Legendary RCA Recordings: Vladimir Horowitz

Read About This Recording

What more can be said about Vladimir Horowitz that has not been noted before and does not sound trite? Very little, it would seem, and rightly so for a pianist whose legendary status seems so unattainable to his successors.

But there are a few items about this two-disc set that are surely worth mentioning as they set these recordings apart from the dozens that have come before. Horowitz began recording with RCA following his American debut in 1928 and continued making records with the label for the next 31 years. But despite covering a wide range of repertoire from sonatas to his favorite encores, Horowitz recorded just four concertos. On the first disc in this set, two of those concertos have been reissued and the music is just as wonderful as ever.

Disc two contains 18 brief works by a variety of composers, all of which were obvious favorites in Horowitz's recital repertoire. Highlights here include Bizet's Carmen Variations and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, two works the pianist loved to perform as a recital's sure-fire finale. This disc also contains music from two of Horowitz's favorite composers: Rachmaninov, who was a lifelong friend, and Chopin.

Of the nearly 200 titles Horowitz recorded for the RCA label during his career, this two-disc set represents some of the pianist's finest performances. This collection offers familiar pieces in his repertoire, for which audiences clamored to hear, as well as a few rare works which are a true delight to hear performed. All of these masterpieces add up to a must have for the serious collector.

-Elaine Sutcliffe

Quotes

As a performer, Horowitz had huge resources of speed and power, and a clean articulation. His performances were brilliant, exciting, and often mystifying to those who found his technique enigmatic (he played, for instance, with unusually straight fingers, laying them nearly flat on the keys). Though his performances were frequently criticized for their willfulness and self-indulgent nature, there was an undeniable charisma to his playing that endeared him to most everyone who heard him. -All Music Guide

Played percussively, the piano is a bore. If I go to a concert and someone plays like that I have two choices: go home or go to sleep. The goal is to make the piano sing, sing, sing. -Vladimir Horowitz

Contents

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 23; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30; Prelude No. 5 in G, Op. 32 No. 5; Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-Flat, Op. 61; Mazurka in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 30 No. 4; Nocturne in E-Flat, Op. 9 No. 2; R. Schumann: Traumerei from Kinderscenen; Wieck Variations from Grand Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 14; Scriabin: Three Preludes: in D-Flat, Op. 48 No. 3; in G-Flat, Op. 11 No. 13; in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 15 No. 2; Etude in D-Sharp Minor, Op. 18 No. 12; Moszkowski: Etincelles; Bizet: Variations on a Theme from Carmen; Prokofieff: Toccata; Clementi: Rondo from Sonata No. 2, Op. 47; Poulenc: Presto; D. Scarlatti: Sonatas: Allegro in F Minor, L.189; Allegro in A, L.494; Liszt: Mephisto Waltz.

Vladimir Horowitz, Piano; NBC Symphony Orchestra/Toscanini; RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra/Reiner.