The thread about Paderewski made me think of other frenzy-inducing blond-haired performers, which made me think of Liszt, which made me think of the clip below. It is from the 1952 movie "The Composer Glinka."

It’s in Russian, but basically, starting around 0:45, Liszt while giving a recital takes requests for a theme on which he will improvise. He literally tosses aside music by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, after he sees an exciting new theme by Glinka. (Surprise, an unknown Russian composer trumps the Western pantheon.)

He does a bang-up job on the Glinka. The Russian women sigh in satisfaction throughout but do not seem particularly frenzied. Meanwhile, someone has sent a troika to fetch Glinka, who arrives to a hero's welcome. The flowers don't start flying till he gets there. On entering the hall, Glinka pauses deliberately to allow the great Hungarian to descend from his elevated platform to greet him.

I’ve heard Ashkenazy discuss the chauvinism of Soviet musical education, in which they were thoroughly grounded in works by Russian/Soviet composers, but did not have much experience in interpreting the works of Western composers. This clip seems to be a little illustration of that mindset. I mean—the way Liszt smacks the other music back onto the pile makes me laugh—as if signifying it’s hardly worth considering, now that some genius Russian music has arrived on the scene.

Anyway, at the least, here’s a rare chance to see Richter with flowing blond hair!

What a hoot! At least we know who is actually playing as opposed to the usual dubbing in movies like this. But what awful mannerisms he gives Liszt - yikes!

Indeed! He pounds the piano and flings his hands and head around so dramatically, that it normally would be a dead giveaway of a "fake performance by non-pianist."

Sorry if I have any Soviet-chauvinism agenda going here, but I wonder if Richter would have portrayed a Russian pianist with such bombastic pomposity. Say-- if he had played Anton Rubinstein, another virtuoso of approximately Liszt's era. Or maybe Richter was poking a little fun at himself...

Or maybe he was being directed...

Compared to the contemporary accounts of Liszt's behavior at the piano during his touring career, Richter seems positively comatose.