Romanticism is a part of our time (Sviatoslav Richter)

Valentina Čemberdži

The 1985 December Nights were devoted to the music of Schubert, Schumann, Chopin. I rang the bell to Svyatoslav Richter Teofilovich's door in the morning. He greeted me with the words: "I take it you know what a Blumenstück is?""No, I don't.""But of course you do — remember the romantics, Schumann's pieces for piano duets...." I made some vague noises in reply... "Never mind. I'll tell you all about it, we must quickly think up a scenario for the 

opening. Blumenstück is a Viennese bunch of flowers. It can have any flowers at all — garden ones, wild ones, whatever you like. In front of the stage, on a little table (Where can we get one? They won't give anything from the museum collection of course — well, we could always grab a stool from home, cover it with some cream coloured cloth) there'll be that bunch, the Blumenstück. Romantics used to have them, that very kind of bunches. I come on the stage and say: 'Ah, a Blumenstück. Why don't I play a Blumenstück by Schumann?' Well, what do you think?""Sounds fine.""You mean it? You really mean it? There will be lots of surprises there. After I play that piece, Irina Aleksandrovna — she is the compere — will ask: 'Well, what next?' I say I don't know. Then she asks me to play a duet with somebody. And I start asking the various ladies and gentlemen sitting on the stage to play with me, but they all say 'no'. And then, one person, I won't tell you who, now — will agree, and we'll play Schumann's Bilder aus Osten..." All these ideas were brilliantly implemented, without any affectation. And there was a fine bunch of flowers in front of the stage — a genuine Blumenstück, properly sent over from Vienna. And Svyatoslav Richter stunned everybody with the way he played the Schumann Toccata, bringing everybody in the room to their feet. 

Talking of Music. "What is the main thing about a concert pianist's performance?""First of  all, you have to stick to the notes. You internalize it. But you have to play the composer. . His music. It is much easier to play yourself, even if you do so with a lot of talent. Why do I play using the music at concerts? Paradoxically, in the past, when the piano repertoire was much more limited md less demanding, there was a long tradition of always playing with the music. That tradition was broken by Liszt. Now, when the musical ly light that your eyes hurt. While all the character are dark faces, like paper...

Culture and Art The December Nights 

have been the highlight of the country's

cultural life for fifteen years. This year they were conferred the Russian State Award. 1996  

THESE WONDERFUL FESTIVALS are the brainchild of the outstanding pianist Svyatoslav Richter by Anna ISTOMINA  

The first ever December Nights (which are held in Moscow, in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts) were held against the backdrop of 19th-early 20th century Russian art. It was a star-studded performance of the best vocalist in Russia — Čaikovskij's duets were sung by Irina Arkhipova and Nadezhda Krasnaya, lyrical pieces by Mussorgsky — by Yevgeni Nesterenko, and Medtner's love songs — by Galina Pisarenko. The works of art to go with the events — since the very start of the Nights — were not only from the country's museums, but also the best art collections in the world. One would be hard put to list all the names of the participants — all of them top- notch musicians — Natalya Gutman, Oleg Kagan, Yuri Bashmet, Robert Hall, the Borodin Quartet, Zhenya Kisin (Evgeny Kissin, ndr.) — still a very young pianist then, and, of course Svyatoslav Richter. But the imagination of the organizers went even further. Soon the singing was complemented with theatricals, as well as reciting poetry and prose and could see unique manuscripts, documents and photos... There are a lot of premiers at the December Nights. How many people have ever seen the paintings done by the singer Fyodor Chaliapin, film directors Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Kozintsev, or ballet programs. [..]

And. .... "Images of England (Tradition and Fantasy) ... "World of Romanticism"... "Masters of the 20th Century" accompanied by an exhibit from the Richter collection..."The World of Boris Pasternak" ...

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