View source for Sviatoslav Richter

{{Short description|Soviet pianist (1915–1997)}}
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'''Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter'''{{refn|{{family name explanation|Teofilovich|Richter|lang=Eastern Slavic}} {{langx|ru|Святослав Теофилович Рихтер|Sviatoslav Teofilovich Rikhter}}, {{IPA|ru|svʲɪtɐsˈɫaf tʲɪɐˈfʲiləvʲɪtɕ ˈrʲixtər|IPA}}|group=note}} ({{OldStyleDate|March 20|1915|March 7}} – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist<!--See MOS:NATIONALITY-->. He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time,<ref>Time. Francis Merson, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140418145046/http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/306444,the-10-greatest-pianists-of-all-time.aspx/8 "The 10 Greatest Pianists of All Time – 3. Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997)"], July 5, 2012. Retrieved on August 11, 2020.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1996/02/11/richters-genius-still-commanding-tributes-tuned-up-two-new-collections-are-superior-to-last-years-21-cd-salute-to-the-pianist-from-philips-records/|title=Richter's genius still commanding tributes Tuned up: Two new collections are superior to last year's 21-CD salute to the pianist from Philips Records.|last=Wigler|first=Stephen|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=February 11, 1996|access-date=October 31, 2017|archive-date=August 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827005327/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1996-02-11/news/1996042016_1_richter-pianist-melodiya|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="20th century">[[Great Pianists of the 20th Century]]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The 20 Greatest Pianists of all time|url=https://www.classical-music.com/features/artists/20-greatest-pianists-all-time/|access-date=October 24, 2021|website=Classical Music|language=en}}</ref> and has been praised for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/radio/shows-presenters/david-mellor/the-genius-of-sviatoslav-richter/|title=The genius of Sviatoslav Richter|last=Mellor|first=David|work=Classic FM|access-date=October 31, 2017}}</ref>

==Biography==
===Childhood===
[[File:TheophilRichter.jpg|thumb|Richter's father, Teofil, {{circa|1900}}]]
Richter was born in [[Zhytomyr]], [[Volhynian Governorate]], in the [[Russian Empire]] (modern-day Ukraine), the hometown of his parents. His father, {{ill|Teofil Danilovich Richter|de|Theophil Richter (Musiker)}} (1872–1941), was a pianist, organist and composer born to German expatriates, who from 1893 to 1900 studied at the [[University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna|Vienna Conservatory]]. His mother, Anna Pavlovna Richter (née Moskaleva; 1893–1963), came from a [[Russian nobility|noble Russian]] landowning family, and at one point had studied under her future husband.<ref name="grove">{{Cite Grove |last=Fanning |first=David |title=Sviatoslav (Teofilovich) Richter}}</ref><ref>''Valentina Chemberdzhi (2004)''. About Richter in His Own Words. — Moscow: Agraf, pp. 217—226 {{ISBN|978-5-17-101111-6}}</ref> In 1918, when Richter's parents were in [[Odessa]], the [[Russian Civil War|Civil War]] separated them from their son, and Richter moved in with his aunt Tamara. He lived with her from 1918 to 1921, and it was then that his interest in art first manifested itself: he first became interested in painting, which his aunt taught him.

In 1921 the family was reunited, and the Richters moved to Odessa, where Teofil taught at the [[Odessa Conservatory]] and, briefly, worked as organist of a [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church. In the early 1920s Richter became interested in music (as well as other art forms such as cinema, literature, and theatre) and started studying piano. Unusually, he was largely self-taught. His father gave him only a basic education in music, as did one of his father's pupils, a [[Czechs|Czech]] harpist.<ref>Monsaingeon 2001, pp. 12–14</ref>

Even at an early age Richter was an excellent [[sight-reading|sight-reader]] and regularly practised with local opera and ballet companies. He developed a lifelong passion for opera, vocal and chamber music that found its full expression in the festivals he established in La Grange de Meslay, France, and in Moscow at the [[Pushkin Museum]]. At age 15, he started to work at the [[Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater|Odessa Opera]], where he accompanied the rehearsals.<ref>Monsaingeon 2001, p. 20</ref>

===Early career===
[[File:Sviatoslav Richter photo.jpg|thumb|{{center|Richter, {{circa|1935}}}}]]

On March 19, 1934, Richter gave his first recital, at the Engineers' Club of [[Odessa]]; but he did not formally start studying piano until three years later, when he decided to seek out [[Heinrich Neuhaus]], a pianist and piano teacher, at the [[Moscow Conservatory]]. During Richter's audition for Neuhaus (at which he performed [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s [[Ballade No. 4 (Chopin)|Ballade No. 4]]), Neuhaus apparently whispered to a fellow student, "This man's a genius." Although Neuhaus taught many pianists, including [[Emil Gilels]] and [[Radu Lupu]], it is said that he considered Richter to be "the genius pupil, for whom he had been waiting all his life", while acknowledging that he taught Richter "almost nothing".

Early in his career Richter also tried composition, and it even appears that he played some of his works during his audition for Neuhaus. He gave up composition shortly after moving to Moscow. Years later, Richter explained this decision as follows: "Perhaps the best way I can put it is that I see no point in adding to all the bad music in the world".<ref>Kevin Bazzana – Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997), Notes to Richter in Leipzig, Music & Arts CD 1025.</ref>

By the beginning of World War II Richter's parents' marriage had failed and his mother had fallen in love with another man. Because Richter's father was a German, he was under suspicion by the authorities and a plan was made for the family to flee the country. Due to her romantic involvement, his mother did not want to leave and so they remained in Odessa. In August 1941, his father was arrested and later found guilty of espionage, being sentenced to death on October 6, 1941. Richter did not speak to his mother again until shortly before her death nearly 20 years later in connection with his first US tour.

In 1943 Richter met [[Nina Dorliak]] (1908–1998), an operatic soprano. He noticed Dorliak during the memorial service for [[Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko]], caught up with her at the street and suggested to accompany her in recital. It is often alleged that they married around this time, but in fact Dorliak only obtained a marriage certificate a few months after Richter's death in 1997.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rasmussen|first=Karl|title=Sviatoslav Richter Pianist|publisher=Northeastern University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-1-55553-710-4|location=Lebanon NH|pages=260}}</ref> They remained living companions from around 1945 until Richter's death; they had no children.<ref>''Dmitry Dorliak, [[Andrej Andreevich Zolotov|Andrei Zolotov]] (2005)''. Transiences of Sviatoslav Richter. — Moscow: Khudoznik i kniga, p. 5 {{ISBN|978-5-901685-95-2}}</ref><ref>"In a Duo with Richter" by Nina Dorliak // Remembering Sviatoslav Richter. Sviatoslav Richter Through the Eyes of Colleagues, Friends and Admirers (2000). — Moscow: Konstanta, {{pp.|68|70}} {{ISBN|978-5-93123-010-8}}</ref> Dorliak accompanied Richter both in his complex private life and career. She supported him in his final illness, and died herself less than a year later, on May 17, 1998.

Since his death it has been suggested that Richter was homosexual and that having a female companion provided a [[Beard (companion)|social front]] for his true sexual orientation, because homosexuality was widely taboo at that time and could result in [[LGBT rights in Russia#Stalin|legal repercussions]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Benjamin Ivry | title=from Russia with (forbidden) love | url=http://www.salon.com/1998/01/05/05feature/ | work=salon | date=January 5, 2005 | access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>letter from Nicolas Nabokov to Igor Stravinsky, February 3, 1963, Stravinsky, selected correspondence, Vol II {{ISBN|978-0-394-52813-7}} "We are writing to you from a concert by Sviatoslav Richter, who is playing Bach and Schubert brilliantly. He is a flaming fag."</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1999-01-07 |title=Monster at the keyboard |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/jan/07/features11.g25 |access-date=2023-12-12 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Richter was an intensely private person and was usually quiet and withdrawn, and refused to give interviews. He never publicly discussed his personal life until the last year of his life when film-maker [[Bruno Monsaingeon]] convinced him to be interviewed for a documentary.

===Rise to international profile===
In 1949 Richter won the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]], which led to extensive concert tours in Russia, Eastern Europe and China. He gave his first concerts outside the Soviet Union in [[Czechoslovakia]] in 1950.<ref>{{cite web | title= Sviatoslav Richter Chronology – 1950 | url= http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1950.html | publisher= trovar.com | date= February 22, 2001 | access-date= September 8, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070324114055/http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1950.html | archive-date= March 24, 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref> In 1952, Richter was invited to play [[Franz Liszt]] in a film based on the life of [[Mikhail Glinka]], called ''[[The Composer Glinka]]'' ([[remake]] of the 1946 film ''Glinka''). The title role was played by Boris Smirnov.

On February 18, 1952, Richter made his sole appearance as a conductor in the world premiere of Prokofiev's [[Symphony-Concerto (Prokofiev)|Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra]] in E minor, with [[Mstislav Rostropovich]] as the soloist.<ref>Liner notes for Deutsche Grammophon 449 821–2</ref>

In April 1958 Richter was on the jury of the first [[Tchaikovsky Competition]] in Moscow. Watching [[Van Cliburn]]'s performance of [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Concerto No. 3]], Richter wept with joy; he awarded Cliburn a 25, a perfect score.

In 1960, even though he had a reputation for being "indifferent" to politics, Richter defied the authorities when he performed at [[Boris Pasternak]]'s funeral.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Coleman |first=Alexander |date=October 1997 |title=Sviatoslav Richter, 1915–1997 |journal=The New Criterion |volume=16 |issue=2 |url=http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/16/oct97/coleman.htm |access-date=September 8, 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060319063724/http://www.newcriterion.com/archive/16/oct97/coleman.htm |archive-date=March 19, 2006 }}</ref>

Having received the Stalin and Lenin prizes and become People's Artist of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|RSFSR]], he gave his first tour concerts in the US in 1960, and in England and France in 1961.<ref>Vadim Mogilnitsky, "Sviatoslav Richter" / Вадим Могильницкий, из книги "Святослав Рихтер", (see link: http://www.sviatoslavrichter.ru/chronograph.php)</ref>

===Touring and recording===
[[File:Hammond Slides Musicians 05.jpg|thumb|253x253px|Richter performing in 1964]]
In 1948 Richter and Dorliak gave recitals in [[Bucharest]], Romania, then in 1950 performed in [[Prague]] and [[Bratislava]], [[Czechoslovakia]]. In 1954, Richter gave recitals in [[Budapest]], Hungary. In 1956, he again toured Czechoslovakia, then in 1957, he toured China, then again performed in Prague, [[Sofia]], and Warsaw. In 1958, Richter recorded [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 5 (Prokofiev)|5th Piano Concerto]] with the [[Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra]] under the baton of [[Witold Rowicki]] – the recording which made Richter known in the United States. In 1959, Richter made another successful recording of [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|2nd Piano Concerto]] with the Warsaw Philharmonic on [[Deutsche Grammophon]] label. Thus the West first became aware of Richter through recordings made in the 1950s. One of Richter's first advocates in the West was [[Emil Gilels]], who stated during his first tour of the United States that the critics (who were giving Gilels rave reviews) should "wait until you hear Richter."<ref name=reputation>{{cite news | author=Michael Kimmelman | title=The Reputation Is Legendary, The Playing Unpredictable | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807EEDB1F3FF931A15755C0A961958260 | work=The New York Times | date=June 22, 1997 | access-date=August 28, 2007}}</ref>

Richter's first concerts in the West took place in May 1960, when he was allowed to play in Finland, and on October 15, 1960, in Chicago, where he played [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]'s [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)|2nd Piano Concerto]] with the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] and [[Erich Leinsdorf]], creating a sensation. In a review, ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' music critic [[Claudia Cassidy]], who was known for her unkind reviews of established artists, recalled Richter first walking on stage hesitantly, looking vulnerable (as if about to be "devoured"), but then sitting at the piano and dispatching "the performance of a lifetime".<ref>Claudia Cassidy, Chicago Tribune, 1960.</ref> The resulting recording<ref>{{Citation |title=Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 op.83 in B-Flat Major Richter, Leinsdorf, Chicago 1960 Analysis | date=June 13, 2024|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtbdSX6G_BM&list=RDEtbdSX6G_BM&start_radio=1|access-date=2025-10-08 |language=en}}</ref>  won the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)|Best Classical Performance – Concerto or Instrumental Soloist]] for that year. 

Richter's 1960 tour of the United States culminated in a highly acclaimed series of concerts at [[Carnegie Hall]], the 25 October 1960 recital being particularly praised.<ref>{{Citation |title=Sviatoslav Richter Recital - Live at Carnegie Hall, October 25, 1960. | date= October 26, 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbNPsAOot90&list=OLAK5uy_nq3vG4T4wozIQDJvZrKH_exc1s-MbifNI&index=2 |access-date=2025-10-07 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1960.html|title=Sviatoslav Richter Chronology |date=April 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408220230/http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1960.html |archive-date=April 8, 2009 }}</ref> 

Richter disliked performing in the United States.<ref>"America is standardized. It's all the same. I don't like it" says Richer in Monsaingeon's documentary "Richter, The Enigma", op.cit.</ref> Following a 1970 incident at [[Carnegie Hall]] in New York City, when Richter's performance alongside [[David Oistrakh]] was disrupted by anti-Soviet protests, Richter vowed never to return.<ref name=reputation/> Rumours of a planned return to Carnegie Hall surfaced in the last years of Richter's life, although it is not clear whether there was any truth behind them.<ref>Kevin Bazzana – Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997), Notes to Richter in Leipzig, Music & Arts CD 1025</ref>

In 1961 Richter played for the first time in London. His first recital, pairing works of [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] and [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]], was received with hostility by British critics. [[Neville Cardus]] concluded that Richter's playing was "provincial", and wondered why Richter had been invited to play in London, given that London had plenty of "second class" pianists of its own. Following a July&nbsp;18, 1961, concert, where Richter performed both of [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]]'s piano concertos, the critics reversed course.<ref>David Fanning, Notes to Sviatoslav Richter performs Chopin and Liszt, BBC Legends CD 2000.</ref> The resulting recording<ref>{{Citation |title=Sviatoslav Richter Plays Liszt Piano Concertos 1&2 w/London Symphony Orchestra. (1972). | date=Jul 31, 2022|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssF3txtywpw&list=RDssF3txtywpw&start_radio=1|access-date=2025-10-07 |language=en}}</ref> with the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] conducted by [[Kirill Kondrashin]] was acclaimed by many critics as the best ever made of those works.

In 1963 after searching in the Loire Valley, France, for a venue suitable for a music festival, Richter discovered La Grange de Meslay, several kilometres north of Tours. The festival was established by Richter and became an annual event. While in France, Richter recorded a highly acclaimed performance of [[Schubert]]'s [[Wanderer Fantasy]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Richter Plays Schubert's Wanderer Fantasia, 1963 (1972 Repress). | date=December 8, 2023|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cg1K7iVhSM&list=RD8Cg1K7iVhSM&start_radio=1|access-date=2025-10-31 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1970 Richter visited Japan for the first time, travelling across Siberia by railway and ship as he disliked flying. He played Beethoven, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Bartók and Rachmaninoff, as well as works by Mozart and Beethoven with Japanese orchestras. He visited Japan eight times.

Richter's repertoire included many works from the modern era. On 14 June 1969 Richter performed the [[Ravel]] [[Piano Concerto for the Left Hand]] at Genoa with Riccardo Muti conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro Comunale di Genova.<ref>{{Citation |title=Ravel - Piano Concerto for the Left Hand - Richter Genoa 1969. | date= November 2, 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ISR02L21us&list=RD3ISR02L21us&index=2|access-date=2025-10-31 |language=en}}</ref>

===Later years===
While he very much enjoyed performing for an audience, Richter hated planning concerts years in advance, and in later life took to playing at very short notice in small, most often darkened halls, with only a small lamp lighting the score. Richter said that this setting helped the audience focus on the music being performed, rather than on extraneous and irrelevant matters such as the performer's grimaces and gestures.<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 108, "That's why I now play in the dark, to empty my head of all non-essential thoughts and allow the listener to concentrate on the music rather than on the performer. What's the point of watching a pianist's hands or face, when they only express the efforts being expended on the piece?"</ref>

=== Death ===
Richter died at [[Central Clinical Hospital]] in Moscow from a heart attack on August 1, 1997, aged 82. He had been suffering from depression due to an inability to perform caused by changes in his hearing that altered his perception of pitch.<ref>Monsaignon</ref>

==Career==
In 1981 Richter initiated the international December Nights music festival, held at the [[Pushkin Museum]], which after his death in 1997 was renamed ''December Nights of Sviatoslav Richter''.

In 1986 Richter embarked on a six-month tour of Siberia with his beloved [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] piano, giving perhaps 150 recitals, at times performing in small towns that did not even have a concert hall. It is said that after one such concert, the members of the audience, who had never before heard classical music performed, gathered in the middle of the hall and started swaying from side to side to celebrate the performer.<ref>Transsiberian Express, ''[[Le Monde de la musique]]'', May 1989.</ref>

In his last years Richter gave a few concerts for students that were free of charge (February 14, 1990: Teatro Romea, Murcia, Spain, also March 1, 1990: matinee concert in Teatre Municipal, Girona, Spain).<ref>Kevin Bazzana – Sviatoslav Richter (1915–1997); Bruno Monsaingeon: ''Introduction'' to Sviatoslav Richter – Notebooks and Conversations p. XX.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://classical-pianists.net/generation-ix/sviatoslav-richter/performance-chronology-4/ | title=Sviatoslav Richter – Performance Chronology IV | date=April 11, 2022 }}</ref>

An anecdote illustrates Richter's approach to performance in the last decade of his life. After reading a biography of [[Charlemagne]] (he was an avid reader), Richter had his secretary send a telegram to the director of the [[Theater Aachen|theater in Aachen]], Charlemagne's favoured residence city and his burial place, stating "The Maestro has read a biography of Charlemagne and would like to play at Aquisgrana ([[Aachen]])". The performance took place shortly thereafter.<ref>Piero Rattalino, Sviatoslav Richter – Il Visionario.</ref>
[[File:Могила пианиста Святослава Рихтера.JPG|thumb|Richter's grave at [[Novodevichy cemetery]] in Moscow]]
As late as 1995, Richter continued to perform some of the most demanding pieces in the pianistic repertoire, including [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s ''[[Miroirs]]'' cycle, [[Sergei Prokofiev|Prokofiev]]'s [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Prokofiev)|Second Sonata]] and [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s [[Études (Chopin)|études]], [[Ballade No. 4 (Chopin)|Ballade No. 4]], and [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s [[Toccata (Schumann)|Toccata]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Sviatoslav Richter Recital, Museo Del Prado, Madrid | url=http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/95Madrid.html | work=Sviatoslav Richter Chronology | publisher=trovar.com | date=February 16, 1995 | access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Sviatoslav Richter Recital, Santuario de la Bien Aparecida, Santander, Spain | url=http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/95Santander2.html | work=Sviatoslav Richter Chronology | publisher=trovar.com | date=January 18, 1995 | access-date=September 8, 2007}}</ref>

Richter's last recorded orchestral performance was of three [[Mozart piano concertos|Mozart concerti]] in 1994 with the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra conducted by his old friend [[Rudolf Barshai]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1994.html |title=Sviatoslav Richter Chronology – 1994 |access-date=December 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109233105/http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1994.html |archive-date=November 9, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Richter's last recital was a private gathering in [[Lübeck]], Germany, on March 30, 1995. The program consisted of two [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] sonatas and [[Max Reger|Reger]]'s ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Beethoven'', a piece for two pianos, which Richter performed with pianist [[Andreas Lucewicz]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1995.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=April 30, 2007 |archive-date=December 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241217053517/http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/a1995.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At the time of his death he was rehearsing [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]'s ''[[Piano Sonata in E major, D 459 (Schubert)|Fünf Klavierstücke]]'', D. 459.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.richtercompetition.com/en_richter6.html|title=Richter International Piano Competition<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=Richtercompetition.com|access-date=March 20, 2025}}</ref>

==Repertoire==
{{listen
| filename     = Richter wanderer.ogg
| title        = ''Wanderer Fantasy''
| description  = In this 1963 studio recording of [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]'s ''[[Wanderer Fantasy]]'', Richter demonstrates his technique and interpretive ability as he moves from the end of the third movement into the beginning of the finale.
| format       = [[Ogg]]
}}

As Richter once put it, "My repertory runs to around eighty different programs, not counting chamber works."<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 143.</ref> His repertoire ranged from [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] to [[Tchaikovsky]], [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]], [[Karol Szymanowski|Szymanowski]], [[Alban Berg|Berg]], [[Anton Webern|Webern]], [[Igor Stravinsky|Stravinsky]], [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]], [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]], [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]], and [[George Gershwin|Gershwin]].

