# Horowitz



## Sonata

As noted in my other thread, one of my piano teacher's favored pianists along with Van Cliburn and Gould. I need to direction on Gould! I know I need to simply dig into his Bach. But let's discuss Horowitz, and give me some recommendations of his best recordings


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## joen_cph

Among his piano concerto recordings, the *Tchaikovsky 1st Concerto* exists in many performances. The Toscanini RCA 1943 



 is often recommended, but IMO opinion the Szell 1952 or 1953 are better and they certainly have better sound 



 & 



 There´s also a Toscanini 1941 



 which I also prefer to the 1943, but the sound is poor. The Finale in particular is breathtaking. At around 29:35, it´s probably also the fastest ever.

The *Beethoven 5th Concerto* with Reiner on RCA is not among my favourites, 




The *Rachmaninov 3rd* also exists in many performances, that are quite different from each other; here I prefer the old Coates from 1930, unfortunately with poor sound 



 and the Reiner of the 50s, 



, rather than the stereo live 1978 Ormandy. The Ormandy was much repaired in the studio later on; a later re-issue consisted of the original performance, which had many wrong notes etc. from Horowitz.


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## PetrB

For me, past all the somewhat flamboyant displays (and somewhat 'questionable' taste, lol) of the Mendelssohn / Liszt / Horowitz renderings of the suite from 'Midsummer night's dream' or Horowitz's 'Stars and Stripes forever,' his consummate yet to be 'topped' playing of Scarlatti Sonatas might be his greatest legacy.


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## Ukko

PetrB said:


> For me, past all the somewhat flamboyant displays (and somewhat 'questionable' taste, lol) of the Mendelssohn / Liszt / Horowitz renderings of the suite from 'Midsummer night's dream' or Horowitz's 'Stars and Stripes forever,' his consummate yet to be 'topped' playing of Scarlatti Sonatas might be his greatest legacy.


That Scarlatti recording contains some interpretations so effective - and fresh - that they infuse the sonatas with new life in _others'_ playing of them.

Much of Horowitz's reputation was gained from his 'live' recitals; he could 'play to the audience' as well as anyone, and responded to audience 'feedback' with some extraordinary playing. This phenomenon resulted in a brisk trade in bootleg recordings among his admirers. Unfortunately, most of his public career ended before 'bootlegable' recorders possessed much in the way of fidelity (and some of the bootleggers were dismayingly incompetent). I have heard some really bad recordings from a Horowitzian friend's collection.

Horowitz's farewell world tour came near the end of his life, and near the end of his competence. Among those performances though, two given in Italy stand out as nights he was 'on his game'. The bootlegs of those are good enough to connect the listener to the occasion; worth the time if you have the opportunity to hear them.


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## ptr

I have a hard time to single out anything! Like Hill' I think his Scarlatti is lively and fun, love his Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Bach-Busoni, Mozart, Schumann not so much his Chopin or Beethoven, he is awesome in those arrangements (encores) he did to stun the audience, like the " The Stars and Stripes Forever" or Saint-Saëns "Danse Macabre"!

His album "Encores" is essential I believe!










/ptr


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## Guest

I love his recording of Barber's Sonata...no one has touched it for sheer intensity imo. This is excellent, too (not great sound,though.)


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## Andreas

I have this set:










All digital recordings from his later years, including live concerts from Moscow and Hamburg.

The fascinating thing about Horowitz, for me personally, is that he makes me enjoy parts of the piano repertoire that I'm generally not very fond of. Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov in particular. Mozart too.

I've heard some people call his style pompous and superficial. Perhaps. But it fits his repertoire wonderfully. I haven't heard him play any (original) Bach or Beethoven yet. Might be a different question altogether.


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## Ravndal

Download spotify, search up "Horowitz". Prepared to be amazed. Every recording he ever did, and 95% of them is really good.


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## KenOC

Andreas said:


> I haven't heard him play any (original) Bach or Beethoven yet. Might be a different question altogether.


Either Horowitz was not very "inspired" by Beethoven's works, or else they don't mesh nicely with his technique. Naturally he did the "big three" sonatas; nothing special but not bad. He also recorded the somewhat unusual Op. 101 and did a solid job -- but I don't think it's anybody's favorite recording of the work, or that a listener could easily tell it's Horowitz playing.

His Haydn sonatas, in his later recordings at least, are filtered through Chopin and have a magical effect IMO.


