SCHUBERT - Impromptu n°3 (Horowitz) 

He was 85 years old at that time.

Horowitz was 84 years old when he performed this beautiful piece in Vienna. It's a lesson for those who, nowadays, think that a person over 50 or 60 can't do anything else.

My grandfather died today. This is my favorite piece and I am listening to it to say goodbye to my favourite person.

Nobody plays today as Horowitz played. His sense of touch and expression are unequaled. Horowitz made every piece his own. Just magnificent. Enough said.

I find it _so_ ironic that the most calm and emotionless looking pianist is actually playing with the _most_ emotion and love put into the piece...Like...how??

Somewhere, Schubert is smiling.

I love how he appears to be doing almost nothing, like a bank manager behind a desk checking an application for a mortgage. And yet the sounds coming out of the piano are utterly astonishing.

He never made mistakes. The piano just didn’t understand him. We are so lucky to have these recordings. Thank you Mr Horowitz for improving the world for as long as these recordings survive.❤

After his death, his famous Steinway toured alone to be shown and played in Steinway shops. I had the privilege to get a 20 min slot when the piano was in Frankfurt, Germany, and was very uncomfortable with the extremely soft keys which had been custom made for the artist. Almost impossible for me to play it being used to the standard weight of Steinway keyboards. This however explains why he could play so delicately with this extravant technique: his long fingers resting almost flat on the keys. Very special.

PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE LEARNING THIS PIECE: I posted another comment asking about what he does on 0:24, since he strays from the sheet music and adds his personal bit of “dissonance” very nicely. I spoke with my teacher and we came to the conclusion that it is F natural and D natural in the left hand and B flat, D natural, A flat, and the top B flat on the right hand. Enjoy! (Please like so that people learning this piece will see this comment)

I personally love how curious Horowitz looks while playing the piano. He observes and seems pleased with the delicate sound that is produced when his finger touches a note. It is so precise and so intentionally on every note and every pause. No one plays the piano like Horowitz. An icon of classical music.

This performance is just breathtaking. His pianissimos are absolutely exquisite. It feels incredibly personal, almost as if from a lifetime dedicated to music, it has become such a part of him that he's offering us himself through this piece. One of the most touchingly beautiful things I've ever heard.

Horowitz's hands are extraordinary. When so many modern performers' fingers leap and dance over the keys, he seems to be picking up the music that's already there. What a still place he is in.

He doesn’t seem like playing the piano, seems like he’s just petting it and the piano speaks by itself as if a cat purrs when it is petted. Only if my first language were English, i would be able to describe this better😢 (And thanks to twoset&sophie for introducing this wonderful piece!)

If this recording isn’t played at my funeral I’m not going

The best performance of this piece ever, and one of the greatest piano performances of all time

thank you sophie oui oui for showing me this! like snowflakes dancing on the wind

Had the privilege and immense satisfaction of hearing this genius live twice. Once in Severance Hall (Cleveland) for a return after many years of silence. The recital lasted almost 4 hours: encores, encores, encores. The public was wild, people were crying with joy when he appeared and with sadness when he signalled 'enough'. One of the most memorable moment of my life.

Exquisite 🕊️ In an interview once, Mike Wallace asked him, "Maestro, what is it that makes your playing so special?" Horowitz replied, "I love every single note."

il caresse les touches avec tant de tendresse! Un maître inégalé.

Came from TwoSet's video. What a masterpiece. The melody is like an endless river, full of emotion.

whenever i listen to this play, i feel like i'm at the last chapter of my life, silently remembering past days with a slight sense of nostalgia, but without longing for going back. it's lonely but not sad. peaceful, meditative, and simply beautiful.

This is my favorite performance of Horowitz. Whenever I listen to his performance of Schubert, I feel very comforted. A ray of light in a painful life. Thanks to his performance, I continue to live my life.

