I am sadden to learn of your passing. Thank you for the restoration of this recital, as with many other wonders you have brought to the Classical community. May you find yourself in peace, Joe.
I really like this. What he does to a piano is exhilarating. Anyone who tries to write this down as sheet music misses the entire point.Im flabbergasted.
NOT trying to toot my own horns as a nobody...but i used to play this all my playing life..and i think this IS the most amazing B minor i have ever heard...sure...it is not "note perfect" ..more than academnic "correctness" that i feel has crept far too much even among the "superstars" since his time .....his playing makes one feel as if the music ..or LISZT himself just discovered the harmonies...everything ...every detail and turn of phrse is a "NEW DOOR" OR curtain of wonder...terror.....riches upon riches ...but the great man brings out of it the breadth and scope as well as transcendent expression that NO ONE i ever heard...even among the very greatest ;egends have brought...THANK YOU for uploading it..and THANK YOU to the great horowitz for showing what LISZT must have wanted
Faure's Nocturne B-minor is ... sublime. When I listen to a piece for the fist time played by Horowitz, it always comes to me how great he was as a pianist.
Thank you! I was there with my father who somehow managed to get tickets even though the concert was sold out.I can’t believe this recording exists! Thank you!!!!!
@@steveegallo3384 I do not know who you think I am, but certainly not anybody Horowitz knew. Fool indeed! He spoke highly of Rachmaninoff, Cortot (idiot), Gieseking, and Richter.
HOROWITZ is the ONLY pianist...and that includes the TRUE great ones that had been recorded...that plays THIS work like an OPERA...a WAGNERIAN music drama...not as a PIANISTIC display ...of "pretty tones' or "loud playing" that often lack the VOLCANIC quality of a HUGE wagnerian orchestra....it shows WHY LISZT sonata should really NEVER be displayed by mere "FAST AND LOUD" players...but players that approach it the way Horowitz did...or does riight in this version...the piano in fact should be made to sound as if it s going to BREAK from the POWER of the MUSIC itself...AND also phrases like a high soprano..or a baritone..or heldentenor...or the orchestra bringing majesty or terror in a wagner music drama.....there are phrses where LISZT created harmonies...that LATER ...HIS SON-IN-LAW...Richard Wagner..in TRISTAN ISOLDE ...told his father in law...:"this is YOUR invention" ...the famous TRISTAN chord...which moved the old man so much...this indicates LISZT ...more than anything was composing in certain "moods" LIKE A MUSIC DRAMA played on the "piano"...not just ""orchestrally" but vocally...and "speaking" ...with something like that...a PIANIST can not be LIMITED in the constraints of ""nice piano playing" ....the way most do...
hisrachmaninoff....shows WHY Rachmaninoff HIMSELF..(who also recorded moments musicauxs) said of vladimir.s Rach 3 "HE SWALLOWED IT WHOLE" ....in admiration..
What you say is exaggerated, Horowitz was not the best pianist, the best was by far, the great Goergi Cziffra. Horowitz was MUSICALLY DEAF, in addition to being a bad person.
Grigory Sokolov is the Giant of Piano! The Titan of Piano! Sokolov much better than Sultanov! Sultanov only crown Prince! More beautiful colorful piano sound than Horowitz=Wilhelm Kempff Radu Lupu Artur Rubinstein Emil Gilels Vladimir Ashkenazy! More powerful louder than Horowitz=Mikhail Pletnev(Prokofiev piano concerto no 1 by Pletnev!!) The Second Loudest was Lazar Berman! More Genius than Horowitz=Sviatoslav Richter Solomon Cutner Grigory Sokolov!!
I agree with most of what you said, but I don't think it's obvious that he didn't practice enough. You may be right, but at 75, it may be that to play like the Horowitz of his prime was simply not possible. Compare this performance of the Lizst Sonata to his 1932 recording and your parody statement becomes clear. There are certainly some beautiful moments in this performance, but much of it is crazy loud, crazy fast and very inaccurate. For me, some of it is really tasteless, unlike that astonishing 1932 recording. But here, being the genius he was, the last page is magical. I want to mention that I played his piano, used in this recital, the year after Horowitz died. The piano by that time was owned by Steinway (he had been recording in his apartment in his last years and Steinway gave him another D that was more suitable for his living room and took back the original D that he plays here). Franz Mohr, the chief concert technician for Steinway and Horowitz's technician was touring with the piano and came to Boston, where I played it at Steinert's. I have never played a piano with a lighter action. It was almost like playing an accordion. And the voicing! It sounded like the hammers were metal. Things that would tire me on my own piano were not a problem on the Horowitz piano, because the action was so light. And that muscular sound Horowitz makes in the bass? I made the same sound. It was the piano. But controlling the dynamics was a big problem for me, because of the combination of the unusual action and voicing. How he did what he did dynamically with that piano was and is astonishing. I had an interesting conversation with Mr. Mohr after I played the piano. He talked about the piano's setup, which he hated, but Horowitz insisted upon. Franz was a very charming man, and had prepared pianos for some of the greats besides Horowitz, including Rubinstein, Gould and Pollini. When we parted, he gave me his card. 8years later, my mother died, and I inherited the Mason and Hamlin BB my parents had bought for me when I was a child. I contacted Franz and arranged for him to meet me at my parents' apartment in Manhattan to evaluate the piano, which was in bad shape -- split pin block. We spent several hours together and he recommended sending the piano to his son, Peter, who had a rebuilding shop in Manchester, NH. I did, and Peter did a fantastic job on the piano. Franz made a special trip up there to assist with the rebuilding and signed one of the keys. The piano remains in my living room and I still practice (almost) every day at 82. Unfortunately, both Franz and Peter are now no longer with us. Franz's book is worth reading.
@@donaldallen1771 Thank you for your interesting comments. I am a professional pianist (look up "Eat Your Heart Out, Martha" on YT), there is no doubt in my mind that VSH did not practice enough at that point in his life. I can tell this from his playing as easily as I could tell it from the playing of any of my students. His piano was easy to play, I too played it, and that's how pianos should be prepped. I demand the same from my piano tech. And, interestingly, M&H is my piano.
