Who is Svyatoslav Richter? The great pianist Svyatoslav Richter: life and creative path
Richter’s teacher, Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus, once spoke about the first meeting with his future student: “The students asked to listen young man from Odessa, who would like to enter my class at the conservatory.
“Has he already graduated from music school?” I asked.
- No, he didn’t study anywhere.
I admit, this answer was somewhat puzzling. The person who didn't receive music education, was going to the conservatory!.. It was interesting to look at the daredevil.
And then he came. A tall, thin young man, fair-haired, blue-eyed, with a lively, surprisingly attractive face. He sat down at the piano, placed his large, soft, nervous hands on the keys and began to play.
He played very restrainedly, I would say, even emphatically simple and strict. His performance immediately captivated me with some amazing insight into the music. I whispered to my student: “In my opinion, he is a brilliant musician.” After Beethoven's Twenty-eighth Sonata, the young man played several of his works and sight-read. And everyone present wanted him to play again and again...
From that day on, Svyatoslav Richter became my student" (Neigauz G. G. Reflections, memories, diaries // Selected articles. Letters to parents. P. 244-245.).
So, the journey to great art one of the greatest performers of our time, Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter. In general, in his artistic biography there was a lot that was unusual and there was not much that was quite common for most of his colleagues. Before meeting Neuhaus, there was no everyday, sympathetic pedagogical care, which others feel from childhood. There was no firm hand of a leader or mentor, no systematically organized lessons on the instrument. There were no daily technical exercises, painstakingly and long-term study programs, methodical advancement from step to step, from class to class. There was a passion for music, a spontaneous, uncontrolled search for a phenomenally gifted self-taught person at the keyboard; there was endless sight-reading of a wide variety of works (mainly opera scores), persistent attempts to compose; Over time, he worked as an accompanist at the Odessa Philharmonic, then at the Opera and Ballet Theater. There was a cherished dream of becoming a conductor - and an unexpected break in all plans, a trip to Moscow, to the conservatory, to Neuhaus.
In November 1940, 25-year-old Richter made his first performance in front of a capital audience. It was a triumphant success, experts and the public started talking about a new, bright phenomenon in pianism. The November debut was followed by more concerts, each more remarkable and successful than the other. (Richter’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto at one of the symphony evenings in the Great Hall of the Conservatory had a great resonance, for example.) The pianist’s fame expanded and his fame grew stronger. But unexpectedly, war entered his life and the life of the entire country...
The Moscow Conservatory was evacuated, Neuhaus left. Richter remained in the capital - hungry, half-frozen, deserted. To all the difficulties that befell people in those years, he had his own: he had neither a permanent shelter nor his own instrument. (Friends came to the rescue: one of the first to be named was the long-time and devoted admirer of Richter’s talent, the artist A.I. Troyanovskaya). And yet it was precisely at this time that he worked at the piano more persistently, harder than ever before.
In musicians' circles it is believed that five or six hours of exercise every day is an impressive norm. Richter works almost twice as hard. He would later say that he “really” started studying in the early forties.
Since July 1942, Richter's meetings with the general public have resumed. One of Richter’s biographers describes this time as follows: “The life of an artist turns into a continuous stream of performances without rest or respite. Concert after concert. Cities, trains, planes, people... New orchestras and new conductors. And again rehearsals. Concerts. Full halls. A brilliant success..." (Delson V. Svyatoslav Richter. - M., 1961. P. 18.). Surprising, however, is not only the fact that the pianist plays a lot of; it's surprising how much much brought to the stage by him during this period. Richter's seasons - if you look back at initial stages The artist's stage biography is a truly inexhaustible, dazzling fireworks display of programs. The most difficult pieces of the piano repertoire can be mastered by a young musician literally in a matter of days. So, in January 1943 he performed open concert Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata. Most of his colleagues would have taken months to prepare in advance; some of the especially gifted and experienced ones could have done it in weeks. Richter learned Prokofiev's sonata in... four days.
By the end of the forties, Richter was one of the most prominent figures in the magnificent galaxy of masters of Soviet pianism. Behind him is a victory at the All-Union Competition of Performing Musicians (1945), and a brilliant graduation from the conservatory. (A rare case in the practice of the capital’s music university: Richter’s state exam included one of his many concerts in the Great Hall of the Conservatory; the “examiners” in this case were the masses of listeners, whose assessment was expressed with all clarity, certainty and unanimity.) Following the All-Union The pianist began to become famous worldwide: in 1950, the pianist began traveling abroad - to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and later to Finland, the USA, Canada, England, France, Italy, Japan and other countries. Music criticism is looking more and more closely at an artist’s art. There are increasing attempts to analyze this art, to understand its creative typology, specificity, main features and features. It would seem that nothing could be simpler: the figure of Richter the artist is so large, relief in outline, original, unlike the others... Nevertheless, the task of “diagnosticians” from music criticism turns out to be far from simple.
There are many definitions, judgments, statements, etc. that could be made about Richter as a concert musician; true in themselves, each separately, they - if you put them together - form, no matter how surprising, a picture devoid of any character. The picture “in general”, approximate, vague, inexpressive. Portrait authenticity (this is Richter, and no one else) cannot be achieved with their help. Let's take this example: reviewers have repeatedly written about the pianist's huge, truly boundless repertoire. Indeed, Richter plays almost all piano music, from Bach to Berg and from Haydn to Hindemith. However, is he alone? If we start talking about the breadth and richness of the repertoire funds, then Liszt, Bülow, Joseph Hoffmann, and, of course, the latter’s great teacher, Anton Rubinstein, who performed in his famous “Historical Concerts” over thousand three hundred(!) works that belonged to seventy nine to the authors. Some of them are capable of continuing this series. modern masters. No, the very fact that on the artist’s posters one can find almost everything intended for a piano does not make Richter a Richter, does not determine the purely individual nature of his work.
Doesn’t the performer’s magnificent, impeccably polished technique, his exceptionally high professional skill reveal his secrets? Indeed, a rare publication about Richter does not contain enthusiastic words regarding his pianistic skill, complete and unconditional mastery of the instrument, etc. But, if we think objectively, similar heights are achieved by some others. In the age of Horowitz, Gilels, Michelangeli, and Gould, it would be difficult to single out an absolute leader in piano technicism. Or, above, it was said about Richter’s amazing diligence, his inexhaustible, breaking all the usual ideas of efficiency. However, even here he is not the only one of his kind; there are people in musical world, capable of arguing with him in this regard. (It was said about the young Horowitz that even when visiting, he never missed the opportunity to practice at the keyboard.) They say that Richter is almost never satisfied with himself; Sofronitsky, Neuhaus, and Yudina were always tormented by creative hesitations. (And what about the famous lines - it’s impossible to read them without emotion - contained in one of Rachmaninov’s letters: “There is no critic in the world, more doubting me than I myself...") What then is the answer to the “phenotype” (Phenotype (phaino - I show type) is a combination of all the characteristics and properties of an individual formed in the process of its development.), as a psychologist would say, Richter the artist? In what distinguishes one phenomenon in musical performance from another. In Features spiritual world pianist In his warehouse personalities. In the emotional and psychological content of his work.
