Karl Richter (1926-1981) was a German conductor, organist and harpsichordist, one of the major Bach interpreters of the post-war period. He founded the Munich Bach Choir and Munich Bach Orchestra.

In the Pristine catalogue he appears in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Irmgard Seefried, Ernst Haefliger and Hertha Töpper.

Richter’s Bach was strong, disciplined and devotional, shaped by a tradition that valued architectural grandeur and spiritual seriousness.

His page is essential. Richter gives the Bach shelf a firm stone nave and a bright organ loft.