Horowitz was a GENIUS. You can't categorize a genius by "he's better, he's worse" and all that. He was Horowitz,nobody every played like him, and never will, like him, or not. I put him over many others, despite some flaws, because nobody has ever interpreted music like him.
Horowitz is one of the few players who emphasizes the D at 1:07 to prepare the dissonance between the D and Eb at 1:09. This is one of the most sublime parts of the entire piece. Many other pianists who do a great job playing this piece miss this detail, which can make it kinda sound like they're sounding from the same voice. When played on the organ the dissonance is a lot more clear and you can understand more fully Bach's idea here.
This performance grips my soul. It is so very beautiful, made even more beautiful by the honesty and humility of Horowitz. I never met him, but how I miss him!
Busoni intended his transcriptions to make Bach's works better known to the public but the result is that most people know ONLY the transcriptions. All those who admire this piece should listen to the complete "18", one of the supreme masterpieces of all music (and then to the rest of the organ works and then to the rest of Bach).
The slow tempo, the liberty in tone, colors, embellishments and articulation, the incredible rendition of the polyphonic lines... these are the qualities of a genius.. actually three geniuses are at work here, Bach, Busoni, and Horowitz... This is to me the true representation of the sense of great expectation for the Advent of Our Saviour...this really is for good-will people... thank you for posting this video (look at his fingering and posture, please!!)
Some say God is IN everyone. When I was 20, I got to play my first Bach cantata in a church in St. Louis with the choir of St. Louis University. In that wonderful cathedral, and this choir of college kids, I felt like they were angels singing as I accompanied them, heard the lofty soloists sing. They might have been playing Super Mario 20 minutes later at the break, but for that moment they were transformed. Perhaps I am the most poetic of observers, and I often feel the Divine in music.
What's not in this performance?! Beautiful singing tone and phrasing, endless colours, superb voicing, expression written in capitals. No mister Howowitz, you didn't compose it, but you did create something eternal.
Another aspect of this recording is the feeling of relaxation I see in him, and that I feel in me. The piece is unhurried. It is like a lullaby. After listening to it perhaps 20 or 30 times, I still find it refreshing. It is the mark of great artisty (and great empathy from a listener) to be able to enjoy something so often and walk away with the same joy. I find this quality in most pieces of JS Bach when they are played well and with heart. Amen.
@@beatlessteve1010 Amen. Recently someone quoted Yo Yo Ma saying "Perfection is not very communicative." I don't know exactly what he meant. Howver I too have experienced someone playing with such CD quality presentation that it did not inspire me. How can you say to such a performer, "That was too perfect?" (Rhetorical question there.)
i admire him in this piece for his flexibility of rhythm He takes time to make the phrases. It's also a very interesting video to watch because it gradually focuses on what he is doing with his hands. I simply don't get to see pianists at work this clearly. This music is complex. The independent melody lines weaving in and out you can follow in his fingers. One of the early commenters here said it was great to see someone just play. There's no show-off body mannerisms.
Es una de las mejores interpretaciones de esta enorme pieza musical, coral de Bach con arreglos de Bussoni, es impresionante ver a Horowitz ya en el final de su vida dejando en el piano toda la maravillosa plenitud de su arte una joya para el devenir de los tiempos.Gracias maestro para toda la eternidad.
How Horowitz enriches my life, even after his death! To thrill at his pyrotechnics that cause others to give up on the piano! Then this! Reaching into my soul! Thanks to RU-vid and thank you brianting for this gift and blessing!
I feel with the "I didn't compose it" he indicated that even with all his talent and skill he said "Bach was a much greater musician then myself" in a very humble way.
"..it was very beautiful, very beautiful..." Horrowitz: " But I didn't compose it.... " In this line he shows his sadness. His dream was to become a composer afterall. I bet he is composing in the life after ;)
Quel dì HaSchem lo illuminò e gli mandò un angelo a guidar le sue vecchie mani affinchè noi tutti potessimo gioir di cotanta sublime bellezza e umiltà . Grazie Vladimir
His playing is so transparent watching his hands that you can almost see his thoughts. At 2:09, and it happens only once, he realizes his left thumb isn't where it needs to be in the next microsecond and he immediately corrects it. If you were just listening or blinked at that moment, you'd miss it. When something is so close to perfect, little things like this become notable .... like a birthmark ... and in his case makes us remember he is human as well as god-like in this moment of art.
