Some of our most esteemed artists have told me that if he had devoted his life to painting, he would have attained the same heights as he has attained as a pianist. I have only mentioned this to throw some light on the mystery of his genius. He is as much a man of seeing as he is of hearing , and this is a rather rare combination. For him all music is filled with images which are quite original sometimes. Not long ago, listening to Schumann's novelettes following Haydn's Sonata in C minor at the House of Scientists, I couldn't help thinking that one talks so much about style as if style were a thing apart from the given composition, the given composer.
Style is merely a name.
In a brief article it is impossible to describe, even sketchily, so great an event in modern art as Richter's playing. He has given recitals devoted entirely to Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Chaikovsky and Liszt. I have had the good fortune, together with many others, to hear Richter at home. He possesses in great measure that which is usually called a feeling for form, a mastery of time and its rhythmic structure, a sense of balance and harmony stemming from the very depths of a classical disposition. In this lies his greatest power, the main quality that makes one dream of hearing him conduct an orchestra.