[f_minor] Gould on Richter and other pianists

[Anita Monroe]

Pat, I can help a bit here.  Richter played in the dark.  He did not want
audiences focussing on HIM, but on the music.  Also, he was not adverse to
having the score in front of him.  The other major showboats would never do
that.  GG did not need the score just because he had an unusually acute
memory, but many others struggled to memorize so much music.  Richter was
also a person who had suffered, gaining the respect of many.  His father
had been murdered by the Russians just because he was German, married to a
Russian woman.  Also, Richter played the Chopin Etudes very well.  They are
amazingly difficult, and he seemed to breeze through them.  GG knew this
and had to have been impressed.  He himself did not record them, either due
to a lack of love for Chopin or they were just too complicated to spend
that much time on them.  Bach's complications were enough.


I haven't seen "Richter the Enigma" but I'll try to find it.

Anita

On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 7:41 AM, Pat <pzumst at bluewin.ch> wrote:

>   Mary, yep, we do indeed. Alas, that parrot is dead. Gone to meet its
> maker, bereft of life and off to join the choir invisible and I doubt we
> will see something that brilliant ever again.
>
> Now for summet completely different:
> How come Richter The Enigma is rather enjoyable while Hereafter is such a
> horrible piece of drivel ? Mind you, both were made by the very same
> director (Bruno Monstagenon) !
>
> Maybe I am a bit thick but I find it strange for someone like GG to praise
> Richter. Apart from his technique Richter represented everything GG
> despised about “beingg a pianist”. Tours, audiences, concerts, doing
> routine pieces, the works.
>
> And while pianists who were playing in the same league as Richter in terms
> of being “classic” concert pianists (i.e. Horowitz, Rubinstein) , GG
> praised Richter for his playing and poured mild sarcasm over the likes of
> the previously mentioned. Call me thick, but I fail to see any logic here.
> Is this a Pianist Thing we non-pianists don’t get ?
>
> Pat
>
>  *From:* maryellen jensen <maryellenjensen28 at hotmail.com>
> *Sent:* Monday, January 02, 2012 1:51 AM
> *To:* f_minor at glenngould.org
> *Subject:* [f_minor] Richter and Rita
>
>  Oooo we do miss The Python desperately.
>
> Strange thing Pat, our GG imagined himself the pianist in the
> contortionist's sack
> (metaphorically) while on the other hand Richter wanted to be driven
> all over the USSR in the back of a truck with any old piano to perform
> in any and every little hamlet...
>
> Mary
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
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