Great Performers: Vladimir Horowitz
A Vladimir Horowitz concert was no ordinary piano recital, but a major event triggering long lines of ticket-buyers willing to stay up all night in chilly weather waiting for the box office to open. To see as many famous pianists as possible gathered in a single space merely required a ticket to a Horowitz concert. Whether or not one liked what this brash and unpredictable pianist could do, Horowitz could not be ignored. Almost every well-known pianist remembers his or her first encounter with Horowitz, including his contemporaries Rudolf Serkin and Claudio Arrau. "Our careers will never be the same again," Ignaz Friedman prophetically claimed. Arthur Rubinstein quickly felt compelled to re-evaluate his own technique. Even the titanic and taciturn Rachmaninoff was staggered by how Horowitz played his Third Concerto.
Read more…Born in Kiev 1 October 1903, Horowitz downplayed any notion of being a prodigy, yet his precocious gifts were apparent from an early age and included absolute pitch, natural technical facility and a knack for absorbing new works at a rapid pace. The young Horowitz was an uncanny sight-reader and rather than practise his scales and arpeggios he devoured orchestral and operatic reductions by the bucketful. He studied at the Kiev Conservatory with Sergei Tarnowsky and Felix Blumenfeld, a pupil of the legendary Anton Rubinstein and, through experiments in pedalling and hand position, attempted to replicate the phrasing, portamento and tone colour of bel canto singers like Mattia Battistini and the violinist Fritz Kreisler. He evolved a peculiar flat-fingered technique that contrasted with conventional curved positions. The drama and dynamism of Horowitz’s playing markedly contrasted with unusually quiet and economical body language, without gesticulations and grimaces many pianists deem necessary in the name of expression.
Despite his rapid success and formidable (if controversial) impact, Horowitz’s high-strung temperament and conflicted personal life resulted in several crises, leading to four major retreats from appearing in public, the longest stretch occurring between 1953 and 1965. On 9 May 1965, Horowitz returned to Carnegie Hall, playing his first concert in twelve years, an event that generated great excitement, anticipation and acclaim throughout the classical music world. By the 1970s Horowitz had become the highest paid classical artist, and could perform entirely on his own terms. In 1985 he emerged from a health crisis for a final comeback, returning to Russia after a 61-year absence, and reconnecting with the lyrical, singing aspect of his complex musical makeup through rediscovering Mozart and Schubert. Horowitz died quietly in his New York home on 5 November 1989, just days after completing his final recording.
This playlist loosely follows and expands upon the trajectory of a typical Horowitz recital. Critic Donal Henahen wrote that Horowitz's Scarlatti "has long been the despair of other pianists and the delight of audiences." Both Horowitz's angelic and demonic sides fought for domination in his Chopin and Schumann interpretations, just as pyrotechnics and poetry equally inhabited the sound world of his Liszt. He certainly understood and internalized Rachmaninoff's big pianistic and emotional range, and identified with the necromantic underpinnings of Scriabin’s over-the-top aesthetic to the point of clairvoyance. He lavished great care and patience over his celebrated encores, whether with dazzling acrobatics or the most moving, heartfelt legato phrasing he could muster. All in all, the selection should provide a demonstration of why Horowitz’s artistry remains so potent, influential and vibrant.