I don't think that's a correction, actually! It looks to me like his left hand is slow-marching down those bass octaves, and then he jumps his thumb over to help his right hand get that A in the lower-middle voice while his right hand is tied up with the C at the top. *Amazingly* smooth and sensitive playing.
@@BrassicaRappa Hah! Now that you mention it, yes he looks like he *is* striking a note there and then going back to the bass side! It happens so quickly and confidently I didn't see it before. To twist Clairol's hair dye slogan, "Only Busoni knows for sure!" I'm a violinist myself. When I see another instrument played so artistically, I am awed. Non-sequitur....... Composer Anton Bruckner was a very shy person. He was at a dress rehearsal for a premiere of one of his new symphonies. The conductor stopped at one point and turned around to him seated in the audience area and says, "Herr Bruckner, should this note be a G# or a G natural?" Bruckner, being his diffident self, says, "M-m-m-m-Maestro...what do think?"
There a childish delight in Horowitz’s smile 4:52 that reveals his inner joy of accomplishment, of a job well done. The old man is moved and he moves us all.
'Do weep for me, I go to where music is born'. J. S. Bach 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning'. James 1:17
This piece is taken from a collection of 18 chorales called (not by Bach) "18 chorales of various kinds" or "The Leipzig Chorales" or simply "The 18". This collection could be considered to be the summit of Bach's organ works if only there weren't so many other candidates for this title ...
1:40 is the best moment. I just read your comment now after discovering this upload a few months ago and listened to it many times. I am a violinist myself, and if I can always muster the interpretive power that Horowitz demonstrates in this piece, that is my highest hope in music.
My understanding is that towards the end of his life, he had some regrets about spending all his time focused on his performance career and didn't explore composition more. So there may be an extra layer there.
@@BrassicaRappa Don't think so. He had a very heightened sense of quality (he even criticized some pieces by Chopin), so he undoubtedly was aware of his own shortcomings as a composer. Repeatedly he disqualified his early compositions as old-fashioned (he said it in German: altmodisch).
absolutely beautiful interpretation i love how soft and delicate he plays it without losing the tempo, the phrasing is perfect and the ending bars are heavenly played!
El piano bajo las manos del Maestro Horowitz cobra vida y se convierte en un manantial de sensaciones sonoras capaz de tocar la sensibilidad en su expresion mas profunda. Horowitz no era un pianista mas, fue uno de los genios de la interpretacion del siglo 20, un monstruo un genio un talento completo
This is unmatchable. I would be happy to go to my grave with this video being played. The lifetime of experience and sensitivity that he conveys, with the most utter control of the keyboard sound - in his mid 80s - it's just incredible.
There is so much sadness in this piece expressed not only by the author but also the performer. It's almost as if Horowitz' life would gone by note by note as he was playing. I wonder, what went through his mind? His modest smile at the end was followed by a puzzling comment, is there a regret in "just" performing? I guess we will never know...
Was so moved when I first heard this at Carnegie Hall when the film premiered. Then listened to the record and watched students emulate Horowitz. After reading all the comments, comparing to others on piano and organ; Horowitz is still to me astonishing. Different from the original Bach but true to the spirit of Busoni - new colors, dancing around a central pulse.
I made a playlist with only this piece of music in it so every time I am writing a poem I can listen to my life being told by the sounds coming out of that piano.
Horowitz and Bach...a good match. Vladimir seems to be capable of expressing and impressing without really touching the keys. Kinda floating over them instead. Bach always seems to be capable of writing incredibly expressive pieces of music while using half or even less the number of notes others would need to achieve a similar result. Join the virtuoso composer and the maestro performer and you get this kind of subtle performance. Excellent.
oh man... for me he is one of the best pianist i've heard in my life...the tecnhician.... you know a very dificult thing... he make it in a very simple thing... it is fantastic... but tell me who is your favorite pianists...
Bring tears to my eyes. In this chaotic time this is a reminder for me there is beauty exists above all this craziness and at the end of the day this is what we live for...
Ferruccio Busoni, was a great pianist who composed some very good works, but made some astoudingly beautiful transcriptions of pieces especially Bach's works.
Rarely, you hear something as deep, sublime and beautiful as this ... I'll never get tired of listening to it ... I bet this is the kind of music you hear in heaven ... Bravo Maestro Bach, Bravo Maestro Horowitz and thank you Maestro Busoni! ...
