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definitely worth discovering this classic recording
I’ve always liked Brahm’s piano concertos and wanted to expand my collection with this famous classic. The performance is fully convincing to me and I understand why there are so many other positive reviews on here. The recording quality is good enough for me to thoroughly enjoy the music, though it has to be said that the sound of the orchestra does not entirely match up to (well-done) newer recordings. If you are like me, you won’t mind that much - one main reason for me to keep on buying on HDTT is the possibility to discover old gems like this one. Just don’t expect 100 percent audiophile quality.

Just a correction to a review below
Richter did come back to the US in 1970. (I heard him play Pictures at an Exhibition in Symphony Hall in Boston.) An anti - Soviet protest at Carnegie Hall shortly thereafter convinced him not to return. Also, Richter would not fly on airplanes and the long ocean voyages were a bit too much for him.

Brahms piano concerto no. 2
First class performance with well balanced acoustic effects

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 - Richter, piano - Leinsdorf Chicago Symphony Orchestra
I liked this recording from every dimension. I liked the ‘classic’ performance of the soloist and the orchestra. I grew up listening to both. From a technical perspective, this a very good transfer with very equipment/tape noise to ruin the experience.

The October Richter-Revolution...
A whole piano revolution was launched in the west (meaning USA) in October and early November 1960. Richter had arrived. He came and conquered. Both in Chicago, where RCA recorded the Brahms Piano Concerto No 2 and New York, where he launched his career outside Russia with performances, not of the usual piano career intros of Tchaikovsky or Grieg, but a bunch of Beethoven Piano Sonatas. Audiences were mesmerised but Richter didn’t appreciate their ardour. He never went back to the US and he didn’t like his recording of the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto either. No one seems to know why, other that he hated committing any of his interpretations to record. If there’s one overriding consideration, his hundreds of recordings have stood the test of time and most have never been out of print. This superb recording of the Brahms second - described by some as a Symphony in 4 movements with piano accompaniment - is, nearly 60 years later, refreshingly brilliant. Its remastering by HDTT is superb.
Description:
Title: Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2
Artist(s): Sviatoslav Richter, piano - Erich Leinsdorf conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Robert LaMarchina, Cello
Recording Info: Transferred from a Dolby encoded 15ips 2-track tape
Date of Recording: 1960
Engineer – Lewis Layton
Producer – Peter Dellheim, Richard Mohr
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