Liszt - Mephisto Waltz n°1 - Richter Moscow 1958

Franz Liszt

Mephisto Waltz n°1

Sviatoslav Richter
Live recording, Moscow, 5.II.1958

[dmburke]

What is incredible with him is that he is able to adapt his playing with so many different pianos! Even the ones that had poor voicing or mechanism he nonchalantly just adapts the playing to make any piano sound great!! He is an absolute genius!!

[pazzicuriosi]

I think this is the best performance I have ever heard of this masterpiece! Thank you for sharing!! Thank you so much.

[NoMoosic]

The only interpretation I've ever heard at this tempo that made any musical sense. Bravo Richter.

[viktoriasmakaj]

Das ist, wofür man sich leben lohnt.
Für Musik und Richter zu hören, und ehren.

[littlebrookreader]

No small wonder that Van Cliburn said that he found the Tchaikovsky Competition judges more frightening than the audience. Richter was a powerhouse all by himself. The unnerving stature of the judges, the politics, and the huge crowds … it was a good thing that the contestants were already accustomed to the pressure of crowds and of course the pressure of music juries. I still listen to Cliburn’s 1958 Tchaikovsky performances everyday. Oh, to have been there. Richter was so powerful! What genius. I love this interpretation and performance! Amazing!! Thank You! ❤️❤️❤️

[christophbader]

Richter in the 1950 was such a powerhouse. So intimate during some episodes, so extatic during others, not really playing piano, but translating the sheet music though the help of the piano to something, that transcendence the piano and the sheet music.

[MegaCirse]

Mon pianiste favori. J'aime toutes sortes de musique, mais rarement quelqu’un n’a atteint une telle sensibilité sur les touches d’un piano. En marchant dans les rues de New York dans les années 1980, j'ai senti son esprit, sa présence. C'était intense, puis, fugitivement, il est parti !

[Piano-Lin]

裡赫特是我最喜歡的20世紀鋼琴家
Richter is my most favourite pianist in 20 Centuries ❤

[recorddude]

What a treat to hear this magnificent version after the machine-like speed-above-all renditions by some of today's pianists!

[andreypozdeev]

Richter "looking through the keyhole" is a witness to the mystical ball, Sultanov dancing there is a real inhabitant of the ball...

[notaire]

Dämonische live Auffürung dieses dämonischen Meisterstücks im relativ schnellen Tempo mit der höchster Technik. Echt unvergleichlicher Pianist!

[margarita]

This is the best interpretation of Liszt Mephisto-Walz no.1 I have ever heared!!!

[nancylee]

Ahhh this is my favorite performance of Mephisto Waltz. Powerful, crashing, brilliant, seductive, gentle, tender, caressing, roiling, and overwhelming, Richter's playing has it all. ❤❤❤❤❤

[j.e.]

En un documental dirigido por Bruno Monsaignon, Richter menciona que tuvo desconcierto al no entender si en una ocasión G. Gould lo había elogiado a él o a la composición que había interpretado. Yo digo y todos los que están por acá que, con la bendición o no de Gould, Richter es el mejor pianista del siglo pasado, al menos dentro del repertorio que se dignó a dominar y que no excluyó obras curiosas de genios como Liszt y Prokofiev.

[hansmeyer]

No words can describe this phenomenon. Just listen and see.

[joelkatz]

Its not so much the fast playing that I appreciate about this performance: the slow expressive playing is just beautiful. The crazy right hand leaps are just unplayable at that tempo. Fun that he tried.

[jennyjang]

Best of the Best, S.Richter ! Extremely stunning ~~

[guodainpiano]

The best interpretation without a doubt.

[martian-sunset]

I saw Mephistopheles and Faust dancing as I listened. Liszt would have fallen off his chair.

[pablobear]

At first this recording was offputting to me because it is too fast, but, when I realized to look at it as a whole I realized the genius of it. WOW, what a conception!!!! BRAVOOOO