Recorded live in concert at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, December 1986, the Richter-Kagan-Gutman Tchaikovsky trio has circulated on an impossible-to-find Japanese Laser Disc, which in turn spawned unauthorized video cassettes. Its first audio-only incarnation, though, is sonically disappointing. Richter’s piano, for one, is distantly miked, creating the aural effect of looking through the wrong end of a telescope. The strings come off better in the mix, yet little tape burbles plus pockets of wow and flutter sometimes distract from Kagan and Gutman’s shapely, sustained lines. Despite Alfred Schnittke’s laudable comments quoted in the booklet, and the performers’ admirable concentration, there’s little of the rapture, inspiration, feathery interplay, and emotional generosity that distinguishes the awe-inspiring Argerich-Kremer-Maisky triumvirate, gorgeously recorded on Deutsche Grammophon. Unless you’re an incurable Richter collector, pass this one by.
