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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Handel: Fireworks
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, Karl Richter
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Violin Sonatas Nos. 4-6, BWVV 1017-1019
Música de cámara - Editado por Russian Compact Disc el 6 ago. 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
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karl Richter - The Harpsichordist
Clásica - Editado por UME - Global Clearing House el 5 dic. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
20 Sacred Songs From Schemelli's Songbook
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1981
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Die Schöpfung, Hob. XXI:2 (Live)
Bayerisches Staatsorchester , Karl Christian Kohn, Elisabeth Speiser, Karl Richter, Werner Hollweg, Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper
Clásica - Editado por haenssler CLASSIC el 3 sep. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Orchestral Suite No.2 in B Minor, BWV 1067
Karl Richter, Munchener Bach Orchester
Clásica - Editado por Classically el 10 ago. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Archiv Produktion - Karl Richter
Clásica - Editado por UME - Global Clearing House el 20 abr. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Cantatas for Ascension Day, Whitsun & Trinity
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 oct. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Karl Richter – Advent with J. S. Bach and Handel
Clásica - Editado por UME - Global Clearing House el 4 dic. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Meditation
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rafael Kubelik
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Orchestral Suite No.4 in D, BWV 1069
Karl Richter, Munchener Bach Orchester
Clásica - Editado por Classically el 10 ago. 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantatas BWV 67, 108 & 127
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics International el 1 mar. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Concerti grossi, Op.6 Nos. 10-12
Otto Buchner, Franz Berger, Hans Melzer, Karl Richter, Bamberger Symphoniker, Fritz Lehmann
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantatas BWV 67, 108 & 127
Clásica - Editado por Warner Classics International el 1 mar. 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Prelude and Fugue on the name B-A-C-H, S. 260; Reger: Fantasie und Fuge über B-A-C-H, Op. 46
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 13 nov. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ave Maria
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Advent And Christmas Cantatas
Clásica - Editado por Archiv Produktion el 1 oct. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: St. John Passion
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 4 mar. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: St. Matthew Passion
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Sundays after Trinity II
Orchestre -Bach de Munich, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor
Clásica - Editado por Deutsche Grammophon (DG) el 1 ene. 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo