing the solo version on one side and Mehta conducting the LA Phil in the Ravel orchestration on the other.

Couplings such as this seem to be ideal. There are many of us who prefer the "impure" orchestrated versions, but it is important that we are made aware of the composer's original concept.