Richter: The Enigma (1998)

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Richter: The Enigma

Great Artists of the 20th Century

A film by Bruno Monsaingeon

(NVC Arts, 1998)

Running Time: 2 Hours, 35 Minutes

Richter: The Enigma

Great Artists of the 20th Century is a series of filmed portraits of the lives and works of three musical giants of the century: Sviatoslav Richter, David Oistrakh and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. These three aritsts, along with Manuhin, Rastopovich, Casals and Callas, represent a truly golden era of great artists, not only remembered for their extraordinary live performances, but whose musicianship has also left to the world an unrivaled legacy of recordings.

One of the greatest pianists of all time, Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was a man who, in spite of living through the Soviet era, remained psychologically free of the regime, indifferent to political events, even to praise for his art and to material possessions—he seemed possessed by music alone.

This award-winning, biographical film is based on a rare interviews, in which he reads from entries in his own notebooks, meticulously kept since 1972 and an invaluable record charting his entire musical life. There are filmed reminiscences with Glenn Gould, Artur Rubenstein, and a number of young musicians as well as his wife, Nina Dorliac.

But most of all this documentary is rich with archive footage of Richter in concert in Moscow in the 1950s, in collaboration with Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival, and with such great singers as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Performance extracts include works by Prokoliev, Rachmaninoff, R. Strass, Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert, Bach, Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich.

Executive Producers: PIERRE-OLIVIER BARDET, IDEAL AUDIENCE and STEPHEN WRIGHT, IMG ARTISTS

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Archive

Internet Archive, in The VHS Vault

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Credit

NVC Arts

Language

English

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