Richter worked tirelessly to learn new pieces. For instance, in the late 1980s, he learned [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]'s [[Variations on a Theme of Paganini|Paganini]] and [[Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel|Handel]] Variations, and in the 1990s, several of [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]]'s [[Études (Debussy)|études]] and pieces by Gershwin, and works by Bach and Mozart that he had not previously included in his programs.

Central to his repertoire were the works of Schubert, [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], Beethoven, J. S. Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Prokofiev and Debussy.<ref name=pp383-406>Monsaingeon, pp. 383–406.</ref> He is said to have learned and memorized the second book of Bach's ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'' in one month.<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 48</ref>

He gave the premiere of Prokofiev's [[Piano Sonata No. 7 (Prokofiev)|Sonata No. 7]], which he learned in four days, and [[Piano Sonata No. 9 (Prokofiev)|No. 9]], which Prokofiev dedicated to Richter. Apart from his solo career, he also performed [[chamber music]] with partners such as [[Mstislav Rostropovich]], [[Rudolf Barshai]], [[David Oistrakh]], [[Oleg Kagan]], [[Yuri Bashmet]], [[Natalia Gutman]], [[Zoltán Kocsis]], [[Elisabeth Leonskaja]], [[Benjamin Britten]] and members of the [[Borodin Quartet]]. Richter also often accompanied singers such as [[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]], [[Peter Schreier]], [[Galina Pisarenko]] and his wife and long-time artistic companion [[Nina Dorliak]].<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 413.</ref>

Richter also conducted the premiere of Prokofiev's [[Symphony-Concerto (Prokofiev)|Symphony-Concerto]] for cello and orchestra. This was his sole appearance as a conductor. The soloist was Rostropovich, to whom the work was dedicated. Prokofiev also wrote his 1949 Cello Sonata in C for Rostropovich, and he and Richter premiered it in 1950. Richter himself was a passable cellist, and Rostropovich was a good pianist; at one concert in Moscow at which he accompanied Rostropovich on the piano, they exchanged instruments for part of the program.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

==Approach to performance==
Richter explained his approach to performance as follows: "The interpreter is really an executant, carrying out the composer's intentions to the letter. He doesn't add anything that isn't already in the work. If he is talented, he allows us to glimpse the truth of the work that is in itself a thing of genius and that is reflected in him. He shouldn't dominate the music, but should dissolve into it."<ref name="Monsaingeon">Monsaingeon, p. 153.</ref> {{According to whom|Or, similarly:|date=July 2018}} "I am not a complete idiot, but whether from weakness or laziness have no talent for thinking. I know only how to reflect: I am a mirror&nbsp;... Logic does not exist for me. I float on the waves of art and life and never really know how to distinguish what belongs to the one or the other or what is common to both. Life unfolds for me like a theatre presenting a sequence of somewhat unreal sentiments; while the things of art are real to me and go straight to my heart."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Horder |first=Mervyn |date=May 1, 1994 |title=A Richter rehearsal at the Barbican |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Richter+rehearsal+at+the+Barbican.-a016044498 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240527072744/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Richter+rehearsal+at+the+Barbican.-a016044498 |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=May 27, 2024 |magazine=Contemporary Review |page=265 |volume=264}}</ref>

Richter's belief that musicians should "carry&nbsp;... out the composer's intentions to the letter", led him to be critical of others and, most often, himself.<ref name="Monsaingeon" /> After attending a recital of [[Murray Perahia]], where Perahia performed Chopin's [[Piano Sonata No. 3 (Chopin)|Third Piano Sonata]] without observing the first movement repeat, Richter asked him backstage to explain the omission.<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 313 ("When I asked him why he didn't do the repeat of the exposition in the B minor Sonata, he seemed surprised and exclaimed 'But no one does it'".).</ref> Similarly, after Richter realised that he had been playing a wrong note in Bach's [[Italian Concerto, BWV 971|Italian Concerto]] for decades, he insisted that the following disclaimer/apology be printed on a CD containing a performance thereof: "Just now Sviatoslav Richter realised, much to his regret, that he always made a mistake in the third measure before the end of the second part of the 'Italian Concerto'. As a matter of fact, through forty years – and no musician or technician ever pointed it out to him – he played 'F-sharp' rather than 'F'. The same mistake can be found in the previous recording made by Maestro Richter in the fifties."<ref>Richter's comment on inner sleeve of Stradivarius CD 33323.</ref>

==Recordings==
{{external media|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4etQPsY-2YM&ab_channel=Vladivostok1969 Richter performing live (London, 1989)] [[Frederic Chopin|Chopin's]] [[Études (Chopin)#Études Op. 10|12 Études, Op. 10]] and [[Études (Chopin)#Études, Op. 25|12 Études, Op. 25]]}}
Despite his large discography, Richter disliked making studio recordings,<ref>Falk Schwartz & John Berrie, Sviatoslav Richter – A Discography, Recorded Sound, July 1983 ("[Richter] repeated[ly] assert[s] that he dislikes the recording studio").</ref> and most of his recordings originate from live performances. Thus, his live recitals from Moscow (1948), [[Warsaw]] (1954 and 1972), [[Sofia]] (1958), New York City (1960), [[Leipzig]] (1963), [[Aldeburgh]] (multiple years), la Grange de Meslay near [[Tours]] (multiple years), [[Prague]] (multiple years), [[Salzburg]] (1977) and [[Amsterdam]] (1986), are considered among the finest documents of his playing, as are other live recordings issued during his lifetime and since his death on labels including Music & Arts, BBC Legends, Philips, Russia Revelation, Parnassus, and Ankh Productions.

