Richter:The 100th Anniversary Edition (50 CD box set FLAC)

Conductor: Sviatoslav Richter
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 50 CD box set
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Melodiya
Size: 12.9 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

For the 100th anniversary of Sviatoslav Richter, Firma Melodiya presents its arguably biggest project in its semicentennial history: a 50-CD set of Sviatoslav Richters concert recordings! This collection is far from the complete phonographic legacy of the great musician. Nevertheless, the set includes plenty of exclusive, previously unreleased recordings that will make the hearts of even most erudite connoisseurs and collectors rejoice. Most of the featured recordings are broadcasts from the concerts played in Moscow in 1962 to 1983. However, the exceptions are of special interest. These are one of the first Sviatoslav Richter’s extant concert programmes Schuberts last sonata and Mussorgskys Pictures at an Exhibition (1949); recording of the concert with Nina Dorliak in Bucharest, in 1958; and recordings of home rehearsals with Nina Dorliak. It would be difficult to name all the names of the composers featured in this set. A great amount of 20th century music, both domestic and foreign, perhaps deserves special attention: Richter performs Myaskovskys piano sonata, Shostakovichs violin sonata and selected preludes and fugues, as well as works by Hindemith, Bartók, Britten, Berg, Szymanowski, Ravel and Debussy. There are numerous piano pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Prokofiev, a few works by Haydn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, the first volume of Bachs Well-Tempetered Clavier. Among the rarely performed ones, we should note Dvoráks piano concerto and Francks chamber ensembles. The set includes recordings of many of Richters ensemble performances with the likes of David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Bashmet, Oleg Kagan, Natalia Gutman, the Borodin Quartet, the USSR Bolshoi Theatre String Quartet, the singer Nina Dorliak and others. The piano concertos played by Richter are conducted by some of the best Soviet conductors such as Kirill Kondrashin, Evgeny Svetlanov and Rudolf Barshai. The set looks like a black box in the form of a piano with a reading stand made from lined cardboard, containing, apart from 50 CDs, a set of 5 exclusive postcards. The set comes with a hardback booklet in four languages (Russian, English, French, and German), each set is placed in an exclusive bag. Booklet includes texts written by Dmitri Bashkirov and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The set is released in a limited run of one thousand copies and each box has an individual collection number acknowledged with a Certificate of Authenticity.

Disc 1
Concert program December 8, 1949
Franz Schubert
Sonata No. 21
Franz Schubert-Franz Liszt
“Forest king”
Modest Mussorgsky
“Pictures at an exhibition”

Disc 2
Home rehearsal / Concert program
March 24, 1958 in Bucharest)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Claude Debussy
Ernest Chausson
Maurice Ravel
Franz Liszt
Robert Schumann
Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin
Manuel de Falla
Nina dorliac, soprano / Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 3
From the concert of September 24, 1960
Joseph Haydn
Sonata in C major
Frederic Chopin
Ballade No. 3
Scherzo No. 4
Robert Schumann
Three novellette, Op. 21

Disc 4
From the concert of September 24, 1960
Claude Debussy
Plays
Studio recording, 1956
César Franck
Quintet for piano, two violins, viola and
cello in f minor
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
The Quartet of the Bolshoi theatre

Disc 5
Concert programme 28 may 1967
Johannes Brahms
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2
Concert program may 8, 1962
Ludwig van Beethoven
Rondo for piano and orchestra
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor – Kirill Kondrashin

Disc 6
Concert program may 8, 1962
Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerts for piano with orchestra №№ 1, 3
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor – Kirill Kondrashin

Disc 7
Concert program October 10, 1965
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano sonatas Nos. 17, 18, 27, 28

Disc 8
Concert program December 30, 1964
Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for piano No. 2
Alexander Scriabin
Sonata for piano No. 7
Maurice Ravel
Noble and sentimental waltzes

