Karl Richter in Munich

Exciting news about a 'Karl Richter in Munich' project from publishing house Conventus Musicus in Dettelbach, Germany. A book about the great German conductor and keyboard player's years in Munich was published in German in November (more details in Comments below) , and six DVDs are in the pipeline. Already up and running is the blog Karl Richter in Muenchen. It is mainly in German, but there are also some English resources.

Even if you are don't read German the blog is well worth visiting for the marvellous archive photographs, just a few of which are reproduced here. It is just wonderful to see this great musician (and sometime organist of St. Thomas' Church in Leipzig), who contributed so much to the Bach revival, being recognised with these excellent online resources. Also covered are Richter's performances of other composers, notably Schütz, Bach, Händel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Reger. What a tragedy Richter was taken from us in 1981 aged just 54. 2006 is the 25th anniversary of his death (15th Feb), and the 80th of his birthday (15th Oct).

Uploading these evocative photos prompted me to put Karl Richter's recording of Cantatas BWV 140, 56, 51, 147, 4, and 202 with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Maria Stader, and the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra on the CD player. They may not be 'authentic performances' (whatever that means) but they are sheer bliss.

Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk
Image credit - all linked, with permission, from Karl Richter in Muenchen
Image owners - if you do not want your picture used in this article please contact me and it will be removed. If bandwidth is a problem with your permission I will host your image.
If you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to Gentlemen, old Bach is here

Comments

Pliable said…
The book is a homage to Karl Richter and his Munich Bach-Choir. And it commemorate the 25 anniversary of the death of Karl Richter (15 Feb) und his 80th birthday (15 Oct) in 2006.

Karl Richter in Munich 1951 - 1981
Famous Artists, contemporary witnesses and Bach-Chorister remember his era and genius

- Interviews with more than 30 artists, contemporary witnesses and Bach-Choristers
- with 370 photos and many anecdotes
- Concert tours, surrounding stories and encounters
- detailed chronicle of all concerts with the Munich Bach choir around the world

Book format 20 x 20, 276 pages, released Nov 16, 2005,
ISBN 3-00-016864-8
Retail price: 28,95 Euro (plus postage)

This book is written in German, all 370 pictures and most names of course are quite international ;-)
http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/2005/11/homage-to-karl-richter-in-munich.html


Meanwhile Unitel (Deutsche Grammophone has anounced 6 DVD's to commemorate the Karl-Richter Year
http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/2005/12/angekndigt-karl-richter-auf-dvd.html

Conventus Musicus is offering a DVD covering the periode 1958 - 1969 http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/2005/07/heinz-geisel-karl-richter-1958-1969.html

There are Wallpapers with Karl Richter
http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/2005/10/wallpaper-karl-richter.html

Some sample pages as download (24 pages PDF, about 656 KB)
http://resources.emartin.net/krm/doc/KRM_Leserprobe.pdf

Japanese friends are discussing to publish it in Japanese, and if a partner is found it would be also possible to have an English version.

As sales looks good, wa second edition for the 2nd half of 2006 is planned, maybe together with the DVD Documentation (planned for September / October) Karl Richters 80 birthday ..
2:17 pm
hemartin said…
Thanks for this great post!

I just added a list of available CD's with Karl Richter, Munich Bach-Choir and Munich Bach-Orchestra, which might interest some of your readers
http://karlrichtermunich.blogspot.com/2006/01/karl-richter-muenchener-bach-chor-bach.html
1:40 pm
Unknown said…
Please excuse my asking this question here - where else would I have an opportunity to find an answer? Is there any VIDEO collection available of Karl Richter's directing and/ or playing? And this perhaps is of most interest to me - I wish want to hear in Dr. Richter's own words how he felt Bach should be interpreted. For that matter any of his ideas would be of interest. I can think of no other Bach interpreter who so closely felt the spirit of Bach and his works. It matters little that for some his interpretations fell out of favour. Dr. Richter prepared the way: he made the rough place smooth for those who followed even when those were ungrateful for his sacrifice. May he rest in peace playing with his true mentor Bach.

(Aside, my dear husband of almost 50 years wishes to give me a very special present. He directly asked me what would most please me. You know my answer for it is stated above. Many thanks and may you have a Merry Christmas. Helen
11:54 am
Pliable said…
YouTube resource - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMkmuskHmPk
12:30 pm
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