‘Richter Rediscovered’ is a two­disc album celebrating a unique pianist in much of his early glory. The producer’s note tells us that ‘virtually none of the recordings on these CDs have been heard since their actual performance of over 40 years ago.’ He also tells us that the reasons for this remain unclear‚ though knowing Richter’s fluctuating attitudes to his own performances‚ much to the despair of his producers‚ it is not difficult to deduce why these recitals have remained in limbo for so long. True there are gaucheries and confusions‚ inaccuracies and memory lapses‚ but never for a second do you doubt that you are listening to one of the greatest of all pianists. Both recitals date from 1960 and were given with an almost palpable tension‚ a discomfort that has you on the edge of your seat in both an enthralling and bad sense; the playing is phenomenal at one level‚ strange and nerve­wracking at another. Richter‚ after all‚ wore his title ‘the greatest pianist in the world’ together with stunning accolades from Gilels‚ Katchen and Berman‚ like an albatross round his neck and so‚ predictably‚ his performances are variable; unsurpassable when not baffling. He courses his way through the first movement of Haydn’s C major Sonata‚ hiding behind an incontestable but inscrutable mastery‚ is teasingly whimsical in Chopin’s Fourth Scherzo and much given to sudden sprints and skirmishes in the Third Ballade (try him at the capricious flight commencing at 4'10"). He chivies Ravel’s delicious indolence and sparkle in Jeux d’eau virtually out of existence but is unforgettable in the chiming bells of La vallée des cloches. He is at his most awe­inspiring on home territory‚ plumbing the very depths of despair in Rachmaninov’s great B minor Prelude before storming through its central carillon of Moscow bells in a style all his own. Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata is launched with a punishing venom and articulacy‚ its extremes of stillness and hyperactivity miraculously unified‚ and how he tantalises his adoring audience with his incomparably played selection from the Visions fugitives! Chopin’s Etude Op 10 No 10 is spun off with a grace and rapidity that must have left all aspiring pianists weak at the knees‚ and how intriguing and piquant he is in the haunting ambiguity of the C major Mazurka‚ Op 24 No 2. The recordings have come up trumps and there are lively‚ if contentious‚ accompanying essays (Harold Schonberg finds much of Richter’s playing ‘provincial’ and insufficiently open in its early stages to edifying influences in the West. He also unnervingly declares that ‘there are other pianists who have better technical equipment – Cherkassky‚ say’). All in all‚ these records‚ combine with BBC Legends’ issue of Richter’s London and Snape recitals from 1961­67 to create an ever­astonishing portrait of a pianist of bewildering fantasy and caprice‚ urgency and commitment.