Disc 9
Concert program October 10, 1965
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata for piano No. 31
Concert program December 30, 1964
Maurice Ravel
Plays
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Étude-tableau, Op. 39 No. 3
Johannes Brahms
Rhapsody in g minor

Disc 10
Concert program may 18, 1976
Paul Hindemith
Sonata for violin and piano in C major
Oleg Kagan, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano
Alban Berg
Chamber Concerto for piano, violin and
13 wind
Oleg Kagan, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano
The wind instruments ensemble of Moscow
state Conservatory
Conductor: Yuri Nikolaevsky

Disc 11
Concert program may 2, 1966
Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for piano No. 2, 4, 5

Disc 12
Concert program October 27, 1975
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata for violin and piano in a major
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatas for violin and piano No. 2, 4, 5
Oleg Kagan, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 13
The concert program June 1, 1983
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Plays
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Three etude, Op. 33
Five of the études-tableaux, Op. 39

Disc 14
The concert program June 2, 1983
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Plays
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Three etude, Op. 33
Five of the études-tableaux, Op. 39

Disc 15
Concert program October 18, 1978
Franz Schubert
Sonatas for piano Nos. 6, 11, 13

Disc 16
Concert program 2 may 1978
Franz Schubert
Sonata for piano No. 18, 6

Disc 17
Concert program 2 may 1978
Franz Schubert
Plays
Concert program October 18, 1978
Franz Schubert
Plays
From the concert of 3 may 1978
Franz Schubert
Plays

Disc 18
Concert program March 30, 1972
Ludwig van Beethoven
Triple Concerto for piano, violin and
cello and orchestra in C major
David Oistrakh, violin / Mstislav Rostropovich
cello / Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor –Kirill Kondrashin
The concert program on may 21, 1961
Antonin Dvorak
Concerto for piano and orchestra in Sol
minor
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor –Kirill Kondrashin

Disc 19
Concert program September 18 1983
César Franck
Trio for piano, violin and cello
f-sharp minor
Maurice Ravel
Trio for piano, violin and cello
in a minor
Oleg Kagan, violin / Natalia Gutman,
cello / Sviatoslav Richter, piano

Disc 20
Concert program October 10, 1976
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata No. 1 in f minor
Robert Schumann
“Viennese carnival”
Frederic Chopin
Plays

Disc 21
Concert program October 10, 1976
Frederic Chopin
Plays
Claude Debussy
Plays
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude, Op. 32 No. 12
Claude Debussy
Plays
Concert program September 18 1983
Claude Debussy
Plays

Disc 22
Concert program October 16, 1976
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano sonatas No. 1, 7, 9, 12

Disc 23
Concert program may 12, 1967
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 22
Sergei Prokofiev
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 5
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor –Kirill Kondrashin

Disc 24
Concert program September 12, 1967
Benjamin Britten
Concerto for piano and orchestra in D major
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
State academic
Symphony orchestra of the USSR
Conductor –Evgeny Svetlanov
Concert program April 3, 1972
Alexander Scriabin
“Prometheus”
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
State academic
Symphony orchestra of the USSR
Conductor – Evgeny Svetlanov
Big choir of Central television and
All-Union radio USSR
Director – Lyudmila Ermakova

Disc 25
The concert program on may 26, 1967
Joseph Haydn
Sonata in e major
Frederic Chopin
Ballade No. 1
Nocturnes
Claude Debussy
Preludes (Notebook 2)

Disc 26

Concert program March 29, 1972
Béla Bartók
Sonata for violin and piano No. 1
Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for violin and piano No. 1
David Oistrakh, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 27
Concert program March 29, 1972
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for violin and piano No. 2
Franz Schubert
Andantino from the Great Duo for violin
and piano
Ludwig van Beethoven
Rondo from Sonata for violin and piano No. 1
Concert program December 28, 1968
César Franck
Sonata for violin and piano in a major
David Oistrakh, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 28
Concert program December 28, 1968
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for violin and piano No. 3
Franz Schubert
Grand Duo for violin and piano
A major
Ludwig van Beethoven
Adagio molto espressivo from Sonata for violin
and piano No. 6 in a major
Scherzo from Sonata for violin and piano
No. 5
David Oistrakh, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 29
The concert program on may 6, 1970
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonatas for violin and piano Nos. 1, 3, 10
Scherzo from Sonata for violin and piano
No. 5
Adagio molto espressivo from Sonata for violin
and piano No. 6
David Oistrakh, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 30