Little did the audience realize they were about to witness the finest performance of controlled emotion on the piano realized by any artist or composer ever. A lucky bunch to have the opportunity to have a first row seat to what has to be the most touching piece and performance I’ve ever heard. Bravo Mr. Horowitz. Bravo

This is why people would camp out overnight, in the rain, to buy a ticket to a Horowitz concert.

Three people I have met, whom I will never forget: Vladimir Horowitz after a concert at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, c. mid 70's. I forgot the other two.

I am in tears hearing him play so heavenly and intens beautiful. Never heard shubert like this. Wish I had seen Horowitz live! Love his playing!

My mother played this - very beautiful - and close to this. She was very musical and very sensitive. It sounded like this - more or less. She´d be flattered, if she knew, I was saying this. She said her goodbye on January 6th in 2006.

This is absolutely ethereal.

It’s like he and the piano are reminiscing of times long past. He merely rests his hands on an old friend and they talk, like a final farewell. Peaceful, beautiful.

Classical music never goes out of style. It's an important part of our cultural heritage, always appreciated and celebrated.

What I love about Horowitz is that he gently, charms music out of the piano as if it is Aladdins lamp, without contorting like a snake charmer or pulling faces like clown. He is concentrating on the music and is not trying to convince his audience, with weird mannerisms, of his genius.

To me this is the best interpretation of this piece. Much slower but with perfect sound control.

魂の声を、そのまま鍵盤に映しとったような音の数々。どんなに時代が変わろうとも、人の心を動かす稀代の名演奏だと思う。

Это чудо.Такое проникновенное исполнение гениальной музыки.Вечная память Шуберту и Великому Пианисту.

Oh, God, what a soulful performance of Schubert, as if music is born from nothingness and takes possession of the soul, filling it with bright joy and the dream of bliss.

この演奏で私はいつも胸がいっぱいになる どんな言葉よりも私の心を揺さぶり慰めてくれる ホロヴィッツとピアノに深く感謝します

Horowitz just understands this piece best. It has such a calm and sad melody, it sounds like a profound story someone tells.

Just listened again and clearly discern that no one else captures Schubert's piece nearly as well as Horowitz. This performance is brilliant and perfection beyond words. We are very fortunate that we have this to enjoy forever now that Horowitz is gone. Guy in Columbia Mississippi

Minimum. That's how I would characterize that performance. He does not scream, he does, in fact, through the language of depth. He is not silent either. No mimics, no shaking of the head with hair sufficiently long for shallow drama, no desire to be necessarily liked. That happens when passion survives ego. And again, that happens to only a few. Horowitz's play is not an interpretation, he is, at that point, beyond the highest level of interpretation. His play is his own ode to what Schubert felt when he wrote the piece.

A student admirer said to Horowitz, ' I'd give my life to play like you'. Horowitz replied 'I did'.

One of the most beautiful pieces of Schubert which brings me to tears sometimes. A feeling of total surrender, deep peace and no movement, everything is forgiven, you may be exactly who you are, and where you are. A total release of all need to struggle on the level of the soul.

brings me back to when my grandfather used to play this in his study. Brings up such powerful emotions.

He seems to be playing this in heaven, and somehow communicating it to our earthly ears.

I Imagine Schubert ringing the church bell to cherish this outstanding performance of this humble man ...

I am in tears thinking of poor Schubert putting his heart and soul into this music, knowing well his life was nearing the end because of disease. It's much like listening "Im Abendrot" sung by Hans Hotter. All lives have their own end in different ways.

SCHUBERT...veličanstven i nenadmašan u svemu!!!🌏🕊️🌞✨🦜🌻

Un immense merci à Schubert comme à Horowitz de nous faire entendre une musique si magnifiquement douce et raffinée! Notre monde en a tellement besoin...

