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.
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Weihnachtsoratorium, BW 248
Classical - Released by Documents on 9 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: "Goldberg-Variations", BWV 988
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Overtures
Hedwig Bilgram, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gundula Janowitz sings Bach, Beethoven, Gluck & Händel
Gundula Janowitz, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 21 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, C.P.E.: Symphonies Nos.1 - 4
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Advent and Christmas (Vol. 1)
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Oct 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Sundays after Trinity I (Vol. 4)
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Easter (Vol. 2)
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Flute Sonatas
Karl Richter, Hans-Martin Linde, Johannes Koch
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 9 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Sonata for violin and harpsichord No. 4, 5 & 6
Classical - Released by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on 1 Jan 1972
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Bach: Choeurs et airs de la Passion selon Saint Matthieu (Remastered, stereo version)
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata & Fugue; Famous Organ Works
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Münchener Bach-Chor, Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1968
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Advent with Bach & Handel
Karl Richter, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 12 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karl Richter : Organ Recital
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 6 Jan 1965
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Concerto BWV 1055R, Double Concertos BWV 1043, 1060, 1060R, Triple Concerto BWV 1064R
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 23 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Fireworks
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, Karl Richter
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4-6, BWVV 1017-1019
Chamber Music - Released by Russian Compact Disc on 6 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Cantatas for the Sundays after Trinity I
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karl Richter - The Harpsichordist
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 5 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
20 Sacred Songs From Schemelli's Songbook
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo