Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Let's first say that Richter was one of my favorits so I would not talk bad about him and yes people buy things without trying first. In his video (biography) his tells it like this. In a Prokovief sonate (the one starting with the G).
He went on stage, sits down with his head back (typical) and waited long, like 30 seconds full concentration. As long as needed to create confusion in the public, people start talking silent, asking, somethings wrong .....and then....out of nowhere....the G..... I would be chocked to !
That's for me "show-man". English is not my language,.so forgive me my words.
As a was telling i used to sell Steinway pianos. We sold a lot of them (like 35 pieces a year) to people that couldn't play. Perhaps 40 % was pianist. The rest were organizations, concerthall's, people with big money, etc...