I feel like without all the expressions and dramatic faces other pianists pull, this performance is showing us pure, raw emotion through a lifetime of dedication to music, no showbiz, no clown faces, just him and his piano making beautiful music together

This piece means a lot to me Can't stop weeping tears every time hearing it and thinking about how short Schubert's life is :"(

Le contrôle absolu de son Art: une précision millimétrique derrière une apparente simplicité, la beauté et l'émotion délivrées en cadeau.

I only had the good fortune to hear Horowitz in concert twice. The first time was his last appearance in the Los Angeles area at the Hollywood Bowl before his first retirement. The second time was his first appearance in the Los Angeles area at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena after coming out of retirement about twenty years later. So I actually attended two of his concerts back to back, but twenty years apart. He was wonderful!

This is pure magic...brings tears every time I hear it...

From my perspective, this is the best rendition ever of this beautiful piece of music ... tender ... and heartfelt.

I'm a non-musician person and don't have enough knowledge about it but I came here because I watched twosets' video and I don't understand why this struck me the most.. it sure is interesting how his hands are just resting on the keys cause some people I saw, express it through their faces, body, and their hands by moving but everything in this piece is so good and this makes me cry.. everything about it.. it touched every part of my soul.

Horowitz literally plays as if he were in love with the piano. Maybe he was, it is absolutely perfect. The new generation, like Anastasia Huppmann and Lang Lang, are brilliant. Their technique is astonishing. Yet, they still cannot best pianists like Rubinstein and Horowitz. Not yet. They are virtuoso players and a joy to listen to. Good, even brilliant as they are, they still have to learn the quiet reflection that so enriched the performances of the old masters.

Schubert is sublime in many pianists hands but here Horowitz is unique with his very own unsophistcated interpretative skill which nobody can criticise. The fingering, the beauty of sound in the most pianissimo parts sends a shiver down the spine, Rubinstein was my idol for years, but the more I hear Horowitz the less I listen to Rubinstein, I love both but..........

Words fail me to express the beauty of this performance!!!!

Sublime Horowitz ancora una volta ai massimi livelli.

this man has an amazing amount of love in his heart

Раньше думал, что играть Шуберта должны такие же молодые, как и автор. Для трогательного романтического подхода. Горовиц же смог не только передать романтический настрой, но и показать ту мудрую глубину, которая заложена в произведениях юного гения! Спасибо!

Nach Jahren wieder zufällig drauf gestoßen. Mir kommen die Tränen 😢❤

Sublime. Nothing more need be said

In my opinion, this is just the best interpretation of this masterpiece. I've seen them all, but Horowitz... I dunno if it's only the "sound" or the fact that he doesn't need to swing around to produce such an effect. I did try to listen to other interpretation eyes closed, but in reality this one for my tastes is just gold rain coming from heaven, and i cry every time I listen it. Rest in peace.

Without hesitation the best interpretation.

Horowitz said music consists of three elements in balance: Head, Heart, and Hand, but it is rarely achieved. He did so here. Thanks.

sublime interprétation de M. Horowitz qui nous transporte dans un si bel univers musical -merci beaucoup ❣

The most amazing part of this recording are the bells that begin to play outside at 2:20. Simply sublime. They could not help but play with him. This is why Horowitz is the master. He inspires the music that is inside of everyone to come alive with his playing. Bravo, forever Maestro.

This song gives me comfort and solace ,and heals my tired mind and sorrow , and melts away my suffering and grief .

Es ist so, als könne es kaum eine andere Möglichkeit der Interpretation geben. Fantastisch.

I was a member of the National Fraternity of Student Musicians as a child, and auditioned under the great Horowitz, (probably about age 8 or 9, (I don't remember the date without looking it up) but I was too young to understand what a great privilege it was until much later in my life. I still have the scorecard signed by him in my collection of various treasures. My parents took us to various concerts by the great performers of the time. Young, I'd often get a bit antsy but was rapt during the ballets! Later, as a young adult, I performed with orchestras both with the flute and guest artist on the piano. Later I performed as a singer and entertainer in nightclubs playing the usual standards, which I learned by ear. Now, I'm back to enjoying these great famous classical numbers again.

