Rosen on Richter

[Tatonik]

From an essay by Charles Rosen that I've been reading:

"Richter was an extraordinarily intelligent musician: whenever there was
a significant detail in the score, it was always signaled by a reaction
in his interpretation, not always, perhaps, the reaction that one would
have liked, but no matter."

The subject of the essay is the struggle between rigid adherence to
tradition and completely remaking the past to suit modern attitudes (and
how either can spell death to the tradition). Richter's slow tempi in
Schubert sonatas is used as an example of how it is possible to do
something new so long as it comes out of an understanding of the spirit
of a piece and an awareness of the historical context, even if that
something doesn't quite work. Rosen thinks these slow tempi reflect the
intimacy of the sonatas and show an understanding of where and how they
originally would have been performed.

Rosen finds Richter's tempo almost convincing in the first movement of
D. 960 but not in D. 894. I only have Richter's recording of D. 840,
the unfinished sonata, and the first movement is staggeringly slow. In
addition to the two finished movements he plays the two incomplete
movements and comes to a dead stop where the music ends, which is
particularly unsettling in the final movement. My other recording is
Brendel, who omits the two incomplete movements.

[Mandryka]

Can you spell out why Rosen thinks Richter’s tempos reflect something to do with their original performance please? I don’t have the article.

[Tatonik]

It's probably better if I just type out a larger excerpt:

"Unlike Beethoven's sonatas, but like his own song cycles, Schubert's
piano sonatas were not of a nature to inspire the need for public
performance for a long time. Sviatoslav Richter's comprehension of this
special intimate nature can explain his interpretation of some of the
late sonatas. His very slow tempo in the first movement of the last
sonata in B-flat Major (marked only Molto moderato) excited the derision
of Alfred Brendel. As I remember, Richter takes almost half an hour for
this movement alone, with three more still to go. Brendel was right in
thinking the tempo incorrect or inauthentic, but he also appeared not to
feel that the intimacy of the work was also essential to its
authenticity, and contented himself with a large-scale rendition. The
movement is indeed of grand dimensions, but the paradox of Schubert's
style here is the astonishing quantity of dynamic indications of
pianissimo and even ppp, broken most memorably just before the repeat of
the exposition by a single fierce and unexpectedly brutal playing as
loudly as possible of the trill of the principal motif, heard so far
only very softly (a repeat that Brendel refused to perform, perhaps
because the unprepared violence is awkward in a large hall, although
paradoxically more convincing in an intimate setting). Richter was an

extraordinarily intelligent musician: whenever there was a significant
detail in the score, it was always signaled by a reaction in his
interpretation, not always, perhaps, the reaction that one would have

liked, but no matter. For a recital in a large hall, he played the last
Schubert sonata on a darkened stage, with a single small lamp near the
keyboard, and the piano completely closed. The lowered light, the
muffled sonority, and the exceedingly slow tempo increased the sense of
intimacy, forcing listeners to concentrate to hear details. Even on
Richter's recording of this piece, I find that he was impressively able
to sustain the long line of the piece at the unnaturally reduced pace.
However, when he employed the same tactic with the G Major Sonata, where
Schubert himself does not control the line so intensely, the effect was
intolerable, as we waited impatiently for the next note.

"In short, there are innovative ways of interpreting the past, and they
can be magnificent even when wrong, but only if there is an awareness
and at least a mitigated respect for the original historical conditions.
There are also ways, of course, that are simply dead wrong. We have
reasonably objective criteria of judgment, socially and professionally
established, but no definitive ones. Some interpretations are
persuasive and may seem almost ideal, but every one always contains the
roots of a misconception or casts the shadow of a significant aspect
overlooked."

from "Old Wisdom and Newfangled Theory: Two One-Way Streets to Disaster"
in Charles Rosen's book of essays "Freedom and the Arts"

[Steve Emerson]

Many thanks for typing and posting this excerpt. Fascinating stuff. I have to agree with him that Richter's D894 first movement is unbearable in its slowness. Re: the D960, there are five or so recordings; the slowest first movement from the three I could lay hands on is Aldeburgh 1964, 25:27 (vs. "almost half an hour" per Rosen). That's also my favorite of the lot. It's a great credit to Rosen that he can see the merit in Richter's contrarian approach.

SE.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

According to this:

https://books.google.com/books?id=u8C7m8R4-dAC&pg=PA211&dq=%22schubert%27s+tempo+indications+have+never+been+examined+systematically%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjkpvylvdToAhWPvp4KHfvkC68Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=%22schubert's%20tempo%20indications%20have%20never%20been%20examined%20systematically%22&f=false

[Mandryka]

Oh thanks -- I only just saw this.

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 11:44:54 PM UTC-7, Tatonik wrote:

> From an essay by Charles Rosen that I've been reading:
>
> "Richter was an extraordinarily intelligent musician: whenever there was
> a significant detail in the score, it was always signaled by a reaction
> in his interpretation, not always, perhaps, the reaction that one would
> have liked, but no matter."
>
> The subject of the essay is the struggle between rigid adherence to
> tradition and completely remaking the past to suit modern attitudes (and

> how either can spell death to the tradition)...

- There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Nelson Mandela

- Forget about likes and dislikes. They are of no consequence. Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness but it is greatness.

George Bernard Shaw

[Mandryka]

It’s interesting that Rosen thinks that slow tempos heighten the feeling of intimacy. I’ve never thought of that before.

He also says that Brendel didn’t play the first movement repeat “because the unprepared violence is awkward in a large hall, although paradoxically more convincing in an intimate setting“ - again I’ve never thought of that before.

[Frank Lekens]

Op 5-4-2020 om 20:48 schreef Steve Emerson:

Yes, interesting. Thanks.

--
Frank Lekens

http://fmlekens.home.xs4all.nl/
https://franklekens.blogspot.nl/