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Discussion: Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Richter, Sanderling

Posts: 13
Page: 1 2 next

Post by lennyw June 26, 2012 (1 of 13)
Rachmaninov Concerto No.1 Moscow 18.ii.55 Mono
Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 Leningrad 2.ii.59 Mono
Preludes Op.23#1; Op.32#9,10,12 NY Carnegie Hall 28.x.60 Stereo (part of Richter at Carnegie Hall series, though he also performed other preludes in the same concert which are not on this recording?)
Opening chord of Rach 2 faded in?!

Post by jdaniel June 26, 2012 (2 of 13)
lennyw said:

Rachmaninov Concerto No.1 Moscow 18.ii.55 Mono
Rachmaninov Concerto No.2 Leningrad 2.ii.59 Mono
Preludes Op.23#1; Op.32#9,10,12 NY Carnegie Hall 28.x.60 Stereo (part of Richter at Carnegie Hall series, though he also performed other preludes in the same concert which are not on this recording?)
Opening chord of Rach 2 faded in?!

So many Richter recordings; he liked out of the way venues and often recording technique and environment was dismal. CUrious release.

Post by canonical August 5, 2012 (3 of 13)
As per the other threads re Praga issuing these releases, the relevant questions are:

a) Did they have access to the original master tapes from the original copyright holder?

b) Or did they just rip it from somewhere, based on it being old material and possibly out of copyright in certain jurisdictions.


The rear of this disc states: "mastered from live analogue broadcast mastertapes".
Does this mean they copied it off a radio broadcast ... if so, then FM quality source???

Post by canonical August 5, 2012 (4 of 13)
Following up, there is a thread on this Praga release at:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/sviatoslavrichter/message/10924

... which asserts, by user: schat92


==================================================================
"Hi, The sound on this SACD is no better than on the half dozen previous CD issues. The alleged SACD is , to my ears, a sham. Let the prospective buyer beware"

==================================================================


By contrast, the sa-cd.net review, courtesy of none other than JJ aka Jean-Jacques Millo, is the usual 5 stars for sonics. lol.

The 'sham' conclusion currently seems the more persuasive review.

Post by lennyw August 6, 2012 (5 of 13)
AS much as I'd like to disagree, I'm afraid I'm probably also on the "sham" side with regards to this. One of the other posters in the thread mentions two other Richters which have just been released: Richter WTC (hopefully the SACD will make it sound even more like a recording from a bathroom) and the Richter RCA Beethoven recordings, which if taken in DSD from the original master tapes, might be worth getting.

Post by flyingdutchman August 6, 2012 (6 of 13)
So I guess there's no need for you to comment on it then Canonical since you believe that all older releases aren't worth it and you're willing to take some yahoo group comment about the sound as gospel and the "consensus" from everyone else saying something about this release. But who is that really? One person, who you probably don't even know or know very little about.

Honestly, you've never come here to say anything good about older recordings so why should we expect anything different from you?

Post by canonical August 6, 2012 (7 of 13)
lennyw said:

One of the other posters in the thread mentions two other Richters which have just been released: Richter WTC (hopefully the SACD will make it sound even more like a recording from a bathroom)

The 4 disc Richter Bach WTC is not a Praga release ... it is being done by Sony, and apparently directly from analogue to DSD. I have the original set on CD and I think it is the best WTC that I know of.

I'm going to get the new Sony SACD Richter Bach WTC ... though I was rather hoping someone else might be the guinea pig before me :)

Post by PhilipAC August 9, 2012 (8 of 13)
Bought this and immediately sold it! I thought it sounded terrible, and I'm a great Richter fan.

Post by Chalkperson August 9, 2012 (9 of 13)
PhilipAC said:

Bought this and immediately sold it! I thought it sounded terrible, and I'm a great Richter fan.

Agreed, it is not the kind of release I expected from Praga...

Post by Polarius T August 21, 2012 (10 of 13)
PhilipAC said:

Bought this and immediately sold it! I thought it sounded terrible, and I'm a great Richter fan.

The original Soviet-era recordings aren't anything to write home about. Remasterings can improve, but not beyond what's available to begin with.

But against any previous CD versions these seem like winners, say these guys:

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/p/prg50056a.php: "the main forte of this reissue are the enhanced sonics.... The orchestra seems to have been stripped of layers of cotton wool...and most importantly Richter's piano is projected much clearer...sparkling now more than ever thanks to the enhanced sonics."

and

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/remastered-richter/: "Praga’s treatment radically transforms the dynamically constricted and timbrally murky mono originals."

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