Richter is the appropriate person to play up to the thrilling wit of this sonata (Haydn), its sometimes bizarre themes and harsh sequences of keys without blowing it (Haydn). Richter plays this sonata (Beethoven), rarely heard in a concert hall, magnificently.

Wolfgang Schreiber
Süddeutsche Zeitung 7/1994

Fidèle, le pianiste Sviatoslav Richter avait créé un festival en souvenir de son ami le violoniste Oleg Kagan. En témoigne l'enregistrement pris sur le vif de son récital deux Sonates de Haydn et de Beethoven d'une incroyable jeunesse nous rendent l'art du grand pianiste russe.

We must be grateful to Live Classics for the label's series of recordings documenting Sviatoslav Richter's last public performances in generally excellent sound. The Haydn and Beethoven Sonatas are coupled with Bach's Capriccio on the Departure of his Beloved Brother. ... Richter recognised Haydn's unique genius and revered his music, and this reading of the composer's improvisatory Sonata 29 is pure magic. Listeners remembering his mercurial rendering of Beethoven's Sonata No. 11 from the early 1960s (Philips) will find the approach broader and more expansive here. Richter's interpretations became more intimate and somewhat reserved as he grew older. Here is a vital but mature view of this extraordinary work: simple, direct and profound.