VLADIMIR HOROWITZ

[PaulNaud]

  " To be able to produce many varieties of sound, now that is what I call technique. I don't adhere to any methods because I simply don't believe in them." Vladimir Horowitz

[vladhorwz]

Yes I did say that

[BoliverAllmon]

priceless

[arensky]

true

[m]

I don't adhere to any methods because I simply don't believe in them." Vladimir Hrowitz

Somebody like Vladimir Horowitz, could afford to say this. Such people don't need to believe in methods, they create them.

To be able to produce many varieties of sound, now that is what I call technique.

Nothing new. Chopin and Liszt were saying the same.

[zheer]

We learn the system and then we watch the masters smash it. ( ie Horowitz )

[demented cow]

  " To be able to produce many varieties of sound, now that is what I call technique. I don't adhere to any methods because I simply don't believe in them." Vladimir Hrowitz

This is a typical instance of a famous person trying to sound profound in public whilst only telling half the truth. Of course, nobody denies that technique involves control over sound (dynamic shading, touch effects etc.), not just speed. If you asked any professional pianist in public what they thought technique is, they're hardly going to say 'It's about being able to play fast'. They will either not mention speed (as Vlad did here) or will make comments downplaying its importance (many examples could be cited, say by Liszt, Godowsky, Hoffman). One reason for these responses of this type might be that the artist making the comment genuinely believes that speed is only one small part of keyboard mastery, but there's another reason why ANYONE with half a brain, even the most superficial show pianist, would downplay speed: because otherwise they'd be committing professional suicide due to the old myth that pianists who often play fast do so solely in order to impress audiences.
Horowitz' second sentence makes about as much sense as something like 'The sentence I am now writing is not true'.  He had a method (i.e. he had a way of playing the piano), it's just that he probably didn't get it from anybody else and, being such a genius, he may not have had to put much conscious thought into how to achieve the sounds and tempos he wanted to achieve.