Other critically acclaimed live recordings by Richter include performances of [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]]'s selected études, preludes and sonatas (multiple performances), [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s [[Fantasie in C (Schumann)|C major Fantasy]] (multiple performances), [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s [[Piano Sonata No. 23 (Beethoven)|Piano Sonata No. 23]] (Moscow, 1960), [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]'s B-flat Sonata (multiple performances), [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]]'s ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' (Sofia, 1958), [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s ''Miroirs'' (Prague, 1965), [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]]'s [[Piano Sonata (Liszt)|B minor Sonata]] (multiple performances, 1965–66), Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 29 (Beethoven)|Piano Sonata No. 29]] (multiple performances, 1975) and selected preludes by [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]] (multiple performances) and [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]] (multiple performances).<ref>{{cite web | title=Review Digest for Performances by Sviatoslav Richter | url=http://www.classicstoday.com/digest/pdigest.asp?perfidx=2239 | work=ClassicsToday | access-date=September 8, 2007 | archive-date=September 29, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102850/http://www.classicstoday.com/digest/pdigest.asp?perfidx=2239 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite his professed aversion for the studio, Richter took the recording process seriously.<ref>Falk Schwartz & John Berrie, Sviatoslav Richter – A Discography, Recorded Sound, July 1983.</ref> For instance, after a long recording session for Schubert's ''[[Wanderer Fantasy]]'', for which he had used a [[Bösendorfer]] piano, Richter listened to the tapes and, dissatisfied with his performance, told the recording engineer "Well, I think we'll remake it on the [[Steinway & Sons|Steinway]] after all".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149810,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=I've already found my programme of the year – all five hours of it | first=Sue | last=Arnold | date=March 11, 2001 | access-date=May 24, 2010}}</ref> Similarly, during a recording session for [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]]'s [[Toccata (Schumann)|Toccata]], Richter reportedly chose to play this piece (which Schumann himself considered "among the most difficult pieces ever written")<ref>Robert Schumann's correspondence, about 1832</ref> several times in a row, without taking any breaks, to preserve the spontaneity of his interpretation.{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}

According to Falk Schwartz and John Berrie's 1983 article "Sviatoslav Richter – A Discography",<ref>Recorded Sound, July 1983.</ref> in the 1970s, Richter announced his intention of recording his complete solo repertoire "on some 50 discs". This "complete" Richter project did not come to fruition, however, although twelve LPs worth of recordings were made between 1970 and 1973 and were subsequently reissued (in CD format) by Olympia (various composers, 10 CDs) and [[RCA Red Seal|RCA Victor]] (Bach's ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'').

In [[Grammy Awards of 1961|1961]], Richter's RCA Victor recording with [[Erich Leinsdorf]] and the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] of the [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)|Piano Concerto No. 2]] won the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)|Best Classical Performance – Concerto or Instrumental Soloist]]. That recording is still considered a landmark (despite Richter's dissatisfaction with it),<ref>Bruno Monsaingeon, Sviatoslav Richter – Notebooks and Conversations, p. 108 ("There was also the recording of Brahms's Second Concerto with Erich Leinsdorf, one of my worst records, even though people still praise it to the skies. I can't bear it.")</ref> as are his studio recordings of Schubert's ''Wanderer Fantasy'', Liszt's two Piano Concertos, Rachmaninoff's [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Second Piano Concerto]] and Schumann's Toccata, among many others.<ref>See, e.g., www.classicstoday.com.</ref>

==In film==
Richter appeared in a 1952 [[Cinema of the Soviet Union|Soviet film]], playing [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] in ''[[The Composer Glinka|Kompozitor Glinka]]'' (''The Composer Glinka''; Russian: ''Композитор Глинка'').

Bruno Monsaingeon interviewed Richter in 1995 (two years before his death) and the documentary The Enigma<ref>{{Citation |last=Monsaingeon |first=Bruno |title=Richter: The Enigma |date=1998-09-09 |type=Music, Documentary |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180096/ |access-date=2024-10-12 |others=Svyatoslav Richter}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Eisner |first=Ken |date=1998-10-26 |title=Richter, the Enigma |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/richter-the-enigma-1200455396/ |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> was released in 1998.

