Richter 1994 10 03 Montalto Dora: Beethoven recital, inhouse recording

Sviatoslav Richter

Anfiteatro di Montalto Dora

Montalto, Italia

October [3?], 1994

Beethoven Sonatas recital

There is always enough room for more Richter, be it Gerhard or Sviatoslav. The latter is recorded non-professionally here in very good sound, despite having some significant dropouts and occasional alien communication sounds. It is a recital from his later years, and so some finger slips may be present. It also contains the power which those late performances had at their best; Richter allows the humor and depth of his years living with these Sonatas to roll forth.
Forgive the indulgence. Please listen and you'll have a wonderful moment.

Guillermo
statework


All Thanks to osmin46, who supplied some wonderful details :

"Is an homemade recording, with 2 big troubles in the final movement of op 14.2 and in the first movement of op 22. But I think this concert [is] very great, [so] I post it [anyway].

Montalto Dora is a little village near Ivrea, in north of Italy no so far from Torino. The theatre where [the 

concert] took place is a very poor cinema, [as opposed to in Ivrea Teatro Giacosa which was under

maintenance, so the concert had been moved 10 km. away to the 'awful' cinema of Montalto Dora.]

but the Richter's performance was extremely better then 2 days later in the luxury concert hall Lingotto in Torino.

The program:

1 sonata n8  op12  patetica
2 sonata n9  op 14.1
3 sonata n10 op 14.2
4 sonata n11 op 22
5 sonata n 13 op 26  funeral march
"


While D. in Italy had offered this at a point in other e-print sources:

"Sorry to say those performances from the Italian tours in 1994 weren't officially recorded [!!] ...I attended the " five Beethoven' sonatas " concerts in Florence ( where the Maestro had a collapse due to the very hot temperature in the theatre but , after a long intermission , played also the second part of the recital ) , in Montalto Dora and Turin . Well , the Patéthique was not at the level of those we know from earlier recordings : the Maestro had to " warm-up " ( I noticed almost all the pianists of a certain age have difficulties at the beginning of a concert , probably because phisiologic decline ) and played the Sonatas op. 14 / 1 and 14 / 2 much better . The same thing happened also in Montalto Dora and Turin .


I would like to add a little anecdote : after Florence , Richter had to take a rest and consequently to cancel the recital in Chioggia with the same programme. Chioggia is a rather small town near Venice ( it is called " the little Venice " ) that the Maestro loved ( there is a shot on the film " the Enigma " that shows Richter wearing blue-jeans sitting astride his chair with the sea at the back window . That shot was taken in his hotel room in Chioggia ) .

[]
There was a very little concert society there : three persons in all , young and not rich people. They had spent a lot for the advertisements , the playbills and so on . When the Richter's assistant phoned them to announce the cancellation , they felt in despair . But Richter had promised to play there and when he was back to Italy next December he re-phoned them : " I would like to play there " . The three fellows felt very embarassed : " Maestro , we have no money , very sorry , we must renounce " . " Money is not a problem , I want to play in Chioggia : I will play for free " . And the recital took place ."


This is one from that series.
Enjoy!