Richter's art is the art of powerful, gigantic passions. There are many concert performers whose playing is soothing to the ear, pleasing with the graceful precision of their designs and the “pleasantness” of sound colors. Richter's performance shocks and even stuns the listener, takes him out of the usual sphere of feelings, and moves him to the depths of his soul. So, for example, the pianist’s interpretations of Beethoven’s “Appassionata” or “Pathétique”, Liszt’s B minor sonata or “Transcendental Etudes”, Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto or Tchaikovsky’s First, Schubert’s “The Wanderer” or Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” were amazing in their time , a number of works by Bach, Schumann, Frank, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Bartok... You can sometimes hear from regulars of Richter’s concerts that they experience a strange, not quite usual state at the pianist’s performances: music that has long been and is well known, seems to be enlarged, enlarged, or changed in scale. Everything becomes somehow bigger, more monumental, more significant... Andrei Bely once said that people, listening to music, get the opportunity to experience what the giants feel and experience; Richter's audience is well aware of the sensations that the poet had in mind.
This is how Richter looked from his youth, this is how he looked in his heyday. Once upon a time, back in 1945, he played at the All-Union competition “Wild Hunt” by Liszt. One of the Moscow musicians who was present recalls: “...Before us was a titanic performer, it seemed created to embody a mighty romantic fresco. Extremely rapid tempo, flurries of dynamic build-ups, fiery temperament... I wanted to grab the arm of my chair to resist the devilish onslaught of this music...” (Adzhemov K. X. Unforgettable. - M., 1972. P. 92.). Several decades later, Richter played in one of the seasons a series of preludes and fugues by Shostakovich, Myaskovsky's Third Sonata, Prokofiev's Eighth. And again, as in the old days, it would be fitting to write in a critical report: “I wanted to grab the arm of the chair...” - so strong and furious was the emotional tornado that raged in the music of Myaskovsky, Shostakovich, in the finale of the Prokofiev cycle.
At the same time, Richter always loved, instantly and completely transformed, to take the listener into the world of quiet, detached sound contemplation, musical “nirvanas,” and concentrated thoughts. To that mysterious and inaccessible world, where everything purely material in performance - textured covers, fabric, substance, shell - already disappears, dissolves without a trace, giving way only to the strongest, thousand-volt spiritual radiation. Such is Richter’s world of many preludes and fugues from Bach’s “Good Tempered Clavier,” Beethoven’s last piano creations (primarily the brilliant Arietta from opus 111), the slow movements of Schubert’s sonatas, the philosophical poetics of Brahms, the psychologically sophisticated sound design of Debussy and Ravel. The interpretations of these works gave rise to one of the foreign reviewers to write: “Richter is a pianist of amazing inner concentration. Sometimes it seems that the whole process musical performance happens within himself" (Delson V. Svyatoslav Richter. - M., 1961. P. 19.). The critic chose really apt words.
So, the most powerful “fortissimo” of stage experiences and the bewitching “pianissimo”... From time immemorial it has been known: a concert artist, be it a pianist, violinist, conductor, etc., is interesting only insofar as his interesting - broad, rich, varied - the palette of his feelings. It seems that the greatness of Richter the concert singer lies not only in the intensity of his emotions, especially noticeable in his youth, as well as in the period of the 50-60s, but also in their truly Shakespearean contrast, the gigantic scale of changes: frenzy - deep philosophicality, ecstatic impulse - calm and daydreaming, active action - intense and complex introspection.
It is interesting to note at the same time that there are also colors in the spectrum of human emotions that Richter as an artist always alienated and avoided. One of the most insightful researchers of his work, Leningrader L. E. Gakkel once wondered: what is in Richter’s art? No? (The question at first glance is rhetorical and strange, but in essence it is quite legitimate, because absence something sometimes characterizes an artistic personality more clearly than the presence of such and such features in her appearance.) In Richter, writes Gakkel, “... there is no sensual charm, seductiveness; in Richter there is no affection, slyness, play, his rhythm is devoid of capriciousness...” (Gakkel L. For music and for people // Stories about music and musicians.-L.; M.; 1973. P. 147.). One could continue: Richter is not too inclined to that sincerity, trusting intimacy with which some performer opens his soul to the audience - let's remember Cliburn. As an artist, Richter is not an “open” person; he is not overly sociable (Cortot, Arthur Rubinstein), he does not have that special quality - let’s call it confessionalism - that marked the art of Sofronitsky or Yudina. The musician’s feelings are sublime, strict, they are both serious and philosophical; Something else - cordiality, tenderness, sympathetic warmth... - they sometimes lack. Neuhaus once wrote that he “sometimes, though very rarely,” lacked “humanity” in Richter, “despite all the spiritual heights of the performance.” (Neuhaus G. Reflections, memories, diaries. P. 109.). It is no coincidence, apparently, that among the piano pieces there are also those with which the pianist, due to his individuality, finds it more difficult than others. There are authors whose path has always been difficult for him; Reviewers, for example, have long debated the “Chopin problem” in Richter’s performance art.
Sometimes they ask: what dominates an artist’s art - feeling? thought? (As is known, most of the characteristics given to performers by musical criticism are tested on this traditional “touchstone.”) Neither one nor the other - and this is also remarkable for Richter in his best stage creations. He was always equally far from the impulsiveness of romantic artists and from the cold-blooded rationality with which “rationalist” performers construct their sound structures. And not only because balance and harmony are in Richter’s nature, in everything that is the work of his hands. There's something else here too.
Richter is an artist of a purely modern formation. Like most major masters of musical culture of the 20th century, his creative thinking is an organic synthesis of the rational and emotional. Just one important detail. Not the traditional synthesis of hot feeling and sober, balanced thought, as was often the case in the past, but, on the contrary, the unity of fiery, white-hot artistic thoughts with smart, meaningful feelings. (“Feeling is intellectualized, and thought is intensified to such an extent that it becomes an acute experience.” (Mazel L. About Shostakovich’s style // Traits of Shostakovich’s style. - M., 1962. P. 15.), - these words of L. Mazel, defining one of the important aspects of the modern worldview in music, sometimes seem to be spoken directly about Richter). To understand this apparent paradox is to understand something very significant in the pianist’s interpretations of works by Bartok, Shostakovich, Hindemith, and Berg.
