Sviatoslav Richter



Teofilovitsj Sviatoslav Richter (Russian: Святослав Теофилович Рихтер) ( Ukraine,Zhytomyr, 20 March 1915 – Moscow, 1 August 1997) was a Russian pianist and composer, who is regarded as a grand master of the piano. His father Theophile was German, his mother Anna was Russian. Both parents were likewise pianist. ==Biography[Edit] == Adjusters father taught at the Conservatory in Odessa. When Richter was eight years old, he was already a very gifted pianist. On his nineteenth he gave his first recital, when he played works of Chopin in Odessa. With this performance he debuted as soloist. On his 22nd he moved to Moscow to further study with Heinrich Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory.

On 26 november 1940 he played as first the Prokofiev's sixth Sonata . This difficult piece was never performed to the public, but Richter controlled it and got the audience there wildly enthusiastic. Hereinafter referred to as early Prokofiev to Richter for its just completed seventh Sonata to play also for the first time to the public. Also the eighth and ninth by Prokofiev were performed for the first time by Richter. The last was by the composer dedicated to Richter.

In 1945 Richter won the All-Union Contest of Performers, a large competition for Executive artists from the whole Soviet Union. Four years later he won the Stalin Prize and many official and unofficial awards from the Soviet regime.

To 1960 Richter not abroad could occur because of the restrictions that the regime of the Soviet Union inflicted upon him. But once he trusted was he could travel abroad regularly. His New York debut in Carnegie Hall in 1960 is legendary. He spent thirty summers in France, where he from 1964 an annual festival in Tours, the Fêtes Musicales and Touraine, attended.

Richter worked with many distinguished musicians, including Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, David Oistrakh, Herbert von Karajan, Dmitri Shostakovich, Peter Schreier and Carlos Kleiber. The latter he saw as the greatest conductor with whom he ever worked.

The film director Bruno Monsaingeon made in 1998 about him the three-part documentary ''Richter. The Enigma''.