Sergei Prokofiev Piano sonata n°7 op.83 I. Allegro inquieto 0:00 II. Andante caloroso III. Precipitato Sviatoslav Richer Live recording, London, 7.XII.1970
This is without doubt one of the best performances - scratch that - the best performance of this sonata, and even much better that Richter's own studio recordings.
To me it seems that all of Richter's live performances are much better than his studio recordings, which are already exceptional. Maybe the fact that he was playing for a live audience made him give each performance everything he had.
Second subject of the first movement is one of the most brooding phrases I know. He expresses complete desolation through a simple bell-like ostinato in the second. The last movement has had me in a grip since I first heard heard it 40 years ago. I love the fact that it's the most tonal of the three: 'OK Stalin, here's your !***ing optimism, now send me to a gulag or sod off'. A wonderful performance by the man who premiered it.
Präzise und zugleich spannende live Aufführung dieser technisch anspruchsvollen Klaviersonate im veränderlichen Tempo mit perfekt artikuliertem Anschlag und völlig effektiver Dynamik. Einfach atemberaubend!
Sviatoslav Richter, the cool pianist, recorded the famous three best piano sonatas of Prokofiev, and so left us the best rendition of them ever did. The 6th. and 7th. ones have all the despair and sadness both pianist and composer could transmit. They reflect the feelings Prokofiev had while living under Stalinism, far away from his Paris happier times. 8th. one is also considered among his best. Can find them in those well recorded Phillips did, in a double album. Six and Seventh were my prefered ones. Innovative as he is, transmits equally well his feelings in these works. Famous, sad and great piano works.
¡No se hacen prisioneros! Ésta si que es la Sonata de Guerra..., si sólo fuera por las denominaciones de los tres movimientos: inquieto, calorosamente y ese precipitato, que en manos del genio de Zhitomir alcanza su expresión más pura y salvaje. Eso si que es avasallar, una auténtica invasión musical.
