Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler is progressively releasing all the recordings that the...

Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) was one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler is progressively releasing all the recordings that the great Soviet virtuoso made in his Sturm und Drang period between 1945 and 1963. Most of them were largely unknown in the West during the Cold War, as Richter could only perform till 1960 behind the “Iron Curtain”, that is to say, in the Soviet Union and the satellite states of Eastern Europe. Profil Edition Günter Hänssler has already released box sets with Richter’s interpretations of works by Ludwig van Beethoven (PH 16030), Franz Schubert (PH 17005), Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms (PH 17967), Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin (PH 18041), Dmitry Shostakovich (PH 20054) and Sergey Rakhmaninov and Sergei Prokofiev (PH 19052). The present 13-album set is devoted to all the works by Russian composers that Sviatoslav Richter recorded live or in the studio between 1946 and 1963.

REVIEW:

I do have to ask how many different recordings of the same work by the same pianist need to be made available. Some of us might be happy with a couple of the best ones. That said, there are a number of first releases here and my overall response to this set was WOW, this is the one to have. At around $40, it is not an insignificant investment, but think of it as $3 a disc and you'll feel a lot better. Booklet notes and production values are up to Profil's highest standards.

– American Record Guide