Monday, January 29, 2007

And then there Was Richter...

Sviatoslav Richter "Chopin Etude" (the fastest on record btw)

However, Richter was Horowitz's only REAL competition at the time. To Horowitz's advantage, Richter wasn't allowed out of the Soviet Union for fear that he might defect. Horowitz had long since defected before the war and was raising money for troops with an arrangement of Stars and Stripes that would bring the house down.

Horowitz respected Richter and Richter was the only pianist that Horowitz would admit was good, but Richter had a mighty big dollop of jealousy for Horowitz and said that Horowitz played like a Clown.

There rivalry was well known and there were 'camps' who claimed the other was better.

5 comments:

Susanne said...

Oh.my.word. To play all of those notes that fast and that clean...absolutely amazing. Thanks for the post, Seth!

Seth Ward said...

Yeah, he was something else. Pretty phenom.

Douglas said...

Are you saying you can't play the piano like that? I thought you were Seth Ward, super musician.

Seriously, that was impressive.

Seth Ward said...

Fraid not. Althoooooooughhh I have played both of those peices. But, it would be like calling yourself a Good Catholic and asking you to compare yourself to Augustine and St. Francis.

Chaotic Hammer said...

Astounding.

I love watching this -- marveling at everything about it. I guess what I mostly wonder when I watch such a superb performance in action is -- how much of that is just muscle-memory, gained by repetition, and how much must be deliberately, and carefully, thought through prior to executing it. Does that make sense?