March 26, 2018.Richter and Haydn.Last week we started writing about the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, and made it all the way to 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.Richter, 26 years old, joined many other musicians who continued to perform during the war, often on the front line.In January 1943 he premiered Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no. 7, one of the three so-called “War Sonatas” (sonatas sixth through eighth).Richter already new Prokofiev: they met over Prokofiev’s Sonata no. 6. Premiered by the composer, the sonata became part of Richter’s repertoire; he played it on his first “official” Moscow concert in 1940.And even though he didn’t premier Prokofiev’s Eighth (Emil Gilels did), he played it at the Third All-Union competition in 1945, which Richter won (Victor Merzhanov shared the first prize with him).Here’s a live recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no. 7 from 1958.
In 1943 Richter met Nina Dorliak, a fine opera and chamber singer.Nina was born into a prominent family: her father was a deputy to the Czar’s finance minister; her mother in her youth was a lady-in-waiting to dowager Empress Maria, later she became a well-known singer herself.Considering such legacy, it’s a miracle that Nina was not arrested during the Great Purge.Dorliak and Richter became good friends and played many concerts together.In 1945 Richter, most likely a closeted homosexual (he never talked about it), proposed to Nina.They married in 1945 and stayed together to the end of his life.
After the war, Richter, by then one of the most popular young pianists, extensively toured the Soviet Union and the countries of the Eastern bloc, but not in the West.Part of the “problem” was his parents (his German father was executed at the beginning of the war, his mother moved to Germany), partly because of his connections to the artists out of favor with the State, such as Prokofiev, who, from 1948 on was repeatedly criticized as “formalist,” as well as the poet Boris Pasternak.All of this changed with Khrushchev’s “thaw,” when Richter was allowed to go on a tour of the US.He played his first American concert on October 15th of 1960 in Chicago (Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Erich Leinsdorf).On October 19th he played a massive concert in Carnegie Hall: five Beethoven sonatas, including the Appassionata (no. 23); two Etudes from Chopin’s op. 10, a Schubert’s Impromptu (D 899, no. 4) and Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, opus 12, no. 2.He played another concert several days later, this one consisting of Prokofiev’s piece: piano sonatas nos. 6 and 8, and smaller pieces.Two more concerts followed: Haydn's Sonata No. 50 in C Major, Schumann and Debussy in one, and Schumann, Chopin, Ravel and Scriabin in another.He continued the tour through the end of the year, visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago again, and the West coast.In December he played Carnegie Hall two more times.Altogether, he played more than 60 different pieces, including five different piano concertos: Tchaikovsky’s First, Brahms’s Second, Beethoven’s First, Liszt’s Second, and Dvořák’s.It’s difficult to think of another pianist with such a breadth of repertoire.
Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31st of 1732.Richter played many of his pianos sonatas (and also the piano concerto).Here’s Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:35.It was recorded in 1967.
Richter, Haydn 2018
March 26, 2018. Richter and Haydn. Last week we started writing about the pianist Sviatoslav Richter, and made it all the way to 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Richter, 26 years old, joined many other musicians who continued to perform during the war, often on the front line. In January 1943 he premiered Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no. 7, one of the three so-called “War Sonatas” (sonatas sixth through eighth). Richter already new Prokofiev: they met over Prokofiev’s Sonata no. 6..jpg "Sviatoslav Richter")
Premiered by the composer, the sonata became part of Richter’s repertoire; he played it on his first “official” Moscow concert in 1940. And even though he didn’t premier Prokofiev’s Eighth (Emil Gilels did), he played it at the Third All-Union competition in 1945, which Richter won (Victor Merzhanov shared the first prize with him). Here’s a live recording of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata no. 7 from 1958.
In 1943 Richter met Nina Dorliak, a fine opera and chamber singer. Nina was born into a prominent family: her father was a deputy to the Czar’s finance minister; her mother in her youth was a lady-in-waiting to dowager Empress Maria, later she became a well-known singer herself. Considering such legacy, it’s a miracle that Nina was not arrested during the Great Purge. Dorliak and Richter became good friends and played many concerts together. In 1945 Richter, most likely a closeted homosexual (he never talked about it), proposed to Nina. They married in 1945 and stayed together to the end of his life.
After the war, Richter, by then one of the most popular young pianists, extensively toured the Soviet Union and the countries of the Eastern bloc, but not in the West. Part of the “problem” was his parents (his German father was executed at the beginning of the war, his mother moved to Germany), partly because of his connections to the artists out of favor with the State, such as Prokofiev, who, from 1948 on was repeatedly criticized as “formalist,” as well as the poet Boris Pasternak. All of this changed with Khrushchev’s “thaw,” when Richter was allowed to go on a tour of the US. He played his first American concert on October 15th of 1960 in Chicago (Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Erich Leinsdorf). On October 19th he played a massive concert in Carnegie Hall: five Beethoven sonatas, including the Appassionata (no. 23); two Etudes from Chopin’s op. 10, a Schubert’s Impromptu (D 899, no. 4) and Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, opus 12, no. 2. He played another concert several days later, this one consisting of Prokofiev’s piece: piano sonatas nos. 6 and 8, and smaller pieces. Two more concerts followed: Haydn's Sonata No. 50 in C Major, Schumann and Debussy in one, and Schumann, Chopin, Ravel and Scriabin in another. He continued the tour through the end of the year, visiting Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago again, and the West coast. In December he played Carnegie Hall two more times. Altogether, he played more than 60 different pieces, including five different piano concertos: Tchaikovsky’s First, Brahms’s Second, Beethoven’s First, Liszt’s Second, and Dvořák’s. It’s difficult to think of another pianist with such a breadth of repertoire.
Franz Joseph Haydn was born on March 31st of 1732. Richter played many of his pianos sonatas (and also the piano concerto). Here’s Haydn’s Piano Sonata in C major, Hob.XVI:35. It was recorded in 1967.