Feinberg and Liszt on the Horowitz Steinway

[furtwaengler]

Dear pianostreet,

I'm sorry for my absence! I've had a break from the piano these past couple months, and am so thrilled to be back! I turned 30 last Saturday, and finally tonight was my party with a couple close friends taking me to Carraba's and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. The real gift was getting to play on Horowitz's Steinway.

FLAC here:
https://www.mediafire.com/?bbibjwi1db2pbmx

mp3's below.

Yes, the famous Steinway Vladimir Horowitz used through his career. I still have a nervous, giddy excitement as I type. What a history this piano has had! I love that even the 1932 recording of the Liszt Sonata was played on this instrument. It is a worthy artifact I'm so grateful they've continued to preserve. I wonder just how many people have laid their hands on it now? It's latest tour made it to the Nashville Steinway Gallery this week, and I think anybody could sign up for a 15 minute slot. I thought I might get some extra time by signing up for the last slot of the day and showing up early, which worked out well for me. I only wish I had arrived even sooner, for it seemed not much was happening. I think I've actually been able to play a truly great piano only a few times in my life, and it's amazing how much more is possible on a great instrument.

I signed up for this slot not knowing what I would play, for I've spent a summer away. I originally thought of playing some Medtner and roaring through the Schubert-Liszt Erlking which I poked around a couple of years ago when I had to play the real Erlking accompaniment with a trumpet player (all in all, one physically exhausting recital). It turns out I love Feinberg enough to risk all my time on reading through the 10th Sonata. Nobody writes like Feinberg; I have no doubt he was an out right genius. The type of picture I'm presenting of the piece is like that of a first performance where the artist is given minimal time to prepare (I did most of the work on it yesterday when I decided to shoot for the moon! I am familiar with the motions, having played around with it several times in the last couple years; I'm really not such a machine). There's a certain reality to this in the history of music, and it has fascinated me in situations I've been involved with just how well a piece communicates in spite of many flaws...even how the power of that moment in time erases the whole notion of flaws (WERE IT NOT FOR RECORDINGS!). I know this *is* a recording (thanks to my Zoom H2...I'm glad I bought it), and I know this *is not* a premier of the Feinberg 10th Sonata - I have two very different recordings of it in my collection - but still, to me it has that feeling of newness to myself, as if it's also new to the world. Perhaps also you have never heard the piece? Well, this is a like a first reading of it to give you just a glimpse of it's greatness, it's epic scope. I do regret the loss of line, loss of power, and other mistakes surrounding the page turns, but for a true, one off performance on a world famous instrument I've never played, I'm shocked at how well it turned out!

(Just traded out Feinberg files. Same performance, just cleared out something that was bothering me. Originally 7 downloads MP3, 5 downloads FLAC)

[furtwaengler]

The Liszt Sonata is not by any means new to the world, and this snippet is actually quite confusing, because I was doing things I would never do except that I was playing on Horowitz's D (the wacky bass octaves, some disorienting, some of which even Horowitz would not do). The opening also stems from just an idea on a whim, and actually it works a lot better on the recording than it did on the stage. But it is a snippet on the Horowitz Steinway, and I am glad I "got it in." I know if I play this, I need focus on those octaves...not so much the missed notes as the missed power.

Hey, ENJOY!

Dave

[prongated]

...my God...barely 30 seconds of Liszt and even on this crappy laptop mic, the difference in the way the sound "rings" is already clear. I can only imagine how it sings in real life! This is one special instrument...

[rachfan]

Hi Dave,

Wow!  That must have been a real kick playing Horowitz's Steinway D!  It sounded like it was in fine voice too.  I imagine that the Steinway dealers are keeping the piano right up to snuff as it tours.  And you were certainly up to the task too.  The Liszt snippet sounded very good.  The Feinberg was a real epic and you did a fantastic job performing this difficult work.  I didn't even notice the page turns, just your wonderful playing.  That Feinberg was a genius I have no doubt.  Marik is a big fan of his too.  But I'm still trying to acclimate to his composing idiom which is very diatonic and modern sounding, even a bit jarring at times.  I think I should probably listen more to his earlier works (this Sonata No. 10 is considerably later).  It's like Scriabin--I love his middle period best, but seldom delve into the late period.  I guess I'm a Late Romantic at heart.  I have played two pieces composed in 1940 though.

I think you had a blast playing Horowitz's piano.  What a great experience!

David

[furtwaengler]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

...barely 30 seconds of Liszt and even on this crappy laptop mic, the difference in the way the sound "rings" is already clear. I can only imagine how it sings in real life! This is one special instrument...

Wow!  That must have been a real kick playing Horowitz's Steinway D!  It sounded like it was in fine voice too.  I imagine that the Steinway dealers are keeping the piano right up to snuff as it tours...
I think you had a blast playing Horowitz's piano.  What a great experience!

^I think all this pretty well says it. It is the most amazing instrument I've laid my hands on. I was surprised that the touch wasn't lighter, having been told by others in the past that it was so light a falling leaf could get a note. This was not my impression. It felt very good indeed, and I'd have loved to have spent a week with it (though this wish would turn into wanting more and more). It was really the voice, the otherworldly ringing, singing voice that really floored me from the moment I touched it.

