COMPOSERS: Handel
LABELS: Telstar Revelation
WORKS: Keyboard Suite No. 2; Keyboard Suite No. 9; Keyboard Suite No. 12; Keyboard Suite No. 14; Keyboard Suite No. 16
PERFORMER: Sviatoslav Richter (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: RV 10045 ADD
This recording from 1980 follows hot on the heels of two more recent releases of Handel’s keyboard works by harpsichordists Olivier Baumont and Bob van Asperen; but so different are the three musical personalities that it is sometimes hard to imagine they are playing the same repertoire. These concert performances by Richter are issued here for the first time outside Russia, and full credit to the Revelation series for releasing them despite the extraneous noises and the rather close, hard-edged sound. It’s a measure of Richter’s magnetic artistry that one is hardly aware of these problems, or of the occasional technical lapse on his part. These are compelling accounts – at times poetic and lyrical, elsewhere vigorously strident. Kate Bolton
Handel: Keyboard Suite No. 2; Keyboard Suite No. 9; Keyboard Suite No. 12; Keyboard Suite No. 14; Keyboard Suite No. 16
This recording from 1980 follows hot on the heels of two more recent releases of Handel’s keyboard works by harpsichordists Olivier Baumont and Bob van Asperen; but so different are the three musical personalities that it is sometimes hard to imagine they are playing the same repertoire. These concert performances by Richter are issued here for the first time outside Russia, and full credit to the Revelation series for releasing them despite the extraneous noises and the rather close, hard-edged sound.
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:37 pm