A few clarifications are in order. These performances date from 1994, not 1993 as the booklet indicates. The booklet correctly mentions that these are the last recorded Richter performances with orchestra, but the “Last Concert” subtitle is misleading, for Richter’s actual “last concert” took place in 1995. For all their integrity, concentration, and supreme instrumental control, Richter’s Mozart concertos have never really been this reviewer’s cup of tea. Here the pianist’s statuesque refinement often conflicts with the music’s sparkling wit, scintillation, and innate theatricality. This particularly holds true for the early K. 37 (not, as the booklet claims, K. 337) and K. 175 concertos. Their uncomplicated, breezy tunefulness calcifies atop Richter’s pianistic pedestal. Similarly, Richter’s hammered out treatment of the finale’s main theme in K. 456 is further compounded by prosaic, unsmiling ornaments and accents. I miss the winged fluency and joyful ensemble interplay of Murray Perahia’s imaginative account, or the splendid early-seventies Peter Serkin recording with Alexander Schneider. Still, you can’t easily discount Richter’s immense authority at the keyboard. Even in his last years, the 78-year-old pianist commanded a hypnotic, unshakably centered sonority that still pulls you in and beckons your attention. Richter collectors will have to have this disc, of course, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend these fascinating, if uncongenial interpretations as reference versions.
