Re: GG: Gould on Richter

[Richard Vallis <rvpiano@spec.net>]

Thank you so much for your post.

Korhonen Anssi L T wrote:

> 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