And you were certainly up to the task too.  The Liszt snippet sounded very good.  The Feinberg was a real epic and you did a fantastic job performing this difficult work.  I didn't even notice the page turns, just your wonderful playing.

Thanks, David. I really thought I had nothing going in and didn't know what I could do. The Feinberg was a major risk because it took all my time (I was only supposed to have 15 minutes) and if I messed it up too badly I would really regret it. The pay off for this sort of risk is a this sonata in particular can only come off on a great instrument because of the extremity of the registers, especially the powerful chords and the extreme use of the lower end of the instrument. I think Feinberg was going for something only the best instruments can bring out (and even the best halls). Though there many errors in execution, and there is quite a bit more thinking need to do if I decide to really put it together securely, am glad I went for it. The page turns were nothing I had to stop for, but though I had them planned out, they still broke the integrity of certain lines. Much more than cracked notes and botched runs, these sort errors surrounding the page turns, and just having to read the score in the first place bother me the most.

That Feinberg was a genius I have no doubt.  Marik is a big fan of his too.  But I'm still trying to acclimate to his composing idiom which is very diatonic and modern sounding, even a bit jarring at times.  I think I should probably listen more to his earlier works (this Sonata No. 10 is considerably later).  It's like Scriabin--I love his middle period best, but seldom delve into the late period.  I guess I'm a Late Romantic at heart.  I have played two pieces composed in 1940 though.

No matter how much time it's taken for me to get acclimated to certain composers, once I'm in their world it's easy for me to forget the process that led me there and that the great majority of those I present such music to is back were I was before I was comfortable in those worlds. For instance it took me YEARS to like Reger's Piano Concerto, even though one person in particular was constantly trying to sell me on it. I just didn't understand it, but suddenly after hearing a broadcast of Peter Serkin playing it I was so bowled over I couldn't put it down, and still it's up with my all time favorite concertos. I try to sell certain people on it, and I get the same response I used to give! It may be that my enthusiasm for the music of Samuil Feinberg is not contagious, but I do applaud people giving it a chance and never shutting the door on it, for my enthusiasm is true. That much of it is jarring is no lie, and this is one of the things that grabs me. I like being shaken by music - both the force of the sound and the weight of the emotion. Feinberg did draw a lot from Scriabin (I think he revered him), but I think he is in a lot of ways similar to the gripping expressionism of Berg and Schoenberg, though without their specific techniques. The interesting thing is that the composition periods of Feinberg's life my have been effected my the oppressive and suppressive climate of the Russian government and the arts in his life. In a lot of ways his later works would be more accessible to you than his earlier works, especially the gorgeous 12th Sonata, of which I'm tempted to at least work up the slow movement for you if I have the time. I think you would love it.

(Ha! You also tempt me to write a piece for you, though I've not written in years. You could say you've played something from the 21st century! )

Dave

[rachfan]

Hi Dave,

Yes, Berg!  I was struggling to articulate the essence of this music.  It's very expressionistic for sure. 

Hmmm, 21st century... sometime I listen to today's neo-romantics, but they too can be quite jarring, although I do like to listen to Liebermann at times.  I guess my range is about 1840-1940.   Yet there is so much to explore there!

David

[ronde_des_sylphes]

Wow, that is one seriously potent piano. Must have been great fun playing on it.

[andhow04]

hello, i've been meaning to reply to this thread for a long time but never seemed to have the time to sit down and compose a post!
first of all congratulations on the playing, it sounds really good. i am no familiar with any feinberg except his piano playing, in particular there is a fantastic and elegant recording of him playing scriabin's mazurkas.i enjoyed the music and will undoubtedly at some point look at some of the scores at the keyboard.  can't tell any errors as i dont know how it is supposed to go!
it must have been a real experience to play the liszt sonata on the horowitz piano. it sounds inspired and confident!
i played on the piano myself, as it is kept at yale where i was a student.  normally it was locked but one day in sprague hall it was ready for ac ocnert, backstage and unlocked so i took advantage.  i did not know the piano went on tour, and is the schedule available anywhere? how many peopel signed up in the end?
thanks for these, good recorindgs and interesting post

[emill]

Dear Dave,

Happy B-day! 30 is a wonderful age to be ....  not so young and not so old ... not so wise yet not so brash!!!    You will hate your arthritis at 60!!!

My God Dave!!!  despite the fact I refrain and avoid saying anything during discussions by academics (in music), I have to tell you that I was most moved by the way you played the Liszt sonata ... even though it is just a snippet.  I am not in anyway affected by the history of the instrument but for reasons I can not say I can feel the passion of your performance .... its energy and expressiveness.....  CONGRATULATIONS!!

I am also glad you mentioned the Zoom H2 .... it makes me more confident it ordering it .. the Zoom H4n ... which I have been choosing between the Sony Pcm D50.  Decided on the zoom for its greater versatility.  The Piano sound was EXCELLENT!!!  and natural.