Karl Richter
Karl Richter was regarded as one of the great Bach conductors of the twentieth century, noted for solid regularity in rhythms and a serious approach to the music, though he was not given to following the changing pronouncements of musicologists concerning historical accuracy in performance.
He was brought up in the tradition of German Protestant religious music; his father was a minister in the central German regions near where Johann Sebastian Bach had lived. Richter learned piano and organ, and as he approached his 12th birthday entered the Kreuzschule school in Dresden. After World War II, he entered the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied with Rudolf Mauersberger, and also studied at the Leipzig Institute for Sacred Music, where he learned Bach interpretation from Karl Straube and Günther Ramin. Very soon he was appointed choirmaster of the Christuskirche in Leipzig at the age of 20, and in 1947 became the organist of the Thomanerkirche, both institutions with strong Bach traditions.
He left East Germany in 1950 to live in West Germany and settled in Munich, where he was organist of the Markuskirche and started teaching that same year at the Hochschule für Musik of Munich. He organized the Munich Bach Choir in 1951, and in 1953 added to it the Munich Bach Orchestra. His performances naturally centered on Bach and under Richter his musicians and singers became one of the most renowned organizations specializing in the music of the great German master and his era.
The formation of the Munich Bach Chorus and Orchestra reflected a growing international interest in music of the Baroque and, sparked by the advent of the LP record, the notion of integral series of composers' works. Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv label was the first of such historic specialty sub-labels. Richter and his Bach Choir and Orchestra became a major pillar of that label and recorded numerous Bach choral works, gaining international recognition.
They toured frequently, and Richter also played and recorded often as an organist and harpsichordist. In 1968, Richter made one of his most dramatic guest conducting tours when he conducted the St. John Passion and the B minor Mass in both Moscow and Leningrad at a time when religious music of any sort was rarely heard in the Soviet Union.
Although his regularity of tempo (some called it inflexibility) placed him apart from the Romantic manner of performing Bach, Richter's performances otherwise retained the Romantic era's approach, stressing the solemnity of Bach's music and including dramatic large-scale dynamic contrasts. Newer research and the growing popularity of "original" or "period" instrument performances did not affect his interpretations, which used modern instruments. In some respects, younger interpreters who emerged in the 1970s considered him the representative of an approach against which they were reacting.
Later in his career, Richter enlarged his repertory to conduct Classical, and even Romantic, era works, but tended to remain known primarily as a Baroque specialist. He is best remembered for his mastery of Baroque choral/orchestral works of the largest scale, where his architectural approach to the music is most effective. His recordings of the Bach Passions, oratorios, B minor Mass, and Magnificat, as well as Handel oratorios such as the Messiah, are considered his most important contribution to the Baroque discography.
© TiVo
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Bach, J.S.: Sacred Masterpieces
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: 6 Brandenburg Concertos; 4 Ouvertures; Tripel Concerto BWV 1044
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantate BWV147 - Magnificat
Klassik - Erschienen bei Universal Music Division Decca Records France am 01.01.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Tatiana Troyanos, Julia Hamari, Peter Schreier, Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J. S.: St. Matthew Passion, BWV. 244
Münchener Bach-Chor, Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Ascension Day; Whitsun; Trinity (Vol. 3)
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.10.1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1 - 6 · Concertos BWV 1055 & 1060
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1973
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Harpsichord Concertos BWV 1052- 1058 & 1060-1065
Hedwig Bilgram, Iwona Fütterer, Karl Richter, Orchestre -Bach de Munich
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 23.10.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Violin Sonatas / Sonaten für Violine & Cembalo, BWV 1014-1019 (Remastered 2021)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Eurodisc am 28.05.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Münchener Bach-Chor, Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach Cantatas · Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55 · Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78 · Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147
Ernst Haefliger, Aurèle Nicolet, Edgar Shann, Karl Richter, Müncher Bach-Orchester
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei G.O.P. am 30.11.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messe en si mineur
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BACH: Toccata & Fugue
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Organ Concertos, Op. 4 Nos. 1-4 – Concerti grossi, Op. 3 Nos. 1-6
Karl Richter, Orchestre -Bach de Munich
Klassik - Erschienen bei Urania Records am 01.05.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Partita BWV 1013, Flute Sonatas BWV 1033, 1034 & 1035
Karl Richter, Aurèle Nicolet, Johannes Fink
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karl Richter: A Universal Musician
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Mass in B minor
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Klassik - Erschienen bei Archiv Produktion am 01.01.1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Organ Recital
Klassik - Erschienen bei Decca Music Group Ltd. am 01.01.1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deutsche Grammophon (DG) am 01.01.1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 / Bach: Sonata BWV 1014, 1015 & 1016
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica am 01.01.1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo