1963年12月,里赫特在莫斯科音乐学院大厅举办了一场音乐会,演奏了贝多芬最后三首钢琴奏鸣曲,演奏会过后,涅高兹撰文高度评价了里赫特的演奏,他风趣的写道:
“人们对里赫特非常了解,因此,谈他很难。我想说的只有一点,依我看,对贝多芬最后三首气势宏伟的奏鸣曲(Op.109、110和111)比他诠释得更好的演奏家,寥寥无几,难以寻觅。因为我年近古稀,一生听过许多著名钢琴家的演奏,他们有的已经去世,有的还健在,在此方面算是有发言权的吧。”
可是后来涅高兹觉得写一篇不过瘾,紧接着他又写了第二篇评论,细致地描述了里赫特演奏的贝多芬最后三首奏鸣曲,在评论中他还引用了大量的乐谱片段来描述里赫特的演奏。可见涅高兹对里赫特演奏的贝多芬最后三首奏鸣曲是多么的喜欢。但非常可惜,这场音乐会没有录音,我们也听不到当时里赫特的演奏。不过1963年里赫特带着这套曲目到欧洲很多城市演出过,我们可以从同年里赫特在莱比锡格万豪斯的演奏会来聆赏当时里赫特的演奏。
贝多芬最后三首奏鸣曲,让人感觉不是出自人类之手,而是来自天堂的作品,演奏这样的作品,对演奏家的要求是非常高的。我认为演奏家心中不能有丝毫的邪恶念头,否则是绝对弹不好的。而里赫特当时的心境,与贝多芬创作这三首奏鸣曲的心境,是完全一致的。所以他能最大限度地诠释出贝多芬这三首作品的内涵。
除了这三首奏鸣曲,演奏会上还有勃拉姆斯的几首间奏曲,狂想曲以及一首肖邦夜曲。对于勃拉姆斯的一首间奏曲(Op.118第6首),涅高兹如是写道:
“里赫特演奏的勃拉姆斯Op.118中的第6号间奏曲尤为精彩!他把旋律和和声中的这种感伤情调表达的超凡入化!不错,我的学生们是经常在课堂上演奏这首间奏曲,甚至有时使我感到极厌烦,可里赫特此时的演奏却催人泪下。”
This recording preserves the complete concert of November 28, 1963 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. It is the only published recording of one of Richter’s favorite programs: the last three Sonatas of Beethoven. While Richter played this music throughout most of his career and programmed these three Sonatas together as late as 1991, this recording is the only one ever issued with all three as performed at a single concert.
The original publication of this recording by another company was quickly suppressed by legal action, making it among the scarcest and most expensive of all Richter recordings. These legal issues have been resolved in U.S. Federal Court in favor of Parnassus, permitting the republication of this CD.
The master tape of this recording was marred by noticeable flutter throughout most of the Sonata Op. 109. A process developed by Plangent Processes of Nantucket, Mass., has minimized the flutter to the point where the recording is consistently listenable. Audio remastering by Eldad Benary of The Sound Company, in Saugerties, New York, has improved the tonal qualities of the recording, which were quite good to begin with. As a result of these improvements, the mono recording now gives a faithful impression of Richter’s playing and preserves his sound surprisingly well.
Richter’s performances of these three Beethoven Sonatas are up to his highest standard, one of the reasons why this recording has been in such great demand. There are also four encores, superbly played music of Brahms and Chopin, to further enhance the interest of the disc.