And another distinctive feature of Richter’s works is their clear internal organization. It was said earlier that in everything that is done by people in art - writers, artists, actors, musicians - their purely human “I” always shines through; homo sapiens manifests itself in activities, shines through in her. Richter, as those around him know him, is irreconcilable to any manifestations of negligence, a sloppy attitude to work, and organically does not tolerate anything that could be associated with “by the way” and “somehow.” An interesting touch. He had thousands of public appearances under his belt, and each one was taken into account by him and recorded in special notebooks: What was played where and when. The same innate tendency towards strict orderliness and self-discipline is in the pianist’s interpretations. Everything in them is planned in detail, weighed and distributed, there is absolute clarity in everything: in intentions, techniques and methods of stage implementation. Richter’s logic of organizing material is especially clear in the works of large forms included in the artist’s repertoire. Such as Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto (famous recording with Karajan), Prokofiev's Fifth with Maazel, Beethoven's First with Munsch; concerts and sonata cycles by Mozart, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Bartok and other authors.
People who are well acquainted with Richter said that during his numerous tours, visiting different cities and countries, he never missed an opportunity to look into the theater; Opera is especially close to him. He is a passionate film fan, good film for him it is a real joy. It is known that Richter is a long-time and ardent lover of painting: he painted himself (experts assure him that he was interesting and talented), stood for hours in museums in front of the paintings he liked; his house often served as a venue for vernissages and exhibitions of works by one or another artist. And one more thing: from a young age, his passion for literature did not leave him; he was in awe of Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin, Blok... Direct and close contact with various arts, a huge artistic culture, an encyclopedic outlook - all this illuminates Richter’s performance with a special light, makes him phenomenon.
At the same time - another paradox in the art of a pianist! - Richter’s personified “I” never claims to be the demiurge in the creative process. In the last 10-15 years, this has been especially noticeable, which, however, will be discussed later. Most likely, it is sometimes thought at a musician’s concerts, it would be to compare the individual-personal in his interpretations with the underwater, invisible part of the iceberg: it contains multi-ton power, it is the basis for what is on the surface; from outside eyes, however, it is hidden - and completely... Critics have more than once written about the artist’s ability to completely “dissolve” in what he is performing, about the “implicitness” of Richter the interpreter - this explicit And characteristic feature his stage appearance. Talking about the pianist, one of the reviewers once referred to the famous words of Schiller: the highest praise for an artist is to say that we forget about him behind his creations; they seem to be addressed to Richter - that’s who really makes you forget about to myself behind what he is doing... Apparently, some natural features the musician's talents - typology, specificity, etc. In addition, there is a fundamental creative attitude.
This is where another, perhaps the most amazing ability of Richter the concert performer originates - the ability for creative transformation. Crystallized in him to higher degrees perfection and professional skill, it puts him in a special place among his colleagues, even the most eminent; in this area he has almost no equal. Neuhaus, who considered the stylistic transformations in Richter’s performances to be among the artist’s highest merits, wrote after one of his clavibends: “When he played Schumann after Haydn, everything became different: the piano was different, the sound was different, the rhythm was different, the character of expression was different; and so it’s clear for some reason that it was Haydn, or that it was Schumann, and S. Richter with the utmost clarity managed to embody in his performance not only the appearance of each author, but also his era.” (Neuhaus G. Svyatoslav Richter // Reflections, memories, diaries. P. 240.).
There is no need to talk about Richter’s constant successes, successes that are all the greater (the next and last paradox) because the public is not usually allowed to admire at Richter’s evenings everything that they are used to admiring at the evenings of many famous “aces” of pianism: neither in the instrumental virtuosity generous in effects , neither luxurious sound “decor”, nor brilliant “concert”...
This has always been characteristic of Richter's performing style - a categorical rejection of everything outwardly flashy and pretentious (the seventies and eighties only brought this trend to the maximum possible). Anything that could distract the audience from the main and most important thing in music - to focus attention on the merits performer, but not executable. To play the way Richter plays - for this, stage experience alone is probably not enough - no matter how great it may be; artistic culture alone - even unique in scale; natural talent - even a gigantic one... Here something else is required. A certain complex of purely human qualities and traits. People who know Richter closely speak unanimously about his modesty, selflessness, and altruistic attitude towards his surroundings, life, and music.
For several decades now, Richter has been moving forward non-stop. He walks, it would seem, easily and with inspiration, but in reality he makes his way through endless, merciless, inhuman labor. The long hours of exercise described above continue to be the norm in his life. Over the years, little has changed here. Except that even more time is spent working on the instrument. For Richter believes that with age one should not reduce, but increase creative loads - if one sets oneself the goal of maintaining the performing “form”...
In the eighties in creative life Many interesting events and achievements took place during the artist’s life. First of all, one cannot help but recall “December Evenings” - this one-of-a-kind arts festival (music, painting, poetry), to which Richter devotes a lot of energy and strength. "December Evenings", held since 1981 in State Museum fine arts named after A.S. Pushkin, have now become traditional; Thanks to radio and television, they found the widest audience. Their topics are varied: classics and modernity, Russian and foreign art. Richter, the initiator and inspirer of the “Evenings,” delves into literally everything during their preparation: from drawing up programs and selecting participants to the most seemingly insignificant details and trifles. However, little things practically do not exist for him when it comes to art. “Trifles create perfection, and perfection is not a trifle” - these words of Michelangelo could become an excellent epigraph both for Richter’s performance and for all his activities.
At “December Evenings,” another facet of Richter’s talent was revealed: together with director B. Pokrovsky, he took part in the production of B. Britten’s operas “Albert Herring” and “The Turn of the Screw.” “Svyatoslav Teofilovich worked from early morning until late at night,” recalls the director of the Museum of Fine Arts I. Antonov. great amount rehearsals with musicians. I worked with the lighting technicians and checked literally every light bulb myself, down to the smallest detail. I myself went with the artist to the library to select English engravings for the design of the performance. I didn’t like the costumes - I went to television and rummaged through the dressing room for several hours until I found something that suited him. The entire production was thought out by him.”
