"To name just a few other soloists the memorable concerts of which I attended at that time: Arthur Rubinstein, Ida Haendel, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Claudio Arrau, Monique de la Bruchollerie, Annie Fischer, Igor Oistrach. Richter particularly impressed me and I remember a story about one of his concerts in Bucharest. He was scheduled for an evening concert with the Philharmonic. The rehearsal with the orchestra had to take place in the afternoon before the concert, but Richter did not show up. The conductor (I think it was George Georgescu, the music director of the Philharmonic) sent somebody to look for him at his hotel, the Atheneum Palace, next to the concert hall, but he was not there, nor did his wife know where he was. But then she suddenly realized that in his concert he was scheduled to play one of the piano concerts of Liszt. She immediately guessed that he had gone to the cemetery: After playing a Liszt concert for piano and orchestra Richter used to give as a bis Liszt’s Totentanz and to be in the right mood for this piece he used to go before that to the cemetery. And, indeed, there he was."
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Richard M. Weiner, Analogies in Physics and Life Ch. 6. Persona Non Grata
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sviatoslav_Richter
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Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter (March 20 [O.S. March 7] 1915 – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
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