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## Vaneyes

Sonata said:


> ....But let's discuss Horowitz, and give me some recommendations of his best recordings


My Horowitz favorites--*D. Scarlatti* (RCA, Sony); *Clementi *(RCA, Sony); *Scriabin* (RCA, Sony).


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## moody

Andreas said:


> I have this set:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All digital recordings from his later years, including live concerts from Moscow and Hamburg.
> 
> The fascinating thing about Horowitz, for me personally, is that he makes me enjoy parts of the piano repertoire that I'm generally not very fond of. Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov in particular. Mozart too.
> 
> I've heard some people call his style pompous and superficial. Perhaps. But it fits his repertoire wonderfully. I haven't heard him play any (original) Bach or Beethoven yet. Might be a different question altogether.


I don't know who these "some people" could be but pompous is about the last thing you could say about Horowitz.


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## moody

The Horowitz/Toscanini


joen_cph said:


> Among his piano concerto recordings, the *Tchaikovsky 1st Concerto* exists in many performances. The Toscanini RCA 1943
> 
> 
> 
> is often recommended, but IMO opinion the Szell 1952 or 1953 are better and they certainly have better sound
> 
> 
> 
> &
> 
> 
> 
> There´s also a Toscanini 1941
> 
> 
> 
> which I also prefer to the 1943, but the sound is poor. The Finale in particular is breathtaking. At around 29:35, it´s probably also the fastest ever.
> 
> The *Beethoven 5th Concerto* with Reiner on RCA is not among my favourites,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The *Rachmaninov 3rd* also exists in many performances, that are quite different from each other; here I prefer the old Coates from 1930, unfortunately with poor sound
> 
> 
> 
> and the Reiner of the 50s,
> 
> 
> 
> , rather than the stereo live 1978 Ormandy. The Ormandy was much repaired in the studio later on; a later re-issue consisted of the original performance, which had many wrong notes etc. from Horowitz.


The Horowitz/Toscanini April 25th,Carnegie Hall War Bonds live recording is an extraordinary assault on the piano the likes of which I have never heard and never will hear again. Although in dreadful sound I cannot appreciate anyone elses version now.
I presume you mean the Horowitz/Szell "live" New York performance from 1952.
As for Horowitz and Beethoven,I think that his 1961 RCA "Appassionata" is quite extraordinary and really exciting.
The 1978 Rachmaninoff Third Concerto was made when the man was 75 years old, this must be taken into account and certainly the 1950's Reiner is the one to go for.
The sound of the earlier recordings is not important,either one wants to hear important history from the world of pianism or one does not.


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## seychelles

My faves are his recordings of Clementi, Czerny, Haydn, Scarlatti, Mozart and Beethoven (Sonata No. 7). His recordings of the
Chopin Fantasie-Polonaise, the Scriabin 10th Sonata and Liszt's Vallee d'Obermann are in a world of their own. The DVD that puts him in the best light is Horowitz in Vienna, made near the end of his life. It is happy, sane, well-played and shows his famous ability to connect with an audience.


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## joen_cph

There´s some confusion concerning *Horowitz/Szell/Tchaikovsky*, but apparently _Moody_ is right - that there is only one live recording.

This site http://www.vladimirhorowitz.info/ is probably the best for a complete discography and mentions a live from January 12th 1953 and no-one else. But some other releases say that their recording is from May 4th 1952 (Movimento Musica lp 01.008; 



, cf. subtitle information). Maybe it was a copyright trick or the like. This site says indeed that it´s the same recording http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/the_horowitz_experience/message/3800

The mentioned site http://www.vladimirhorowitz.info/ also mentions a recording with Coates from 1930, a live with Barbirolli 1940, a Walter from 1948, and a Steinberg from 1949.

To continue the list of concerto recordings, there are at least a couple of *Brahms 1st*. The Toscanini 1935 is the worst-sounding historical issue I´ve come across 



. But the Walter 1936 is electrifying with very fluent tempi ( 



 - not a very good you-tube sound transfer, if compared to my Radio Years CD, and a welcome change from the usually very heavy and slow approach in that work nowadays. Unfortunately a couple of minutes are missing from the middle of the 1st movement.