Richter still tours a lot both in the USSR and abroad. In 1986, for example, he gave about 150 concerts. The number is downright staggering. Almost twice the usual, generally accepted concert norm. Exceeding, by the way, the “norm” of Svyatoslav Teofilovich himself - previously, as a rule, he did not give more than 120 concerts a year. The routes of Richter’s tours in the same 1986, which covered almost half the world, looked extremely impressive: it all started with performances in Europe, then followed by a long tour of the cities of the USSR ( European part countries, Siberia, the Far East), then Japan, where Svyatoslav Teofilovich had 11 solo clavirabends, and again concerts in his homeland, only now in the reverse order, from east to west. Something of this kind was repeated by Richter in 1988 - the same long series of large and not very large cities, the same chain of continuous performances, the same endless moves from place to place. “Why are there so many cities and just these?” Svyatoslav Teofilovich was once asked. “Because I haven’t played in them yet,” he answered. “I want, I really want to see the country.” [...] Do you know what attracts me? Geographical interest. Not “wanderlust,” but exactly that. In general, I don’t like to stay in one place, anywhere... There is nothing surprising in my trip, no feat, it’s just my desire.
To me Interesting, this has movement. Geography, new harmonies, new impressions are also a kind of art. That's why I'm happy when I leave some place and something will happen next new. Otherwise it’s not interesting to live” (Richter Svyatoslav: “There is nothing surprising in my trip.”: From the travel notes of V. Chemberdzhi // Soviet music. 1987. No. 4. P. 51.).
Richter plays an increasingly important role in stage practice. Lately chamber ensemble music playing. He was always an excellent ensemble player and loved performing with singers and instrumentalists; in the seventies and eighties this became especially noticeable. Svyatoslav Teofilovich often plays with O. Kagan, N. Gutman, Yu. Bashmet; among his partners one could see G. Pisarenko, V. Tretyakov, the Borodin Quartet, youth groups led by Yu. Nikolaevsky and others. A kind of community of performers of various specialties was formed near him; critics began to talk, not without some pathos, about “Richter’s galaxy”... Naturally, the creative evolution of musicians close to Richter takes place largely under his direct and strong influence - although he most likely makes absolutely no effort for this . And yet... His colossal dedication to his work, his creative maximalism, his determination cannot help but infect, as the pianist’s relatives testify. Communicating with him, people begin to do things that seem to be beyond their strengths and capabilities. “He has blurred the line between practice, rehearsal and concert,” says cellist N. Gutman. “Most musicians would consider at some stage that the piece is ready. Richter is just starting to work on it at this moment.”
There is much that is striking about the “late” Richter. But perhaps most of all, his inexhaustible passion for discovering new things in music. It would seem that with his huge repertoire accumulations, why look for something he has not previously performed? Is it necessary?... And yet, in his programs of the seventies and eighties one can find a number of new works that he had not played before - for example, Shostakovich, Hindemith, Stravinsky, and some other authors. Or this fact: for over 20 years in a row, Richter participated in a music festival in the city of Tours (France). And not once during this time did he repeat himself in his programs...
Has the pianist's playing style changed recently? His concert and performing style? Yes and no. No, because in the main Richter remained himself. The foundations of his art are too stable and powerful for any significant modifications. At the same time, some of the trends characteristic of his play in past years have today received further continuation and development. First of all, that “implicitness” of Richter the performer, which has already been mentioned. That characteristic, unique feature of his performing style, thanks to which listeners have the feeling that they are directly, face to face, meeting with the authors performed works- without any interpreter or intermediary. And it makes an impression as strong as it is unusual. No one here can compare with Svyatoslav Teofilovich...
At the same time, one cannot help but see that Richter’s emphasized objectivity as an interpreter—the uncloudedness of his performance by any subjective admixtures—has the consequence of by-effect. A fact is a fact: in a number of interpretations of the pianist of the seventies and eighties, one sometimes feels a certain “distillation” of emotions, some kind of “impersonality” (perhaps it would be more correct to say “transpersonality”) of musical statements. Sometimes the internal detachment from the audience and the perceiving environment makes itself felt. It happened that in some of his programs Richter looked a little abstract as an artist, not allowing himself anything - at least it seemed from the outside - that would go beyond the scope of a textbook accurate reproduction of the material. We remember that G. G. Neuhaus once lacked “humanity” in his world-famous and renowned student - “despite all the spiritual heights of his performance.” Justice requires us to note: what Genrikh Gustavovich spoke about did not disappear over time. Quite the contrary...
(It is possible: everything that we are talking about now is a consequence of Richter’s many years of continuous and super-intense stage activity. This could not even affect him.)
In fact, even before, some of the listeners openly admitted that at Richter’s evenings they experienced the feeling that the pianist was somewhere away from them, on some kind of high pedestal. And before, Richter seemed to many like a proud and majestic figure a “celestial” artist, an Olympian, inaccessible to mere mortals... Today these feelings are perhaps even stronger. The pedestal looks even more impressive, grander and... more distant.
And further. On the previous pages, Richter’s penchant for creative self-absorption, introspection, and “philosophy” was noted. (“The entire process of musical performance occurs within himself.”...) In last years he happens to soar in such high layers of the spiritual stratosphere that it is quite difficult for the public, at least some part of it, to grasp direct contact with them. And enthusiastic applause after the artist’s performances does not change this fact.
All of the above is not criticism in the usual, commonly used sense of the word. Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter is too significant creative figure, and his contribution to world art is too great to approach it with standard critical standards. At the same time, to turn away from some special ones, he only inherent features performance appearance is also useless. Moreover, they reveal certain patterns of his long-term evolution as an artist and a person.
At the end of the conversation about Richter of the seventies and eighties, one cannot help but notice that the pianist’s Artistic Calculation has now become even more accurate and verified. The edges of the sound structures he built became even clearer and sharper. A clear confirmation of this is the latest concert programs of Svyatoslav Teofilovich, and the recordings he made, in particular plays from Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons”, Rachmaninov’s etudes-paintings, as well as Shostakovich’s Quintet with the Borodino players.
Svyatoslav Richter is from Odessa, although he was born on March 20, 1915 in Zhitomir, where he spent his early childhood. The grandfather of the future pianist was a music master and piano tuner. He had twelve children. One of them, Theophilus, became a professional musician, studied at the Vienna Academy of Music, and spent about twenty years in Vienna. For the rest of his life, Svyatoslav remembered how his father “played the piano well, especially romantic pieces - Schumann, Chopin. In his youth, as a pianist, he gave concerts. But he was terribly afraid of the stage and because of this he never became a concert pianist. He had excellent command of the organ and often improvised on it. Many people came to listen to his improvisations...” Svyatoslav’s mother, Anna Pavlovna Moskaleva, “was artistically gifted, drew well, loved theater and music. In character she was reminiscent of one of the characters in Bulgakov’s play “Days of the Turbins” - Elena Turbina. In general, when I watched this performance, I associated a lot with childhood,” Richter recalled. In Zhitomir and another Ukrainian city - Sumy, little Svyatoslav lived in his grandfather’s family for five years, and then until 1937 his childhood, youth and youth were spent in Odessa. Here he graduated from seven-year school, and his musical interests began. Trios and quartets often gathered in the Richter house to play. Homemade on Thursdays musical evenings settled in the apartment of the professor of the Odessa Conservatory B. Tyuneev.
