Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations [Hardcover]

Bruno Monsaingeon (Author), Stewart Spencer (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0691074380 | ISBN-13: 978-0691074382 | Publication Date: March 1, 2001

Sviatoslav Richter was a dazzling performer but an intensely private man. Though world famous and revered by classical music lovers everywhere, he guarded himself and his thoughts as carefully as his talent. Fascinated, author and filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon tried vainly for years to interview the enigmatic pianist. Richter eventually yielded, granting Monsaingeon hours of taped conversation, unlimited access to his diaries and notebooks, and, ultimately, his friendship. This book is the product of that friendship.

Richter reveals himself as a man and an artist. Unsentimentally and with his characteristic dry humor and intelligence, the musician describes his poignant childhood and spectacular career, including his tumultuous early days at the Moscow Conservatory and his triumphant 1960 tour of the United States. His laconic recounting of playing in the orchestra at Stalin's surreal, interminable state funeral is riveting. Most important for music lovers, Richter discusses his influences and views on musical interpretation. He describes his encounters with other great Russian performers and composers, including Prokoviev, Shostakovich, Oistrakh, and Gilels. Candid sections from his personal journals offer his sober and unguarded impressions of dozens of performances and recordings--both his own and those of other musicians.

This volume offers readers the sizable pleasure of lingering in the thoughts and words of one of the most important pianists of the twentieth century. Unlike many other star performers, Richter was also an intellectual who had interesting things to say, particularly about the musician's proper role as interpreter of the composer's art. This alone makes the book worth reading. Sviatoslav Richter belongs on the shelves of everyone with a classical music collection and will also appeal to lovers of autobiography and admirers of Russian musical culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

First published in French in 1998, this is a collection of anecdotes and reflections by the Russian-born Richter (1915-97), one of the finest pianists of the 20th century. "The Conversations" section is presented in the first person, although Monsaingeon, a writer and filmmaker based in Paris, actually cobbled it together from hours of taped interviews; this section also contains a previously published essay by Richter on Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. "The Notebooks" section consists of hundreds of edited passages extracted from Richter's diaries, with the pianist's candid, insightful, and occasionally catty reactions to music and musicians related to performances he played or attended and recordings he heard between 1970 and 1995. Monsaingeon's editing casts Richter in a favorable light, and skeptical readers may wonder if they are getting a complete picture of the subject. Regardless, this is a fascinating glimpse of the musical world through the eyes of one of its major practitioners. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The New Yorker

Monsaingeon's recent documentary about Richter won a large new audience for the late Russian pianist, who is frequently cited as one of the great musicians of the century, and here the filmmaker describes the difficulties of working with his reluctant, introverted subject. He also pieces together from interviews an account of Richter's life, which sheds light on his periods of debilitating depression and on the relentless discipline that enabled him to maintain a repertoire of eighty separate concert programs. What could have seemed a disjointed book is enlivened throughout by Richter's intelligence and his eccentric humor, particularly in the last section, a diary where he has made notes on the music he is listening to. There is praise for Iannis Xenakis and Marlene Dietrich—to whose funeral he sent five hundred roses—and obloquy for Vladimir Horowitz ("Such talent! And such a trivial mind"). Characteristically, his sternest criticisms are reserved for his own recordings: "It's enough for me to listen to them to put me in a bad mood."
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 467 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691074380
• ISBN-13: 978-0691074382
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite book from 2001!, January 14, 2002

By 

Lucas (Amsterdam, Holland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations (Hardcover)

I've enjoyed this book enormously and don't mind that, as Monsaingeon tells us in the introduction, this is not exactly a biography- the title of the book also makes that clear.
The style and tone of the book are wonderfully simple and direct, and many passages are very humourous. I especially liked Richter's description of Maria Yudina and the accompanying photo's (in the second photo she looks like a tramp in sporting shoes). It tells also of the eccentricity and powerful personalities (especially Yudina) that today would, I'm afraid, be ridiculed. The whole atmosphere of Russia, despite it's enormous injustice, seems ages ago from today's streamlined concerts, planned a year or more in advance, where pianists receive enormous salaries.
There was some discussion in Holland when the documentary came out about the title (the enigma). The original title in French was "l'insoumis", which, according to a French friend, means somebody (especially a soldier) not obeying the rules and following his own path (the dictionary gives the translation "unsubdued"). I think the original title is more in line with the book also.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A giant of a book!, March 28, 2001

By 

J. Anderson (Monterey, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations (Hardcover)

The epic documentary film "Richter, the Enigma" was his crowning moment as a visionary, and this book is a bewitching companion-- a beautiful summation of Bruno Monsaingeon's life's paean to Art. 'Notebooks and Conversations' is a powerhouse! great in its subject, its inventiveness, and achieving a seamless framing of one of life's peerless musicians. Richter reveals himself and his art subtly - without fanfare, contrariness, with no bother at all-- it's an astonishing act made the more affecting by its silent invoking of a kind of perfect resignation with no bitterness. The opening pages are beautiful...Richter speaks of how the opera taught him everything about music, about the piano-- for musicians especially, reading his thoughts are a trove of consolation. The last half of the book with its neat arrangement of Richter's journal 'topic/notes and observations' on each page is as fulfilling as a second book! Richter makes observations about recordings, concerts, artists and composers, with joy, insight and reserve mingled in equal parts, and equal footing is afforded both the kind and the provocatively distant Richter; here Monsaingeon's unerring artistic sense provides editing as wise as it is subtle. Monsaingeon's love for this project is palpable throughout, as with the film, and he talks a bit in the Introduction about that love. His legacy as a documentarian is enhanced, if possible, even more with this invaluable book. Photos are frequent, sometimes almost unexpected -- and Richter, his face and bearing often resembling Jean Genet's, seems free and sad, resigned, responsible for a life of immense gifts, immense burdens, yet strangely indifferent to it all. At the end of the Introduction, Monsaingeon tells of finally deciding to edit out of his Richter film an 'ending' where he beautifully manages to 'thank' Richter, believing, as he says, that, after all, "it goes without saying." If you have any interest at all in books of this kind, your pleasure over this book will be rich and glad indeed, it goes without saying. Don't hesitate!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift from a legend., March 27, 2001

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I Hate Amazon "contributor" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sviatoslav Richter: Notebooks and Conversations (Hardcover)

This is a fascinating and insightful look into the thoughts and history of one of the undisputed greats of interpretive art. Richter is considered by many to be the greatest classical pianist of the twentieth century, and so it is to our great fortune that he entrusted his memories and musical insights to Bruno Monsaingeon for posterity at the end of his life. The first half of the book consists of his life story, a mixture of fascinating encounters with genius and dark personal turmoil, recollected with a vividness of memory which he considered to be a curse of sorts. The second half consists of quick notes and impressions on recitals (his own and others'), opera productions and concerts, and recordings, and he is unabashed in his praise and/or criticism. There are many familiar names in this section (I'll let him surprise you by not mentioning them) and it is fascinating to get his take on these performers.

What I found surprising about this book was its engaging, humorous tone. After seeing the wonderful documentary, "Richter, the Enigma," I was expecting something perhaps more morose, but Richter had such an odd, nonchalant wit about him that this book was a great pleasure to read, and not at all the downer I was prepared for. All in all, a fantastic book in itself and a must-have companion piece for the documentary.