Vladimir Horowitz and Other Virtuosi

[forgottenbooks]

Last night I was listening to an incomplete 1943 recording of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto by Horowitz. Words can barely begin to describe his virtuosity in the cadenza. And I don't think he sacrifices musicality in the process. (Link:

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While some of Horowitz's recordings (especially during his antidepressant years) may be a little hard to listen to, overall, I think he was a very musical performer, in his own way. His Chopin may not be the "Chopin" that people are used to (i.e. Rubinstein's Chopin), but that doesn't make experience of listening to it any less amazing. They say he put too much of himself into his playing, and did not respect the composer's intentions enough. But I don't mind that. The passion in his playing is palpable.

Likewise, I don't think Argerich's style of playing diminishes her musicality, except on the rarest of occasions. I like her 1982 recording of Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto as much as I do Horowitz's. Her rendition of Chopin's Scherzo No. 3 is rivaled only by Rubinstein's and Horowitz's.

Rubinstein was the master of control, in my opinion. Only when he was late in his eighties did his playing show signs of declining. His playing was emotional without being sentimental. Every note and pause was drawn out to just the right length. He used the pedal better than most of his contemporaries. His habit of putting the composer before himself hid the fact that he had a formidable technique at his peak.

My point is that virtuosity does not have to mean the absence of feeling. What do you think?

[stoudemirestat]

Virtuosity OUGHT to not mean the absence of feeling. Technique and virtuosity are a means to an end, not an end by itself. The aim of virtuosity and technique is to have the means to play, even the most difficult passages, musically - the aim is to make beautiful music.

On another note....Am I the only one who simply can not STAND Horowitz' playing? Maybe I just haven't listened to the right recordings, as there seems to be different periods in his life, periods where the playing differs from others.

[krystellle]

Virtuosity OUGHT to not mean the absence of feeling. Technique and virtuosity are a means to an end, not an end by itself. The aim of virtuosity and technique is to have the means to play, even the most difficult passages, musically - the aim is to make beautiful music.

On another note....Am I the only one who simply can not STAND Horowitz' playing? Maybe I just haven't listened to the right recordings, as there seems to be different periods in his life, periods where the playing differs from others.

Oh my god, you said it!  I can't either!  Now we'll never hear the end of it...

[sevencircles]

On another note....Am I the only one who simply can not STAND Horowitz' playing? Maybe I just haven't listened to the right recordings, as there seems to be different periods in his life, periods where the playing differs from others.

I recomend the recordings he did in the early thirties like his Liszt B Minor sonata for instance 

His Barber Sonata is really impressive too.

I am no fan of Horowitz later recordings, I think he should have retired in the seventies 

[stoudemirestat]

Oh my god, you said it!  I can't either!  Now we'll never hear the end of it...

Ahah yeah. Saying you don't like Horowitz around pianists basically warrants the death penalty. Luckily i'm behind a computer screen.  

[stoudemirestat]

I recomend the recordings he did in the early thirties like his Liszt B Minor sonata for instance 

His Barber Sonata is really impressive too.

I am no fan of Horowitz later recordings, I think he should have retired in the seventies 

I'll definately look more into his earlier recordings. I think for the most part the ones i've heard have been later.

[christefan]

It's perfectly alright to prefer which ever famous pianists and everyone has different taste---I always wondered why some poeple tend to see virtuosi as swallow, unmusical types who are just playing for some effect.  Have you ever tried to play something at that level?  and that doesn't mean once which you could summon up a bunch of adrenaline for, I mean over and over and over 10k times so that you could play it extremely reliably at that pace or intensity?  I think you might start to think that the people who play that way are actually temperatementally, intellectually and emotionally disposed to generate that type of rendition of a piano work rather than a flat politically correct rendition that won't bother anyone; those are the type of renditions that usually win competetions also because no one takes exception to a 'plain' rendition if well executed--consider