Svyatoslav primarily learned music from his father, a pianist and organist. Having no formal musical education, he worked as accompanist of the Odessa Opera choir.
Richter recalled the beginning of his musical life: “I owe the fact that I became a musician mainly to my father - he created a musical atmosphere in the family. This happened completely naturally: he was a pianist, graduated from the Vienna Conservatory - a very long time ago! He was quite old, much older than his mother, by many years. My father had students. As a musician, he enjoyed authority, but I myself could not study with him at all. He did not enjoy authority with me - probably precisely because I was his son. We tried three times, and each time it ended with him refusing to engage with me. Father was very soft person, and for some reason I did everything the other way around... My father still played the piano at that time, but when I was fifteen years old (1930), he had already stopped playing it, now he was an organist... From the age of fifteen I began to work for free as a trainee accompanist in an amateur circle at the Sailors' Palace, where mostly unsuccessful artists gathered. I learned with them opera parts. Of course, it was all terrible, they sang terribly! There are a lot of comic memories here... After that, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, I performed as an accompanist at concerts of the Odessa Philharmonic. He accompanied in group concerts in which violinists, magicians, and jugglers could participate. I was there for one year (until 1933), then I had a falling out and was fired. The next year there was an agreement that they would hire me again, but I never returned to the Philharmonic. I became an accompanist at the Odessa Opera House, but not in opera, but in ballet. AND whole year(until 1934) I accompanied in ballet. I had already developed my own pianistic style, somewhat orchestral... The next year I moved to opera. For three years (until 1937) he worked in the opera... Even when I joined the ballet as an accompanist, a very bold idea occurred to me - to give my own concert, in one year of work on the piano, maybe in a year and a half or two. I was in Odessa, where I decided to give a concert from Chopin’s works. Of course it was a strange concert! It was very crowded and passed with great success(February 19, 1934)..."
At the age of 22 (1937), virtually self-taught, Svyatoslav entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied with Heinrich Neuhaus. This is how contemporaries describe Richter’s arrival: “...From the very beginning, Richter’s appearance was like a miracle. This wonderful fact is captured in the memoirs of Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus: “The students asked to listen to a young man from Odessa who would like to enter the conservatory in my class. “Has he already graduated from music school?” - I asked. “No, he didn’t study anywhere.” I admit, this answer was somewhat puzzling... A man who had not received a musical education was going to enter the conservatory! It was interesting to see the daredevil. And then he came. A tall, thin young man, fair-haired, blue-eyed, with a lively, surprisingly attractive face. He sat down at the piano, placed his large, soft, nervous hands on the keys and began to play. He played very restrainedly, I would say, even emphatically simply, strictly. His performance captivated me. I whispered to my student: “In my opinion, he is a brilliant musician.” After Beethoven's Twenty-eighth Sonata, the young man played several of his works and sight-read. And everyone present wanted him to play again and again... From that day on, Svyatoslav Richter became my student.”
From 1937 to 1941, Svyatoslav came to Odessa several times to visit his parents. However, after the start of the war, Richter’s connection with Odessa was interrupted, and, as it turned out, forever. Here’s how Anatoly Wasserman talks about it: “... just before leaving Soviet troops from Odessa in early October 1941, security agencies managed to shoot the church regent and organist, professor of the Odessa Conservatory and concertmaster of the Odessa Opera House, the German Teofil Danilovich Richter, the father of the outstanding pianist of the 20th century Svyatoslav Richter. Along with him, 23 other members of the “German” church were shot. A memorial plaque in the church reminds of this. Svyatoslav Teofilovich, who traveled all over the world and gave more than 70 concerts a year, never toured in Odessa...”
With students, Kyiv, 1948
Richter's father was shot before German troops entered Odessa simply because he was German. Mother left Odessa along with the retreating German troops. Because of this, Richter was not released to the West for many years, fearing that he would not return. His mother called him from Germany.
This is what Vera Ivanovna Prokhorova, a friend of the Richter family, recalled about this:
“...[Vera Ivanovna] mentions difficult relationships Svyatoslav Richter with his mother, whom he considered guilty of his father’s death at the beginning of the war. The pianist's parents lived in Odessa, and in last days Before the Germans arrived in the city, they were asked to evacuate. But the mother refused to do this, because otherwise her lover - a certain Sergei Kondratyev - would be forced to stay in the city. Richter's father, a German by birth, was arrested and killed by the NKVD along with thousands of his fellow tribesmen, who were believed to sympathize with the Nazis. During the retreat of the German troops, my mother went with them and subsequently lived in Germany. Throughout his life, Richter experienced this story terribly and, although he met and communicated with his mother, he was incredibly traumatized by what happened.”
Svyatoslav Richter at work
A brilliant pianist and a great Odessa resident.
March 20, 2006 marked his 91st birthday Svyatoslav Richter. In his hometown, the great musician was honored with the laying of flowers and warm memories.
On March 20, the world music community celebrates the birthday of the great pianist Svyatoslav Richter. Laying flowers on memorial plaque and the memory of the great musician was honored with warm memories in his hometown - Odessa.
Svyatoslav Richter is a man with difficult fate and a world-famous pianist who proved that genius is a huge talent multiplied by titanic work. His performances have always been a success: the audience was attracted by his powerful performing style and breadth of repertoire.
Richter’s genius was recognized not only by critics, but also by colleagues. The great Odessa resident - one of the galaxy of musical stars of our city - maintained a close friendship with David Oistrakh; they often performed together. 
Yuri Dikiy, head of the mission of D. Oistrakh and S. Richter, says:
“In the 20th century there are three names - like Richter, Gillels, Oistrakh, this is a triad of the greatest names! And if we talk about the historical, human, professional relationship of the two great musicians - Richter and Oistrakh, then they even had a relationship between family traditions." .
Soon a monument to Svyatoslav Richter should appear in Odessa.
And in 2007 - on the 10th anniversary of the pianist's death - Odessa musicians plan to organize the Third International Richter Fest. The event promises to be large-scale, says Yuri Dikiy, but the details are kept secret.
