Beethoven's Tempest Sonata, in a performance by Sviatoslav Richter which is so conceptually profound that I'm still mystified hearing it all these years later. I literally believe this man changed the course of music, because piano playing of this interpretative depth did not exist before him.

One thing which was helping him along was that, musically speaking, he had no real ego. A forceful personality indeed, but if you think about it there is nothing in Richter's playing here which suggests or draws attention to the character of a performer in the music making. As far as everything essential is concerned the audience looked at an empty stage, left only for the play Beethoven has created with the Sonata to be enacted (where the director of course does leave his unmistakable mark however). The path had been trodden earlier by musicians like Edwin Fischer and Artur Schnabel, but at least in western nations it was a break with the prevalent custom in the first half of the century where the role of the performer had been very accented through models like Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz.

Fun fact: in my native tongue this Sonata is known as the "Ghost Sonata" since August Strindberg thought he heard voices of spirits in the music (probably because of various spirits as well). Its international nickname comes from a report by Anton Schindler that when they once discussed its interpretation, Beethoven said: "Read 'The Storm' by Shakespeare".

...according to Schindler. But that's a fine advice regardless.


Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.17 in D minor, Op.31 No.2 (Tempest) (1802)
00:00 - I. Largo - Allegro
09:20 - II. Adagio
16:42 - III. Allegretto

Sviatoslav Richter, piano
Source: Radio Broadcast

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