The cncert program on may 3, 1969
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata for violin and piano No. 6
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for violin and piano No. 3
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for violin and piano
David Oistrakh, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 31
Concert program April 20, 1969
Johann Sebastian Bach
Preludes and fugues Nos. 1 to 12 from volume I of “the Well
well-tempered clavier”

Disc 32
Concert program April 21, 1969
Johann Sebastian Bach
Preludes and fugues No. 13-24 of volume I
“The well-tempered clavier

Disc 33
Concert program December 15, 1968
Robert Schumann
“Variegated leaves”
Modest Mussorgsky
“Pictures at an exhibition”
Claude Debussy
“Bells through the leaves”

Disc 34
Concert program October 10, 1971
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano sonatas Nos. 27, 28, 30, 31
Johannes Brahms
Plays

Disc 35
Concert program October 6, 1971
Franz Schubert
Sonata No. 19
Johannes Brahms
4 pieces, Op. 116
Frederic Chopin
Nocturnes, Op. 15

Disc 36
Concert program January 12, 1975
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata for piano No. 3 and 4

Disc 37
Concert program January 12, 1975
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 32
Bagatelle in g major
Frederic Chopin
Nocturne, b major
Richard Wagner
Elegy
Concert program October 6, 1971
Claude Debussy
Plays
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Foreplay

Disc 38
Concert program December 22, 1968
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 17
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Moscow chamber orchestra
Conductor –Rudolf Barshai
Concert program April 9, 1972
Alban Berg
Chamber Concerto for piano, violin
and 13 wind instruments
Oleg Kagan, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano
Soloists ensemble of the Grand
Symphony orchestra of all-Union
radio and Central television
Conductor –Rudolf Barshai

Disc 39
The concert program on may 27, 1973
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 14
Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 3
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
The Moscow chamber orchestra and ensemble
the soloists of the Big symphonic
orchestra all-Union radio and Central
television
Conductor –Rudolf Barshai

Disc 40
Concert program January 9, 1977
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 18
Concert program January 10, 1977
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 18
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor –Kirill Kondrashin

Disc 41
Concert program December 22, 1974
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Sonata for piano No. 3
Dmitri Shostakovich
Four preludes and fugues, Op. 87
Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Sonata No. 8

Disc 42
Concert program March 25, 1978
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for harpsichord and strings No. 1 in d minor,
BWV 1052
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Chamber ensemble of the Moscow
state Conservatory
Conductor: Yuri Nikolaevsky
No. 6 in f major, BWV 1057
Sviatoslav Richter, piano / Marina
Vorozhtsova, flute / Konstantin Mikhailov,
flute
Chamber ensemble of the Moscow
state Conservatory
Conductor: Yuri Nikolaevsky
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major,
BWV 1050
Sviatoslav Richter, piano / Marina
Vorozhtsova, flute / Oleg Kagan, violin
Chamber ensemble of the Moscow
state Conservatory
Conductor: Yuri Nikolaevsky

Disc 43
Concert program December 28, 1976
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 27
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Academic Symphony orchestra
Moscow state Philharmonic society
Conductor –Kirill Kondrashin
Concert program March 28, 1973
Robert Schumann
Concerto for piano and orchestra in a minor
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
State academic
Symphony orchestra of the USSR
Conductor –Rudolf Barshai