Anastasia Mezhevchuk, Vesti-Odessa.
Svyatoslav Richter is 100 years old
The virtuoso pianist was born in Zhitomir, spent his youth in Odessa, painted pictures and was expelled from the conservatory twice for poor academic performance.
In the summer of 1937, pianist and teacher at the Moscow Conservatory Heinrich Neuhaus hurried to audition a 23-year-old boy from Odessa. Svyatoslav Richter was the name of the young man who came to enroll in the class of the legendary teacher. Genrikh Gustavovich was already informed that Svyatoslav did not study at a music school and did not have the appropriate musical education at all. Neuhaus became very interested in looking at the brave man.
« And then he came, a thin young man with a lively, attractive face,- recalls Heinrich Neuhaus. - He sat down at the piano and played Beethoven, Chopin and several of his compositions. I whispered to the students: in my opinion, he is a brilliant musician" Neuhaus was right. Richter became the greatest pianist of the 20th century - a virtuoso who covered a huge part of the world's piano repertoire. Today, March 20, the world celebrates the centenary of his birth.
“My three teachers are Neuhaus, my dad and Wagner” (Svyatoslav Richter at the piano, Heinrich Neuhaus on the far right)
Eccentricities
Geniuses are often eccentric, eccentric, sometimes crazy, or at least strange. Svyatoslav Richter always remained a highly intelligent man, modest, principled in his relationships with people and deeply devoted to art - but he also had his own musical oddities.
Any pianist understands how essential scales, etudes and exercises are in becoming a professional musician. Most likely, Richter also understood this - but did not accept it. This whole formal side of pianism was alien to him. By the way, Svyatoslav’s father Theophilus, a pianist, organist and composer, could not come to terms with this. His son preferred to immediately play the great composers - Frederic Chopin and Richard Wagner - over exercises and scales. One can only marvel at the virtuosity of Svyatoslav Richter. Probably, an innate gift inherited from his father played an important role here. And Svyatoslav’s grandfather Daniil Richter was also involved in music - he was a piano master, repairing and tuning instruments. This “genetic-musical” soil was ideal for the emergence of a brilliant pianist.
Since childhood, Svyatoslav Richter was not particularly interested in any knowledge that did not relate to music and art. Back at school, Svyatoslav’s class teacher scolded her students: “ Every single one of you is a quitter! But especially Richter, he reeks of laziness!" Later, Svyatoslav was expelled from the conservatory twice due to general education disciplines. But he greedily absorbed all knowledge from the field of art and even learned to draw.
Since the times of Franz Liszt, playing music from memory has been considered a sign of good taste. But Richter did not consider this rule mandatory - and not at all because of poor memory. The pianist had an excellent memory, although he often complained about it, because he remembered various unnecessary details and everyday trifles. And yet, Richter played the second half of his concert career from notes. In an interview, he said that, apart from chamber music, his repertoire covers 80 concert programs that he once performed from memory, but playing from the notes is more honest, you see everything and play really as it is written.
One of Svyatoslav Teofilovich’s concert conditions was special lighting in the hall. The fact is that the light should have been directed only to the music stand, and the rest of the stage should have been in darkness. Richter believed that this helps to concentrate the listeners' attention on the work and the composer's intention.
On the Jewish Question
Svyatoslav Richter was very unlucky with his surname - because of it, the maestro’s father could well have been killed by the Nazis, but by evil irony he was shot in the dungeons of the Odessa NKVD as a “German spy” in October 1941. They also came for Svyatoslav and asked “ Lighter?». « I'm not a lighter“, - Richter answered and, without hesitation, moved to another street. So someone’s mistake saved the life of the future virtuoso.
Richter lived in Jewish cities - Zhitomir and Odessa, many articles have been written about his friendship with such prominent Jews as David Oistrakh, Natalya Gutman and Boris Messerer. But Richter did not consider himself a Jew; his paternal ancestors were Germans. The maestro's wife was, naturally, Jewish: Opera singer Nina Dorliak, daughter of financier Lev Dorliak and singer Ksenia Feleizen. Once Svyatoslav Teofilovich was seriously offended by the Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan when he told him: “ I am German", followed by: " Well, yes, and I am Chinese!" But more about Richter's grievances later.
Concert activities
Richter's fame as a pianist began to grow after moving to Moscow: many successful performances, meeting Prokofiev and performing him piano works, first prize at the third All-Union Piano Competition and a huge number of concerts throughout the Soviet Union.
Finally, the pianist's fame spread abroad. " When will Richter come to us?"- they asked musicians from Russia. " Why doesn't he perform in our halls?" - they were worried in Europe and America. After Stalin's death, the pianist was able to leave the borders of the Union more freely. And the tour began - America, Canada, France, England, Italy, Germany... Richter came to Ukraine many times, visiting Kyiv, Lviv and Zhitomir - the city in which he was born.
These arrivals always caused a rush to sell tickets and crowds near the place where the concert was to take place. One day in April 1985, people tried to get into a concert through the windows and fire escape of the Kyiv Philharmonic - all in order to listen to a living legend. Often tickets for Richter could only be bought through friends, and the public knew about the maestro’s arrival long before the posters hung around the city.
Why did Richter so fascinate listeners? Impeccable professional performance, concentration in music and deep penetration into the composer's intention - this is, perhaps, his main secret. Richter's contemporary, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Glen Gould, also discusses this topic.
Richter and his women
Among musicologists there is an opinion that Richter truly loved only himself. He is even credited with homosexuality. There was talk that the musician married his wife Nina Dorliak solely because of the apartment. There were reasons for the rumors: before the wedding, Richter had no housing in Moscow and slept for a long time under the piano in the room of his teacher Heinrich Neuhaus. And few people know that throughout his life, Richter had another woman physically and spiritually with him - Vera Prokhorova, who fell in love with the maestro at the age of 19 and remained faithful to the musician until his death. Another of Richter's muses was the poetess Bella Akhmadulina.
Richter's grievances
In the 70-80s of the twentieth century, at the peak of his fame, a musician could afford to build a tour map based on the principle “if offended, not offended.” And Richter was often offended.
Already a world-famous celebrity, Richter Everyday life I often encountered “watchman syndrome.” One day, the maestro, absorbed in his thoughts, was walking along the corridors of the Lviv Conservatory and came across an unnamed security guard.
Who are you? - the keeper of the keys asked menacingly.
“I,” the musician was confused... “I am Richter.”
So what? And I am Akhter! - the guard answered.
Richter had to quickly leave.