==Reception==
===Memorable statements about Richter===
[[File:Stamp of Ukraine s1425.jpg|thumb|2015 Ukrainian Stamp commemorating the birth of Richter]]
The Italian critic Piero Rattalino has asserted that the only pianists comparable to Richter in the history of piano performance were [[Franz Liszt]] and [[Ferruccio Busoni]].<ref>See Piero Rattalino, Pianisti e Fortisti, Il terzo Uomo ("How many pianists can claim today to be at [Richter's] level? How many are his peers, in the whole history of piano playing? Although I may appear unduly selective, only two names come to mind: Franz Liszt and Feruccio Busoni. The first was born in 1811; the second in 1866, fifty-one years later. And Richter was born in 1915, forty-nine years after Busoni.).</ref>

[[Glenn Gould]] called Richter "one of the most powerful communicators the world of music has produced in our time".<ref name="autogenerated1">Bruno Monsaingeon, The Enigma (film biography of Richter).</ref>

[[Nathan Milstein]] described Richter in his memoir ''From Russia to the West'' as the following: "Richter was certainly a marvellous pianist but not as impeccable as he was reputed to be. His music making was too dry for me. In Richter's interpretation of [[Maurice Ravel|Ravel]]'s ''[[Jeux d'eau (Ravel)|Jeux d'eau]]'', instead of flowing water you hear frozen icicles."<ref>Milstein, Nathan. From Russia to the West the musical memoirs and reminiscences of Nathan Milstein. New York: H. Holt, 1990. p. 222</ref>

[[Van Cliburn]] attended a Richter recital in 1958 in the Soviet Union. He reportedly wept during the recital and, upon returning to the United States, described Richter's playing as "the most powerful piano playing I have ever heard".<ref>{{cite news |title=Year in Review — Arts & Culture |url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/year.ender/obit/arts/index.html |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219172919/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1997/year.ender/obit/arts/index.html |archive-date=December 19, 2008}}</ref>

[[Arthur Rubinstein]] described his first exposure to Richter as follows: "It really wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Then at some point I noticed my eyes growing moist: tears began rolling down my cheeks."<ref name="autogenerated1" />

[[Heinrich Neuhaus]] described Richter as follows: "His singular ability to grasp the whole and at the same time miss none of the smallest details of a composition suggests a comparison with an eagle who from his great height can see as far as the horizon and yet single out the tiniest detail of the landscape."<ref>Portrait of an Artist, by Heinrich Neuhaus, available at http://www.trovar.com/str/neuhaus.html</ref>

[[Dmitri Shostakovich]] wrote of Richter: "Richter is an extraordinary phenomenon. The enormity of his talent staggers and enraptures. All the phenomena of musical art are accessible to him."<ref>Foreword to V.I. Delson, Sviatoslav Richter, Moscow 1961, partial translation available at {{cite web |url=http://www.sonybmgmasterworks.com/artists/sviatoslavrichter/ |title=Sviatoslav Richter on SONY BMG Masterworks |access-date=November 23, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720033407/http://sonybmgmasterworks.com/artists/sviatoslavrichter/ |archive-date=July 20, 2008 }}</ref>

[[Vladimir Sofronitsky]] proclaimed that Richter was a "genius", prompting Richter to respond that Sofronitsky was a "god".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sofronitsky.ru/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715061535/http://www.sofronitsky.ru/|url-status=dead|title=Владимир Софроницкий|archive-date=July 15, 2010|website=www.sofronitsky.ru}}</ref>

[[Vladimir Horowitz]] said: "Of the Russian pianists, I like only one, Richter."<ref>Harold C. Schonberg, Horowitz – His Life and Music, Simon & Schuster, 1992.</ref>

[[Pierre Boulez]] wrote of Richter: "His personality was greater than the possibilities offered to him by the piano, broader than the very concept of complete mastery of the instrument."<ref name="autogenerated3">[http://www.richtercompetition.com/en_richter6.html The Music Room], Richter International Piano Competition</ref>

[[Marlene Dietrich]], who was Richter's friend, wrote in her autobiography, ''Marlene'': "One evening the audience sat around him on the stage. While he was playing a piece, a woman directly behind him collapsed and died on the spot. She was carried out of the hall. I was deeply impressed by this incident and thought to myself: "What an enviable fate, to die while Richter is playing! What a strong feeling for the music this woman must have had when she breathed out her life!" But Richter did not share this opinion, he was shaken".

''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'' critic Bryce Morrison described Richter as follows: "Idiosyncratic, plain-speaking, heroic, reserved, lyrical, virtuosic and perhaps above all, profoundly enigmatic, Sviatoslav Richter remains one of the greatest recreative artists of all time."<ref>Bryce Morrison, Gramophone review of Sviatoslav Richter's Schumann EMI CD 62961.</ref>

===Memorable statements by Richter===
On listening to [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]: "It does no harm to listen to Bach from time to time, even if only from a hygienic standpoint."<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 196.</ref>

On [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]]: "Scriabin isn't the sort of composer whom you'd regard as your daily bread, but is a heavy liqueur on which you can get drunk periodically, a poetical drug, a crystal that's easily broken."<ref>Monsaingeon, p. 267.</ref>

On picking small venues for performance: "Put a small piano in a truck and drive out on country roads; take time to discover new scenery; stop in a pretty place where there is a good church; unload the piano and tell the residents; give a concert; offer flowers to the people who have been so kind as to attend; leave again."<ref>[[Alain Lompech]] – A Free Spirit Among Artists, A Protean Pianist, Notes to Richter Performs Beethoven, Philips 438 624–2.</ref>

On his plan to perform without a fee: "Music must be given to those who love it. I want to give free concerts; that's the answer."<ref>Bruno Monsaingeon: ''Introduction'' to Sviatoslav Richter – Notebooks and Conversations p. XX.</ref>

