Two surpassingly great performances here—the Scriabin and Prokofiev sonatas—some delight fully crisp Visions fugitives, and some excessively literal, though still finely played, Debussy. The sound-quality is, understandably, variable, and the live performances not surprisingly fare slightly worse in this respect than the studio ones. But the hypnotic flow of Richter's Scriabin, from feathery passagework to clamorous ecstatic climaxes, with pedalling acutely attuned to the shifting magnetic forces of the harmony, makes any such deficiency utterly irrelevant. Richter's long-standing association with the Prokofiev Sonata, surely the composer's finest, is well known, his grasp of its long spans of mood is unerring and the finale is crowned with a stunning display of controlled virtuosity. This is a marvellous memento of the period of Richter's first appearances in Europe recommended with all possible enthusiasm.'