After the incident with the watchman, the musician became more demanding of his reception in Lviv. He explained for a long time to the receiving party that he liked to walk around music universities alone, sit at the piano, and play there. But you have to take him to the conservatory by car; stars don’t travel by tram. By the way, you can also be met from the airport, naturally, by Volga. Modest rider, but Soviet time even this was not always observed. In that same ill-fated Lvov, Richter was once met by a representative of the concert administration with a driver. According to Richter, the men were drunk and constantly distracted the musician with unnecessary questions. " It was the worst trip of my life"- admitted Richter.
Once, Svyatoslav Teofilovich was not allowed to rehearse in his office by some member of the Kyiv Philharmonic. Richter remembered the insult for a long time, excluding the Kyiv Philharmonic from tours for two years.
In 1970, Svyatoslav Richter gave with his close friend, an outstanding violinist David Oistrakh, concert at Carnegie Hall (USA). The performance was disrupted by shouts from protesters against the oppression of Soviet Jews. Richter was very saddened by the incident: how can you, on the one hand, support Jews, and on the other hand, disrupt concerts with their participation? After this, the pianist did not want to return to the States for a long time, despite all the persuasion of American promoters.
Cinema and Richter
Guess who plays the role of pianist Franz Liszt in the film about the composer Glinka? This is probably the one rare case, when the operator does not have to film separately the hands of the “fake” pianist and separately the performer himself. The picture is complete, and Richter brilliantly improvises, performing the Chernomor march from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Mikhail Glinka.
In the life of Svyatoslav Richter there were many tragic and comic episodes, which he himself talks about in television interviews. But the main thing is the music that remained in the recordings. It penetrates the hearts and conquers new generations of listeners.
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The name of Svyatoslav Richter is covered in legends, some of them are true, some are not. One thing is known for certain - Richter was an outstanding pianist of the 20th century, whose filigree performance technique, amazing memory and ability to improvise could not but arouse admiration.
Somewhat life path Svyatoslav was determined by his family: his father, who taught at the Odessa Conservatory, his mother and aunt, who raised a sense of beauty in the boy.
Richter did not learn scales, he jumped over the school bench and immediately fell into graduating class. Since childhood, Svyatoslav played, wrote theater plays, never left opera houses, and even in his father’s house he dreamed of becoming a conductor.
Richter was passionate about music; he could sit at the piano for long hours, playing one piece after another. Richter worked as a pianist-accompanist at the Odessa Sailor's House and the Odessa Philharmonic. First solo concert was dedicated. Richter was noticed and invited to be an accompanist at the Odessa Philharmonic.
A truly unexpected step was Richter’s admission to the Moscow Conservatory. The young man made a great impression on Neuhaus, and not without some difficulties associated exclusively with the boring educational program, completed his studies only in 1947.
The lack of a diploma could not force Svyatoslav to sit idle. In 1940, the 25-year-old pianist phenomenally performed the Sixth Symphony in the Small Hall of the Conservatory. In musical circles they started talking about him as a bright phenomenon. The concerts that followed one after another only strengthened the initial opinion of experts and the public. But something happened that everyone expected, but that no one wanted to believe in - war came.
During the war, Richter lost his family: his father was shot, and his mother, a German, for a long time was considered dead. Svyatoslav was left completely alone, without a roof over his head, without food and without warm clothes and what's worse - without musical instrument. His friends did not leave him in trouble; the artist Anna Troyanovskaya helped him more than anyone else. Richter did not part with the Medtner piano for a long time, which stood in Anna Ivanovna’s house. In Moscow and even besieged Leningrad Svyatoslav gave solo concerts and performed with orchestras, expanding his repertoire. This crazy time with a frantic rhythm can be described in a few words: rehearsals, trips, hotels, concerts, orchestras, audiences, a storm of applause, an airplane, cities and again endless rehearsals, packed halls and faces burning with anticipation.
Richter not only easily mastered the most difficult plays, but also regularly produced brilliant musical fireworks at concerts. He was truly inexhaustible, tireless, driven forward by a thirst for knowledge. In just four days, he understood and studied Prokofiev’s sonata so much that during the performance, the silent people cried.
At the end of the 40s, Richter was dressed in the purple of glory, he was treated kindly by the public, who flocked to his concerts. Victory at the All-Union competition musical performers brought it to him international recognition. Since 1945, Svyatoslav Richter has been a welcome guest in all major music centers in the world. The pianist was fluent in the entire classical repertoire of piano music.
Richter travels a lot; the French, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Finns, Americans, British, Canadians, Italians and even the Japanese take off their hats to him. An enthusiastic audience praises his impeccable performance, critics try to appreciate the greatness of his genius.
And yet Richter was not the only performer with a rich repertoire, he was not the only one who rehearsed day after day until his fingers ached, he was not the only one who strived for perfection, as if competing with the devil himself. So what made his performance brilliant?
The answer lies in the pianist’s spiritual make-up: in the uncontrollable, unaccepting omissions, sweeping away everything in its path desire to comprehend the world in all its manifestations. Richter stuns his listeners, he draws them into a world of violent passions, brings down on them feelings that hardly any of them could experience, because he is not brave enough, cunning, selfish, brave, kind or evil!
The audience leaves the concert hall, feeling that their knees are buckling, that their disobedient heart is beating like an eagle locked in a tight cage! The music, which they had heard more than once in a different performance, came to life under Richter’s hands and created material images.
The work seemed filled with meanings that no one had noticed before. The music acquired taste, density, viscosity, it finally took on a complete form.
Richter is a Renaissance artist who never doubted for a minute that man can control everything. It was for this that Svyatoslav was called a titan, and his music was considered music that was written for giants, considering it impossible for one to know fragile heart the full depth of feelings.
Music brought to life by the nervous, long fingers, blew like a gusty wind, forcing listeners to grab the arms of their chairs. The fire engulfed the faces of the listeners, and trembling ran down to the bones. Emotions overwhelmed me like waves of a sinking ship and pulled me to the bottom, only to then lift me back to the heavenly heights.
Richter called his listeners to follow him amazing world, he sang lullabies, calmed and consoled. Crystal sounds, heard rather by the heart, were rhythmically repeated, making one forget about everyday reality. Richter plunged listeners into a divine sleep, where there was no pain and memories.
Richter controlled matter, he tore off the covers, exposed nerves and veins, he struck the hearts of listeners with the direct influence of electric current. The audience, the entire thousand-strong hall, was ready to swear that during the concert, Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy and were sitting next to Richetre on the wedges!