On [[Heinrich Neuhaus|Neuhaus]]: "I learned a lot from him, even though he kept saying that there was nothing he could teach me. Music is written to be played and listened to and has always seemed to me to be able to manage without words... This was exactly the case with Heinrich Neuhaus. In his presence I was almost always reduced to total silence. This was an extremely good thing, as it meant that we concentrated exclusively on the music. Above all, he taught me the meaning of silence and the meaning of singing. He said I was incredibly obstinate and did only what I wanted to. It's true that I've only ever played what I wanted. And so he left me to do as I liked."<ref>Monsaingeon, p.28/9.</ref>

On playing: "I don't play for the audience, I play for myself, and if I derive any satisfaction from it, then the audience, too, is content."<ref>Monsaingeon, p.61.</ref>

After playing some [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] for a television programme while touring in the US, Richter said, after much coaxing by the interviewer and embarrassment on his own part, that Haydn was "better than [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]".

==Honours and awards==
* [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]] (1950);
* [[People's Artist of the RSFSR]] (1955);
* [[Grammy Award]] (1960);
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1961);
* [[People's Artist of the USSR]] (1961);
* [[Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau]] (1968);
* Honorary Doctor of the [[University of Strasbourg]] (1977);
* [[Léonie Sonning Music Prize]] (1986; Denmark);
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1975);
* Three [[Orders of Lenin]] (1965, 1975, 1985);
* [[Order of the October Revolution]] (1980);
* [[Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR]] (1987) – for concert programmes in 1986, performed in the cities of Siberia and the Far East;
* [[Order of Merit for the Fatherland]], 4th class (1995);
* [[Russian Federation State Prize]] (1996);
* Commander of the [[Ordre des Arts et des Lettres|Order of Arts and Letters]] (France);
* Doctor of Music, ''honoris causa'' [[Oxford University]];<ref>[https://www.music.ox.ac.uk/honorary-doctors-music Honorary Doctors of Music] at University of Oxford Faculty of Music website. Retrieved November 10, 2022. (Text of the presentation by Oxford public orator Godfrey Bond [http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/OXFORD.htm here] <nowiki>[</nowiki>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090206182842/http://www.trovar.com/str/dates/OXFORD.htm archived].)</ref>
* Voted into the [[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]] Hall of Fame in 2012;<ref>{{cite web|title=Sviatoslav Richter (pianist)|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame/ArtistPage/Richter|publisher=Gramophone|access-date=April 12, 2012}}</ref>
* A [[minor planet]], [[9014 Svyatorichter]], was named after him.<ref>{{cite book | last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. | title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names | edition = 5th | year = 2003 | publisher = Springer Verlag | location = New York | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC&q=9014+Svyatorichter&pg=PA675 | isbn = 978-3-540-00238-3 | page = 675}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book | last=Hunt | first=John |title=Sviatoslav Richter: Pianist of the Century. Discography | location=London | publisher=Travis & Emery |year=2009 | isbn=978-1-901395-99-0 }}
*{{cite book | last=Monsaingeon | first=Bruno | title=Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations | year=2001 | publisher=Princeton University Press | isbn=978-0-571-20553-0}}
* Monsaingeon, Bruno (1998), ''Richter, the Enigma''. Video interview-documentary. {{OCLC|41148757}}
*{{cite book | last=Rasmussen | first=Karl Aage | title=Svjatoslav Richter – Pianist| year=2007 | publisher=Gyldendal | location=Copenhagen| isbn=978-87-02-03430-1}}
*{{cite book | last=Rasmussen | first=Karl Aage | title=Szvjatoszlav Richter – A zongorista| year=2010 | publisher=Rozsavolgyi es Tarsa | location=Budapest| isbn=978-963-87764-8-8}}
*{{cite book | last=Rasmussen | first=Karl Aage | title=Sviatoslav Richter – Pianist| year=2010 | publisher=Northeastern University Press | location=Boston| isbn=978-1-55553-710-4}}
*{{cite book | last=Rattalino | first=Piero | title=Sviatoslav Richter: Il Visionario | year=2005 | publisher=Zecchini Editore | isbn=978-88-87203-35-6}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*{{IMDb title|0180096}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524143642/http://www.trovar.com/str/ Website dedicated to Sviatoslav Richter, includes an extensive discography]
* [http://www.doremi.com/sr.html RECORDED RICHTER, complete discography that includes currently unavailable recordings and private recordings]
* [http://www.neuhaus.it/english/dorliak.html Brief obituary of Nina Dorliak]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120717003914/http://trovar.com/str/bio.html Paul Geffen, 1999:] ''Vita'' of Sviatoslav Richter
* [https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B7lvxTjDp45RZTk1YmNmZGYtZWI2Yy00YTRkLTllYjAtOTZiZjMwNGJjNjkw&export=download&hl=en Pete Taylor, 2010:] Concert list program with Google Earth maps
* [http://sviatoslavrichter.ru/ Sviatoslav Richter's memorial website (in Russian)]
* [https://pushkinmuseum.art/museum/buildings/richter/index.php?lang=en Website of Memorial Richter's apartment]

{{Léonie Sonning Music Prize laureates}}
{{Gramophone Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

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