Music without sound in the documentary film "Svyatoslav Richter" from the series "Great Collectors" in Russian Sign Language

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts A. Pushkin presented a new documentary film series "Great Collectors", dedicated to the little-known side of the famous pianist’s life - his collecting activity. The film "Svyatoslav Richter" in Russian sign language is also aimed at the hearing audience and is accompanied by professional dubbing. The premiere took place on March 29 as part of a series of events dedicated to the birthday of Svyatoslav Richter and Irina Antonova.

The unique and inimitable talent of Svyatoslav Richter is known all over the world. He became the first Soviet performer to receive a Grammy Award; Sergei Prokofiev dedicated the Ninth Sonata to him. But few people know the other Richter - a subtle artist who was always glad to the advice of his friend Robert Falk and, finally, Richter the collector.

His art collection - motley, varied, somewhat eclectic - opens up a new side of the musician to us. His collection includes gifts from fans from around the world, including Pablo Picasso and Hans Arp, Alexander Calder and Oscar Kokoschka; pastels by Richter himself; pictures of his friends from Koktebel - Anna Troyanovskaya, Natalia Severtsova; gifts from friends, non-conformist artists - for example, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev.

The film presented by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts A. S. Pushkin, talks about this less well-known side of Richter’s creative life. His long-term friendship with Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova, the director and then the president of Pushkinsky, was largely based on this shared love for music and for the museum with all its rich artistic heritage.

Evgenia Kiselyova, Head of the Department of Interdisciplinary Projects, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts A.S. Pushkin:

“A series of films in Russian sign language“ Great Collectors ”arose in Pushkin in 2019, when we shot the first film about Sergei Ivanovich Shchukin. The films of this series are united by the idea of creating a universal cinema that is accessible to both deaf and hearing viewers. For each film, author’s music is created, which complements the gesture story. Speaking about the legacy of the great musician of the 20th century, including with a deaf audience, we view the museum as a metaphor for music without sound. "

Polina Sinyova, screenwriter and playwright:

“In Svyatoslav Teofilovich Richter I admire the fact that he mastered not only the space of music, but also painting. Synesthesia allowed Richter to see music literally, and this was his main strength. Together with other writers, I tried to convey at least a particle of the feeling of this unique power, this music without sound. "

Elena Antonova, author of the film:

“This is a film about Svyatoslav Richter, as few knew him. Here is another facet of the talent of the brilliant pianist - the ability to see beauty in every moment of life. It’s great that thanks to the sign language capabilities, the film will be able to see the widest audience. "

project team

Announcer: Maria Rumyantseva
Scientific consultants: Alexey Savinov, Julia De-Klerk
Music by Oleg Karpachev, Pavel Maksimov
Graphic design by Seraphim Infante-Arana

Also worked on the film: Mikhail Agafonov, Elena Antonova, Irina Ginsberg, Evgenia Kiseleva, Maria Rumyantseva, Polina Sinyova, Dmitry Lopunov, Andrey Tarasenko, Alexander Shapoval, Albina Dzhumaeva, Sergey Lushkin