Schumann: Bunte Blatter, Op. 99 / Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Debussy: Images, Book 2: No. 1: Cloches a travers les feuilles [Live, Original recording remastered]

Robert Schumann (Composer), Modest Mussorgsky (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Sviatoslav Richter (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Sviatoslav Richter
• Composer: Robert Schumann, Modest Mussorgsky, Claude Debussy
• Audio CD (October 22, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live, Original recording remastered
• Label: BBC Legends
• ASIN: B00006I61S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,810 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's hard to believe that any pianist, living or dead (or, probably, yet-to-be-born) could match, much less surpass, these performances. It was Richter, after all, who made Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition almost as important an item in the standard repertory of the piano as Ravel's orchestration is in that of the orchestra. And it was Richter's performances of it, as well as his example, that have ignited the interest of subsequent generations of pianists in the Bunte Blätter, heretofore one of the most obscure works in the Schumann canon.

Indeed, Richter's only competition in these two pieces is himself. These 1968 performances, taped by the BBC, in front of an audience in London's Kingsway Hall, are both better than the pianist's studio recordings of the same pieces. (Richter's studio version of Pictures was recorded in Moscow in 1958 and is available on BMG; his studio version of the Schumann dates from a 1971 session in Salzburg and is available on an Olympia disc.) Wonderful as this BBC performance of the Mussorgsky is, listeners new to Richter should bypass it for another of the pianist's live accounts: the unsurpassable performance from a 1958 recital in Sofia, Bulgaria (Philips). --Stephen Wigler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richter, July 27, 2008

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A. Johnson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Schumann: Bunte Blatter, Op. 99 / Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Debussy: Images, Book 2: No. 1: Cloches a travers les feuilles (Audio CD)

Richter is exceptional!!! His personal and intimate approach to the piano and especially with these pieces is rivalled only by the incredible mastery of technique and consistency of execution in this live performance.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent transaction, February 3, 2010

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D. Mason - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Schumann: Bunte Blatter, Op. 99 / Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Debussy: Images, Book 2: No. 1: Cloches a travers les feuilles (Audio CD)

This CD is a gem. I'm so glad it arrived quickly and in perfect shape.