Concerning *Brahms 2nd Concerto*, there are several Toscanini´s from between 1939 and 1948. The most common RCA 1940 



 is the only one I know. Again, a feverish and very interesting performance, with a somewhat brutal sound. And a relatively fast and fluent approach, different from nowadays, as can also be heard in Rubinstein/Coates from the 1930s. The Manz/Mandeal recordings of the two concerti on the Arte-Nova label are one of the few modern recordings with an approach a bit similar to these as regards the tempi. I find it quite likely that they are closer to the tempi in Brahms´ own time.

From his later DG years, there´s the *Mozart Concerto 23* with Giulini, which has a lot of delicate details and an almost rococo-like charm


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## Guest

Sadly, I am just now getting around to exploring Horowitz' impressive body of work. I only have 2 albums in my collection.

Beethoven Sonatas - RCA - this is the recording of the Appasionatta and the Op. 10, No. 3. The approach to the Appasionatta was quite different than other recordings I have - in some ways more fiery. Don't know my feelings yet, need to hear it a few more times.

Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff - RCA - This is a collection of Rachmaninoff's works, including the Sonata No. 2 and the 3rd Piano Concerto, accompanied by Fritz Reiner and the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra. It was for the piano concerto that I bought this recording, as I had read this was one of the great recordings of this work. I've had only one go through thus far, and I enjoyed it. Still need to let it percolate a bit.

Any other recommendations for further exploring Horowitz?


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## Guest

This is a wonderful set of his live recordings.


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## WJM

joen_cph said:


> The *Rachmaninov 3rd* also exists in many performances, that are quite different from each other; here I prefer the old Coates from 1930, unfortunately with poor sound
> 
> 
> 
> and the Reiner of the 50s,
> 
> 
> 
> , rather than the stereo live 1978 Ormandy. The Ormandy was much repaired in the studio later on; a later re-issue consisted of the original performance, which had many wrong notes etc. from Horowitz.


Which edition is the original, unedited performance? I looked for different CD's of this recording on Amazon but haven't found any info about this.


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## joen_cph

I believe that I once read a review dealing with a CD release of the unedited Golden Jubilee Rach 3 with Ormandy. You are right though that some googling at least doesn´t give a result. There is a possibility that either I remember wrongly, or the reviewer I read misunderstood some information.

The Amazon reviewer from August 18, 2002 here http://www.amazon.com/Concerto-Minor-Sonata-Flat/dp/B00004TCPJ#customerReviews does mention though (as I read him), that the performance was edited afterwards by studio supplementing.

The Discogs dictionary agrees http://www.discogs.com/Rachmaninoff...hestra-Piano-Concerto-No-3-So/release/3324462

I´ll try to look more into this, in order to clear up the matter.


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## joen_cph

It might be of interest that a live version with the same forces & in the same year at Ann Arbor can be heard on you-t


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## joen_cph

Well, having done some further research, I haven´t come across an un-edited Golden Jubilee Rach 3. The reviews checked about the 40 cd box on top of this page don´t seem to mention that release as more "authentic" either.


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## Guest

joen_cph said:


> Well, having done some further research, I haven´t come across an un-edited Golden Jubilee Rach 3. The reviews checked about the 40 cd box on top of this page don´t seem to mention that release as more "authentic" either.


I don't think there is one. Apparently, parts of it were nearly a train wreck.


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## WJM

joen_cph said:


> I believe that I once read a review dealing with a CD release of the unedited Golden Jubilee Rach 3 with Ormandy. You are right though that some googling at least doesn´t give a result. There is a possibility that either I remember wrongly, or the reviewer I read misunderstood some information.


I think I also read this review (likely somewhere on Amazon, but not sure) but from what I remember this was a review of a different CD in which this supposed release was only mentioned. Probably the author was just mistaken.

I'm aware of the Ann Arbor recording. There's also one from Philadelphia, made the same year, also with Ormandy:






Not to mention his earlier recordings. 1951 with Reiner remains my favorite.


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## DavidA

The Rach 3 to have as a performance is the one with Barbirolli. Utterly phenomenal. Sadly the sound is awful!


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## Albert7

DavidA said:


> The Rach 3 to have as a performance is the one with Barbirolli. Utterly phenomenal. Sadly the sound is awful!


Which label is this recording on? I would love to check it out.


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## WJM

It's issued by APR, together with Tchaikovsky Concerto (also with Barbirolli, 1940).

http://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-R...418056766&sr=8-1&keywords=horowitz+barbirolli


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