Disc 44
Concert program September 26, 1982
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for viola and piano
Yuri Bashmet, viola / Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 45
Concert programme on 13 may 1985
Joseph Haydn
Sonata in b flat major (Partita)
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for violin and piano No. 1
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sonata for violin and piano
Oleg Kagan, violin Sviatoslav Richter,
piano

Disc 46
Concert program December 21, 1980
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata for piano No. 6, 7, 17

Disc 47
Concert program December 21, 1980
Ludwig van Beethoven
Sonata for piano No. 18
Frederic Chopin
Etude in C minor (“Revolutionary”)
The concert program on may 28, 1964
Franz Schubert
Piano Sonata No. 6
Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Concert program January 8, 1959
Franz Liszt
“Pathetique” concert for two pianos
Anton Ginzburg, piano I part
Sviatoslav Richter, party of the second
piano

Disc 48
Concert program January 8, 1959
Johannes Brahms
Sonata for piano No. 2 in f-sharp minor
4 pieces, Op. 119
Karol Szymanowski
Sonata for piano No. 2

Disc 49
The concert program on may 28, 1964
Franz Schubert
Three pieces, D. 946
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
“Serious variations”
Johannes Brahms

Disc 50
From the concert of June 8, 1979
Sergei Prokofiev
Sonata for piano No. 9
Plays
From the concert of 9 June 1979
Sergei Prokofiev
Five pieces from the ballet “Cinderella

A stunning collection of many, many definitive recordings by a true virtuoso. Expensive. Worth it many times over.

There’s at least two versions of this box set around. I bought one from a vendor in Russia, shipped in a black box; this one, available in many places in North America, is in a white box. Apart from the colour, though, there’s no difference as to the content of the box as far as I can see. This box has been released to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sviatoslav Richter, and consists of a set of recordings done over his career. There’s 50 CDs n the box, as well as a hardbound book, postcards, a t-shirt, and a certificate of authenticity, This is supposed to be a limited edition, with only a limited number (1,000) being produced. This box isn’t cheap, but because of the nature of the release I’ve seen it on some sites at a considerable premium already.

The recording are the heart of this box: they range from mono recordings in 1949 through to ones made in the 1990s. Almost all (except one, as far as I can tell) were recorded by Melodiya in Moscow. The discography varies over the entire piano repertoire. There are some repeats, when Richter recorded the same work more than once, with different interpretations, but these are not too common, and when they do occur, show the evolution of his approach to the work. Some of these recordings have never been released outside Russia, as far as I can tell.

The recordings, which I was worried about based on what I knew of the state of Russian recording arts, is a heck of a lot better than I expected. The older recordings show their age, of course, but the new ones are easily as good as some of the recordings produced in Germany or the US. A few of these discs sound wonderful, with excellent sound stage and solid dynamics, bringing the piano to life. The orchestras, where involved, play mostly very well.

What about the discs? Each is a bit of a treasure, offering up Richter’s interpretations of pieces we know and love, as well as quite a large number of lesser-known works. A few of the pieces stand out: for me, the Great Gates of Kiev is done definitively (in two versions, once from 1949 and one from 1968), both different (the early one tense and driving, the latter relaxed and smooth). There’s excellent Mozart and Brahms here, too, again, some of them definitive playing of the works. The Beethoven Triple Concerto with Oistrakh and Rostropovich (what a dream team!) is stunning, easily setting the bar for all Triple Concerto recordings of the past and future. The treasures here are simply amazing.

I’ve had this box for almost half a year as I write this, and I’ve been through most (but not all) of the CDs, some more than once. This is an expensive box, yes, and it’s a limited edition which makes it more expensive, yes, but this is also a definitive collection of wonderful piano music by a true master. The works here are stellar, almost throughout. The recordings are not going to disappoint from the engineering point of view. I bought two sets, one black to keep and one from Amazon (in white) to give as a Christmas present to a dear friend, and I think that friend is lucky indeed to be getting such a wonderful collection. This is worth every penny if you are a classical music fan, whether you particularly like Richter or not. Superb.