Look at the target bows that were popular from 1963 to 1968. Lots of riser mass in those bows. High mass risers stayed popular with the phenolic and magnesium takedowns too that were popular in the late '60's on. Folks wanted stability since they were shooting almost twice the distance we typically do now during 3-D events for most archery events. A heavy riser does make a stable shooting platform.
Regarding a recurve bow, I like something "in between" now, and my favorite bow is an old '60 K Special, which has good riser mass with stability but not a crazy riser weight like the '63 Tamerlane I bought new and used long ago for target shooting. Pretty (the Tamerlane) but not practical, so I will never shoot this type of bow again. Don't have experience with the lighter new custom bows, but I would suspect they can have good riser weight if that was ask of the bowyer prior to construction, using some of the heavy woods available now.