Sviatoslav
Richter. Legendary Concert in London
Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was, unquestionably, one of the greatest
pianists of the 20th century.
A complicated and temperamental man, Richter strictly avoided being filmed. The
circumstances of this Barbican recital were far from ideal: Richter, who was
known to cancel concerts at a moment’s notice, was apparently unaware until
shortly before the concert that it was to be filmed. After a considerable and
heated discussion, he agreed to the filming on the condition that no camera
would be in his field of vision.
This challenge was overcome at the expense of
the film crew, who were accustomed to expending thousands of watts of lighting
power when televising such an event. Richter insisted on restricting the
lighting to a single 40-watt bulb, focused not on him, but on his music. This
eccentric lightening was unconventional even without cameras present, but it
was his standard practice at concerts, as he wanted to focus maximum attention
on the music and de-emphasize the importance of the performer. It also served
to mask his use of a score, a practice he implemented in 1979 after a memory
lapse at a concert.
When the great Sviatoslav Richter took the stage carrying his own music
and accompanied by a page-turner at this recital at London's Barbican Centre in
March 1989, he resembled a distracted John Malkovich -- balding, bespectacled,
and bored looking -- so unsuspecting members of the audience might have been
forgiven for thinking that they were in for a dull evening.
But though he
looked like an accountant performing by the light of a small lamp, Richter
played like a god.