Softly played at times, gentle, and emotionally strong at other times: Horowitz is very sensitive in his heart.

Total control over the dynamics, phrasing, rubato, technique, pedaling, everything that makes great music. It's breathtaking!

Можно ли словами выразить наслаждение от услышанного!!! Такого пианиста природа повторить не в состоянии. Услышав, поверишь в божественность миросоздания.

Horowitz acaricia las teclas, no las pulsa. Sublime.

From Horowitz's wikipedia page - Horowitz's hand position was unusual in that the palm was often below the level of the key surface. He frequently played chords with straight fingers, and the little finger of his right hand was often curled up until it needed to play a note; to Harold C. Schonberg, "it was like a strike of a cobra."[1] For all the excitement of his playing, Horowitz rarely raised his hands higher than the piano's fallboard. His body was immobile, and his face seldom reflected anything other than intense concentration.

There is a microscopic delay before the third beat of the second bar that wraps the performance firmly around my attention and doesn't let go until the piece is at an end. Beyond mastery!

Listening to Horowitz in bed in our apartment at the Geezer Storage Facility near the Atlantic Ocean my eyes wspring eternal. Humans are wonderful creatures, at times. I love Earth, too. So some people don't/ Such is life.

This is pure beauty ❤

Quel maître! Je suis toujours impressionné par le positionnement de ses mains et forcément la force développée par ses doigts pour obtenir un rendu aussi sublime.

I Heard every version of this impromptu and this is my favorite at all!! No rush, calm and deep and meditational feeling! I’m sure schubert should be agree with me. All the interpreting over the world make of this piece a running champion of who is more fast but no! This is the right tempo for this impromptu! Noting more, nothing less! Thanks Horowitz 🙏 so deeper! So intense! What a beautiful soul!

I've been listening to this amazing performance so many times, that I'm actually missing the 'church bells' (around 2.20) when I listen to a different one 😅. For me this video is one of RU-vid's gems...

Beautiful Nick Avocado sent me here and it's amazingly beautiful ❤️

this is my great great uncle

When Horowitz plays, time, space and matter is inexistent and everything is neutralized by so much sincerity and simplicity. God bless his soul.

Water weight sent me here.. Thanks Niko! Beautiful music 🎶

The piece was composed a year before the death. Schubert suffered from incurable illness and his body and soul ached all the time. Despite this the masterpiece came out life-affirming. Wolodimir played it perfectly well

I like how he plays music. It's like the music is just playing out of the piano. I don't actually know how to put it, but he plays so smoothly. And the fact that he can play without much movement makes it even better because it's like we could only focus on the piece.

A masterpiece playing a masterpiece on a masterpiece. As GOOD as it gets..

This is an amazing performance. I've listened to it 1000 times, it never ceases to amaze me!

The first 10 seconds listening to this my teardrops are just flowing. This was so beautiful. Horowitz has no equal.

O, Боже, какое одухотворенное исполнение Шуберта, словно музыка рождается из небытия и овладевает душой, наполняя ее светлой радостью и мечтой блаженства.

This was very gentle, like the wind brushing against the skin. It felt like waking up in my mom's arms with the sun peeking through the blinds and the dust in the air is visible, floating around in the air.

Breathtaking interpretation

Two years before dying...it's like a miracle.

This is my first, maybe also my last comment on youtube. Normally I feel like comments dont make sense. However, I just wanna say: Life is beautiful. Happiness is only real when shared. This old man knew that. Thank You

I love his minimal movement - nothing extraneous.

Sweet mother of god this is phenomenal

경건한마음으로 삶을되돌아보게하네요 워낙좋아하는곡이기도하지만 연로한 호로비츠가 연주하는걸보며 나도모르게 많은눈물을흘렸습니다 종소리마저 성스럽습니다.

This piece is truly from the heaven.