Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Quintet for Piano and Strings in A major, D.667 Trout
(1819) [44:01]
Wanderer Fantasy in C major, D.760 (1822) [20:45]
Sviatoslav Richter (piano); Members of the Borodin Quartet (Mikhail Kopelman
(violin), Dmitri Shebalin (viola), Valentin Berlinsky (cello)); George Hörtnagel
(double-bass)
rec. 18 June 1980 (Trout), Schloss Hohenems, Austria; 11-18 February
1963 (Wanderer), Salle Wagram, Paris
EMI CLASSICS MASTERS 6 31810 2 [64:57]
This is an attractive repackaging of an EMI Redline remastering from 1998.
It has Richter’s famous 1963 Wanderer fantasy as a filler.
Richard Wigmore’s otherwise excellent liner-notes begin inauspiciously with
an egregiously poor translation from Shostakovich in which he is quoted as
extolling the “enormity” of Richter’s talent. That solecism notwithstanding,
this disc is testament to the dynamism and eloquence of perhaps the greatest
pianist of the 20th century. It is clearly the influence of his
artistic vision which dictates the “heavenly length” of the Trout;
all five movements are among the slowest on record. Being Richter, one might
have expected that kind of originality and those slower tempi are justified
by the generation of a hypnotic, mesmeric concentration. Thus the Andante
has a kind of dreamy intensity rather different from other interpretations;
it is just held together by Richter’s predominant lyricism. Dynamics are carefully
shaded and balance amongst the instruments maintained. Despite the sense that
Richter is presiding over the business in hand, the strings are not subordinated.
Richter is – well, not exactly delicate, but certainly sensitive to his partners
and when they need to be more prominent, such as in that heavenly cantilena
for viola and cello early in the Andante, he retires as discreetly as one
could wish. In fact in the Scherzo I would prefer him to apply a slightly
more sprightly and energetic attack rather than the slightly ponderous, massive
manner he adopts. The casualty of this weightiness is the insouciance one
expects in Schubert’s lighter moments, but even if they do not exactly lilt,
there is no shortage of charm in the famous six variations of the fourth movement.
When Richter enters, he does so with a lovely lightness before introducing
a graver sonority into the chords of the second variation. The third variation
is wonderfully fluid, the fourth full of Beethovenian heft. Tempi are steady
and the whole performance unfolds naturally before culminating in a carefully
structured finale which builds to a robust and truly satisfying climax.
The three members of the Borodin Quartet and cellist Hörtnagel play with deft
assurance and constant attention to homogeneity of tone and unity of purpose.
I do not get the impression that they are in any sense deferring to their
charismatic pianist - each instrument steps forward into the spotlight as
required. This is a classic performance to live with, combining elegance with
profundity.
We enter another world altogether with the Wanderer, a work which entirely
suits Richter the Titan of the keyboard. The 1963 recording sounds wonderfully
rich and warm. Richter pounds away brilliantly, despatching the most strenuous
and demanding passages with ease. Apparently Richter, before he gave up studio
work, invariably recorded in long takes, scorning the splicing in of snippets,
and you can hear his absorption in the rapt, broad sweep of the Adagio. Here,
from 4:52 onwards, he plays some extraordinarily delicate cascading runs in
direct contrast to the prevailing muscularity of the work. The Presto similarly
combines fire and finesse, while the Allegro has all the monolithic grandeur
of a Bach fugue. Frustrated by his own inability to play what he had written,
Schubert famously declared, “The devil may play it”. In the waves of pearlescent
sound we are more inclined to hear angelic rather than demonic forces at work.
Ralph Moore
A classic performance to live with, combining elegance with profundity.