More Russians from Richter on Profil

courtesy of Naxos of America

At the beginning of this month Profil released its latest collection of performances by Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter. As I observed a little over a year ago, these releases have been organized around “composer pairings.” This new release departs from that convention; and I have been referring to the set of thirteen CDs as the “assorted Russians collection.” In “order of appearance” those Russians are Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Anatoly Lyadov, Alexander Glazunov, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Mikhail Glinka, and Alexander Dargomyzhsky. Chronology does not seem to matter very much in this release, nor does the fact that Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev were “paired” on the last release. Indeed, the selections on the new album overlap those of its predecessor, the only difference being that the recordings were made on different dates.

That said, there is much to admire in the diversity in this new collection. Much of the content is likely to be unfamiliar to most listeners, even when the composer is well-known. A primary example can be found on the second disc, which presents back-to-back recordings of two performances of Tchaikovsky’s Opus 37 (“Grand”) piano sonata in G major. The same can be said of The Nursery, Mussorgsky’s cycle of nine songs, only seven of which were published. Those seven songs are sung by soprano Nina Dorliak, who was Richter’s close companion from 1945 until his death in 1998. Where Mussorgsky is concerned, the opportunity to listen to a Richter performance (recorded at a concert in Kiev in November of 1958) of the Pictures at an Exhibition suite is most welcome.

On the other hand Richter tends to avoid performing or recording “comprehensive cycles.” I was particularly disappointed that he did not give a complete account of Shostakovich’s Opus 87 set of 24 preludes and fugues in all the major and minor keys, clearly inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier. There is clearly a lot of thought behind the preludes and fugues that he did record; but it is hard to avoid feeling short-changed, particularly for the recordings made under studio conditions. Even more perplexing is his excerpting of Prokofiev’s Opus 22 Visions fugitives cycle of twenty miniatures, such a compelling overall model of brevity that one wonders why Richer resorted to “selections.”

The closest thing to a complete set can be found on the CD of the three Prokofiev “War” sonatas, Opus 82 in A major, Opus 83 in B-flat major, and Opus 84, also in B-flat major. These were not meant to be performed consecutively, and each of the three was recorded on a different date, two in concert settings and one in a studio. Unfortunately, around two or three minutes of the beginning of Opus 82, recorded at a concert in Kiev in July of 1960, are missing. This makes for a seriously impoverished listening experience, but invites gratitude for a movement structure with a recapitulation.

I would therefore suggest that this release will probably appeal to only the most enthusiastic listeners of Richter’s performances.