Both Sviatoslav Richter’s 1960 RCA studio recordings of the “Funeral March” and “Appassionata” sound fuller and brighter here than in previous CD transfers. The playing is quite personalized and pianistically oriented, as opposed to Richter’s less exciting but more stylistically apt versions included in the Philips Richter Authorized edition. Similarly, I prefer the pianist’s tighter live accounts of the “Tempest” Sonata to this relatively discursive 1961 reading. Recorded live in 1991, the last three sonatas find the 76-year-old pianist in top musical form, if less digitally pristine than his early 1970s performances on Doremi. But the Rondo dates from Richter’s technical peak. Similarly, his pellucid touch and astoundingly even octaves in the Andante Favori will keep aspiring pianists honest. All in all, a judicious, if not ideal representation of Richter’s Beethoven.
