GG: Gould on Richter

["Korhonen Anssi L T" <Altkorhonen@Elo.Helsinki.FI>]

Hello everybody,

A few days ago someone mentioned Bruno Monsaingeon's documentary on 
the Soviet(-Russian) pianist Sviatoslav Richter. The documentary was 
shown on the Finnish television in the early spring, in two parts. 
Unfortunately I only saw the second one, which concentrated on 
Richter's 'international career' from 1961 on till his death (in 
August 1997 if I member aright; Richter was only allowed abroad at 
the age of 45 or so, when it was no longer possible for the Soviet 
authorities to keep him home. Not that Richter himself was terribly 
keen on travelling abroad, e.g. his concert tour to the USA (in 1961 
or so) seems to have made him terribly unhappy.)

What makes the document of interest to persons subscribing to this 
list is - as someone mentioned - that Glenn Gould features in it, 
telling about his relation to Richter and about his first encounter 
with the soviet pianist in Moscow, May 1957. (BTW, this is definitely 
not the only thing that is of interest; in general, the documentary is 
among the very best I've ever seen about performing artists. It's 
simply great to see and hear the legendary Richter talking and 
playing).

As there probably are many of you who haven't seen the program, I 
thought I might as well try to summarize Gould's 'contribution' - a 
rather short comment on Richter in particular and the art of 
performing in general. I don't know when it was made but judging from 
Gould's appearance, a reasonable guess might be the late 60s or very 
early 70s, though I may be here grossly mistaken. If anyone should 
know better, please correct me.

Anyway, Gould begins saying that he believes that performing artists 
can be divided into two categories: those that seek to exploit their 
instrument and those that do not. Examples of the first category are 
Liszt and Paganini as well as any number of "allegedly demonic 
virtuosi of more recent vintage". Musicians of this category are 
determined to make the listener aware of their relationship with 
their instrument, and they allow that instrument to become the focus 
of attention. In the second category we find artists who try to 
"bypass the whole question of performing mechanism" to create an 
illusion - this, I believe, was the word Gould used - of a direct 
link with the musical score. A musician of this kind helps the 
listener to achieve a sense of involvement, not with the performer 
but with the music. Having said this, Gould adds that "in our time 
there's no better example of a musician of the second category than 
Sviatoslav Richter". 

What is special about Richter, according to Gould, is that he puts 
his enormously powerful personality between the listener & the 
musical score thereby creating the impression that we (i.e. the
listeners) are discovering the piece anew (and regularly from a 
perspective different from what we are accustomed to).

To substantiate this, Gould tells about his first encounter with S. 
Richter, which took place in Moscow, May 1957. Gould attended a 
recital by Richter, who began the program with Schubert's last Piano 
Sonata in B flat major. Gould says that it is one of the longest 
sonata ever written (whether this is literary true or not obviously 
does not matter) and Richter played it at a very slow tempo, making 
it even longer. Next, Gould says: "Heretical though it may be, I'm 
not really addicted to most of Schubert's music. I find myself 
usually unable to come to terms with the repetitive structures 
involved." 

What then happened at the Moscow Conservatory? Gould says that for 
the next our he was in a state that he can obly compare to a 
"hypnotic trance". All his prejudices about Schubert were forgotten. 
Musical details which he had previously considered to be ornamental 
became organic elements of the piece. In the concert, Richter 
combined, says Gould, two supposedly irreconcilable qualities: intense 
analytical calculation revealed through spontaneity equivalent to 
improvisation (these are as close to Gould's own words as I was able 
to decipher).

At that moment, he goes on, and on many subsequent occasions, Gould 
realised that he was "in the presence of one of the most powerful 
musical communicators the world of music has produced in our time".

Richter's comment on all this was that he had heard that Gould had 
liked his performance but that he doesn't know whether, as a result, 
he changed his opinion about Schubert.

Sorry for the longish message. Hope it's of some interest to some of 
you.

Anssi Korhonen