35 Facts About Sviatoslav Richter

Sviatoslav Richter was born in Zhytomyr, Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire, a native town of his parents.

In 1918, when Sviatoslav Richter's parents were in Odessa, the Civil War separated them from their son, and Sviatoslav Richter moved in with his aunt Tamara.

Sviatoslav Richter lived with her from 1918 to 1921, and it was then that his interest in art first manifested itself: he first became interested in painting, which his aunt taught him.

Sviatoslav Richter's father gave him only a basic education in music, as did one of his father's pupils, a Czech harpist.

Sviatoslav Richter developed a lifelong passion for opera, vocal and chamber music that found its full expression in the festivals he established in La Grange de Meslay, France, and in Moscow, at the Pushkin Museum.

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Early in his career, Sviatoslav Richter tried composition, and it even appears that he played some of his works during his audition for Neuhaus.

Sviatoslav Richter gave up composition shortly after moving to Moscow.

Years later, Sviatoslav Richter explained this decision as follows: "Perhaps the best way I can put it is that I see no point in adding to all the bad music in the world".

Sviatoslav Richter did not speak to his mother again until shortly before her death nearly 20 years later in connection with his first US tour.

Sviatoslav Richter noticed Dorliak during the memorial service for Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, caught up with her at the street and suggested to accompany her in recital.

Sviatoslav Richter was an intensely private person and was usually quiet and withdrawn, and refused to give interviews.

In 1949, Sviatoslav Richter won the Stalin Prize, which led to extensive concert tours in Russia, Eastern Europe and China.

Sviatoslav Richter gave his first concerts outside the Soviet Union in Czechoslovakia in 1950.

In 1952, Sviatoslav Richter was invited to play Franz Liszt in a film based on the life of Mikhail Glinka, called The Composer Glinka .

In 1960, even though he had a reputation for being "indifferent" to politics, Sviatoslav Richter defied the authorities when he performed at Boris Pasternak's funeral.

In 1958, Sviatoslav Richter recorded Prokofiev's 5th Piano Concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Witold Rowicki – the recording which made Sviatoslav Richter known in the United States.

In 1959, Sviatoslav Richter made another successful recording of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Warsaw Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammophon label.

Neville Cardus concluded that Sviatoslav Richter's playing was "provincial", and wondered why Sviatoslav Richter had been invited to play in London, given that London had plenty of "second class" pianists of its own.

In 1963, after searching in the Loire Valley, France, for a venue suitable for a music festival, Sviatoslav Richter discovered La Grange de Meslay, several kilometres north of Tours.

In 1970, Sviatoslav Richter visited Japan for the first time, traveling across Siberia by railway and ship as he disliked flying.

Sviatoslav Richter played Beethoven, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Bartok and Rachmaninoff, as well as works by Mozart and Beethoven with Japanese orchestras.

Sviatoslav Richter said that this setting helped the audience focus on the music being performed, rather than on extraneous and irrelevant matters such as the performer's grimaces and gestures.

In 1986, Sviatoslav Richter embarked on a six-month tour of Siberia with his beloved Yamaha piano, giving perhaps 150 recitals, at times performing in small towns that did not even have a concert hall.

Sviatoslav Richter's last recorded orchestral performance was of three Mozart concerti in 1994 with the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra conducted by his old friend Rudolf Barshai.

Sviatoslav Richter had been suffering from depression due to an inability to perform caused by changes in his hearing that altered his perception of pitch.

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Sviatoslav Richter is said to have learned and memorized the second book of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier in one month.

Sviatoslav Richter gave the premiere of Prokofiev's Sonata No 7, which he learned in four days, and No 9, which Prokofiev dedicated to Richter.

Sviatoslav Richter often accompanied singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Peter Schreier, Galina Pisarenko and his wife and long-time artistic companion Nina Dorliak.

Sviatoslav Richter conducted the premiere of Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto for cello and orchestra.

Sviatoslav Richter himself was a passable cellist, and Rostropovich was a good pianist; at one concert in Moscow at which he accompanied Rostropovich on the piano, they exchanged instruments for part of the program.

For instance, after a long recording session for Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy, for which he had used a Bosendorfer piano, Sviatoslav Richter listened to the tapes and, dissatisfied with his performance, told the recording engineer "Well, I think we'll remake it on the Steinway after all".

Similarly, during a recording session for Schumann's Toccata, Sviatoslav Richter reportedly chose to play this piece several times in a row, without taking any breaks, in order to preserve the spontaneity of his interpretation.

Sviatoslav Richter appeared in a 1952 Soviet film, playing Liszt in Kompozitor Glinka .

Vladimir Sofronitsky proclaimed that Sviatoslav Richter was a "genius", prompting Sviatoslav Richter to respond that Sofronitsky was a "god".

Sviatoslav Richter said I was incredibly obstinate and did only what I wanted to.