If There Is Much In The Window There Should Be More In The Room
This is the document movie of the great pianist, SVIATOSLAV RICHTER;
A film by Bruno Monsaingeon
One of the greatest pianists of the century, a performer whose interpretive acuity and huge repertoire awed other musicians, Sviatoslav Richter, the subject of this engrossing video documentary, was also a fiercely private man indifferent to commercial success. Averse to concertizing in big cities, he instead drove the expanses of Russia, showering his genius on towns and villages. Bruno Monsaingeon, who has made several films about musicians, got the wary pianist to open up. Blending Richter's observations with marvelous archival footage spanning much of his life, Monsaingeon's documentary so generously displays the pianist's gifts and so vividly limns his odd, isolated life that it is both exhilarating and haunting.
--By Elliot Ravetz TIME
This is a document movie of the great pianist, SVIATOSLAV RICHTER;
A film by Bruno Monsaingeon
Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), one of the greatest pianists of all time, breaks his life-long silence and allows himself to be interviewed for this autobiographical film. We see his life on an epic scale as he evokes his wild childhood, his encounters with the great names in the musical world, his debuts and his activities as a concert artist in the Soviet Union, a country tortured by troubles, war and terror. By turn acerbic, captivating, lucid, always unexpected, he reveals himself here with disarming candour, full of humour. Previously unseen archive footage and a wealth of performance extracts complete this portrait of an artist who refused to conform, one of the giants of the 20th century.
