(excerpts)
"NEW RUSSIAN IMPORT" : IRVING KOLODIN. Tucson Daily Citizen July 23, 1960MUSICAL CURTAIN LIFTEDNEW YORK - When Nikita Khrushchev's journey to America was being planned some months ago, a suggestion was made in this space that he could give true evidence of, good will be including in his party the outstanding pianist, Sviatoslav Richter. Reason for this, of course was that despite the reclame he has won from his recordings, Richter has not been permitted to play beyond such Iron Curtain countries as Poland and Czechoslovakia. What was then said in' jest can now be stated in truth, for the recently returned S. Hurok confirms that permission has been granted for Richter to visit the United States and he will begin a three months' tour on this side of the Atlantic with five dates in Carnegie Hall between Oct. 19 and 30. What this portends cannot be fully stated, but Hurok reports that when asked what talent he wanted from Russia for the forthcoming winter he said "Moiseyev Ballet and Richter. Now is the time for them." After consulting the necessary "higher echelons" the request was granted, though Moiseyev was called on the carpet after his triumphant success in America for having painted conditions here too glowingly in a speech upon return, and Richter has only recently made his position vis-a-vis official dogma plain when he participated in the funeral services for the late Boris Pasternak. As Hurok sees it, the gestures are intended to show that Russia values "cultural exchange" with America as'highly as ever, despite the U-2 incident, the harsh words at the summit and afterwards. If so, the coming of Richter may be an augury of better relations in other matters than cultural. A native of the Ukraine, where he was born 46 years ago, Richter (as his name suggests) differs from many of his Soviet, contemporaries in having a partially Germanic background (as his playing proclaims). The sort of a professional musician (also a pianist), Richter has been concerts since 1934, though it was after this that he entered the Moscow Conservatory. Both as student and professional, he has won many honors (including the Stalin Prize) and shared the platform with the visiting Philadelphia Orchestra in a Leningrad performance of a Prokofiev concerto in 1958. He will reciprocate by being guest of the Philadelphia Orchestra in its home city next fall in a series of appearances that will a carry him coast to coast. There could hardly be a more welcome visitor to help inaugurate a new chapter in the history of Carnegie Hall.July 23, 1960. Page 14
Tucson Daily Citizenfrom Tucson, Arizona
November 26, 1960
Excerpts from
"Great Artists of our time III: Sviatoslav Richter"
TWO VIEW OF SVIATOSLAV RICHTER
V.DELSON - RALPH PARKER (Excerpt)
October 15, 1960