Richter’s reincarnation into the authors of musical works, complete dissolution in music is the most bright line his creativity. More than once experts have said that Richter, as an artist, is cold and abstract. He is a conductor of the emotions that the author put into the musical creation. The impassivity and lack of “humanity” of the pianist did not make the work worse; on the contrary, the expressiveness of the music became stronger and purer.
Richter, who is fond of Shakespeare, Goethe, Pushkin and Blok, who paints pictures from time to time, and who has extensive knowledge in the field of art, had enormous cultural baggage, but during the concert he lost it, transforming into a different person who lived in a different time and spoke a different language language. Svyatoslav knew how to concentrate so much that only one actor remained on stage - the music.
Over the years, Richter did not lose his abilities; he continued to explore the depths and found many more precious veins. The brilliant musician never stopped there. Svyatoslav Richter has said more than once that the creative load should increase from year to year, only under this condition is progress possible.
Richter participated in new projects, studied new works, and was successful in all his undertakings. So, in the 80s he organized “December Evenings” - a festival of music, painting and poetry, which took place in Pushkin Museum. They enjoyed great love public.
Richter staged operas, personally taking care of all the associated details: from lighting to scenery; traveled around the world and in Russia; played in ensembles. The years have not robbed him of his ability to work, his passion for new experiences, his thirst for new knowledge and his skill.
Even during his lifetime, Svyatoslav Richter was recognized as a celestial being, an Olympian who was able to summon the souls of the dead from the kingdom of Hades, overthrow the titans into Tartarus, disrupt the flow of time and influence people's lives. Therefore, it is not surprising that after his death Svyatoslav Richter became a legend.
Musical Seasons
(1915-1997) Russian pianist
The life of Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter bears little resemblance to the biographies of other artists. He followed a very special path to success. The future pianist spent his childhood in Odessa. His father, Teofil Danilovich, taught at the conservatory and was a famous musician in the city. At one time, he graduated from the Vienna Academy of Music, and it was he who gave his son his first piano lessons when the boy was only five years old.
However, the father could not constantly study with his son, since he was forced to devote all his time to classes with students. Therefore, from the age of nine or ten, Svyatoslav was practically left to his own devices. Only for a short time did he take lessons from the pianist A. Atl, one of his father’s students. And the boy used this freedom of action in a very original way: he began to play all the notes that were in the house. He was especially interested in opera claviers. Gradually, Richter learned to play any music from sight and became a qualified accompanist.
From the age of fifteen he already helps his father, and soon begins to work independently: he becomes an accompanist in music club at the Sailor's House. After graduating from school, he worked for several years as an accompanist at the Odessa Philharmonic. At this time, Svyatoslav traveled with concert teams, accompanying various musicians, and gained experience.
In 1932, he went to work at the Odessa Opera House and became an assistant to conductor S. Stolerman. Svyatoslav Richter helps him at rehearsals and in working with singers, gradually expanding own repertoire. In May 1934, the pianist gives the first clavierabend - a solo concert - at the Odessa House of Engineers, performing works by Frederic Chopin. The concert was a great success, but at that time the young man had not yet thought about studying music professionally.
Only five years later, in the spring of 1937, Svyatoslav Richter finally went to Moscow to enter the conservatory. This was quite a bold step, since the young performer had no musical education. I heard it during the entrance exam outstanding pianist of our time G. Neuhaus. From that day on, Richter became his favorite student.
Neuhaus accepted Svyatoslav Richter into his class, but never taught him in the conventional sense of the word. As Neuhaus himself later wrote, there was nothing to teach Richter - it was only necessary to develop his talent. Richter retained a reverent attitude towards his first teacher throughout his life. It is interesting that, having played almost all the world's piano classics, he never included Beethoven's Fifth Concerto in the program, believing that he could not play it better than his teacher.
In November 1940 the first public speaking Richter in Moscow. At this first concert in the Small Hall of the Conservatory, he performed with his teacher. And a few days later he gave his own solo concert in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, and from that time his long life performing musician.
During the war, Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter was in Moscow. At the slightest opportunity, he performed in concerts. And he never stopped studying for a day. Since June 1942, he resumed his concert activities and literally began to “shower” the audience with new programs. At the same time, his tours to various cities begin. Over the last two war years, he traveled almost the entire country. Even State exam at the conservatory it was given in the form of a concert in the Great Hall of the conservatory. After this speech, the commission decided to engrave Richter’s name in gold letters on a marble plaque in the foyer of the Small Hall of the Conservatory.
In 1945, Svyatoslav Richter became the winner of the All-Union competition of performing musicians. It is curious that for a long time he did not want to announce his participation in it. The fact is that Richter always considered the concepts of music and competition to be incompatible. But he began to participate in the competition in order to strengthen the teaching reputation of his teacher G. Neuhaus. Subsequently, he did not participate in any competitions. In addition, he always refused to chair the jury of many international competitions.
In the post-war years, Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter continued to tour constantly, and his fame as a performer grew. In 1950, he went on his first foreign tour to Czechoslovakia. Then come trips to other countries. Only after this does the management “release” Richter to Finland. His concerts are, as always, a triumph, and in the same year the pianist makes a big tour of the USA and Canada. And crowded concert halls applaud him everywhere.
The secret of Richter’s rapid rise should be seen not only in the fact that he had a unique breadth of repertoire (he played Bach and Debussy, Prokofiev and Chopin with equal success), but also in the fact that from any piece of music he created a unique and complete image. Any music performed by him sounded as if he had composed it in front of the viewer.
Unlike other pianists, Svyatoslav Richter knew how to lose himself in the music he performed. It fully revealed his genius. The maestro himself said when journalists approached him with a request for an interview (and he was very, very reluctant to contact the press): “My interviews are my concerts.” And the musician considered performing in front of the public a sacred duty.
For many years, next to Svyatoslav Richter was his wife, singer Nina Lvovna Dorliak. She once performed with her own concerts, but left the stage and became famous music teacher. Richter himself never had students. Probably he simply didn’t have time, or maybe the reason is that genius cannot be taught.
The versatility of his talent, reminiscent of the geniuses of the Renaissance, was also reflected in Richter’s passion for painting. All his life he collected paintings and even painted in oils himself. The Museum of Private Collections houses several original works by Richter. As for the main collection, most of it has also been transferred to the museum. It must also be said that in the sixties and seventies, Svyatoslav Richter organized art exhibitions of representatives of informal movements in his house. The expositions of E. Akhvlediani and V. Shukhaev turned out to be especially interesting.
Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter was the organizer and permanent participant of regular summer music festivals in France, as well as the famous December evenings at the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts. Alexander Pushkin, in whose Italian courtyard in August 1997 Moscow said goodbye to the greatest pianist of the 20th century.
