The Legacy of Karl Richter, 'His musical life, a documentary, 1986'

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Remark: The quality of the video leaves much to be desired good, and unfortunately is provided with hard-coded English subtitles, but it is nevertheless an important document about the life of this great conductor and musician.

Karl Richter (15 October 1926 – 15 February 1981) was a German conductor, choirmaster, organist, pianist and harpsichordist, and is mostly remembered for his strong connection with Bach's work, as a conductor and musician.

Karl Richter was born in Plauen to Christian Johannes Richter, a Protestant pastor, and Clara Hedwig Richter. He studied first in Dresden, where he was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor and later in Leipzig, where he received his degree in 1949. He studied with Günther Ramin (former teacher of another prominent Bach specialist, organist Helmut Walcha), Karl Straube and Rudolf Mauersberger.

Career:

In 1949, the year of his graduation, Richter became organist at St. Thomas Church, Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach had been the music director for 27 years. During his tenure there, he was witness to the inauguration of Bach's new grave and prepared a special performance of Bach's "St. Anne" Prelude and Fugue in E-flat for the reception.

In 1952, after marrying Gladys Müller, who bore him two children, Tobias and Simone, he moved to Munich, where he taught at the conservatory there and was cantor and organist at St. Mark's Church.

In 1954, Richter founded the Münchener Bach-Chor (Munich Bach Choir), and soon after, the Münchener Bach-Orchester (Munich Bach Orchestra), which rapidly became established as a prominent international ensemble and noted for its interpretations of the works of J. S. Bach and other composers. In the 1960s and 1970s he often recorded and toured Japan, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Richter served as conductor of both ensembles from 1954 until 1981.

Richter played and conducted a wide range of music (sacred works from Heinrich Schütz to Max Reger, as well as the symphonic and concerto repertoire of the Classical and Romantic periods – even including Bruckner symphonies), but is best remembered for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Richter's performances were known for their soul-searching, intense and festive manner. He avoided the fluctuations in tempo that were previously characteristic of the prevailing Romantic manner of interpreting Bach, and devoted much attention to the woodwinds and to balance in general. His recordings from 1958 to 1970 are notable for "discipline, rhythmic tautness and expressive intensity".

Richter viewed Baroque music as fundamentally impromptu and subjective in nature, explaining in an interview that he had been told his performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion sounded different from the one he had performed last year. He viewed this observation in a positive light, stating, "It's bad if you play a work with disdainful routine because you have to, and if you no longer have any thoughts or ideas about it." This was one of Richter's strengths, because each concert he conducted was a unique, irreplaceable event, and even though two performances could sound slightly different, both seemed just right in the moment he was playing them. Musicians who played with him acknowledged this and analogized that performing Baroque music with Richter was like playing ping-pong because the back and forth is what directed the piece.

Wikipedia extended biography info: https://bit.ly/3NjP4sz

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ATTRIBUTION

Music contained in this video is licensed by, Unitel GmbH & Co. KG and ZDF 1986,