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Vladimir Horowitz history
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History of «Vladimir Horowitz»
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Awards and recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance — Instrumental Soloist or Soloists
- 1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)
- 1969 Horowitz on Television: Chopin, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Horowitz (Columbia 7106)
- 1968 Horowitz in Concert: Haydn, Schumann, Scriabin, Debussy, Mozart, Chopin (Columbia 45572)
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance
- 1989 Horowitz Plays Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 (Deutsche Grammophon 423287)
- 1979 Golden Jubilee Concert, Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (RCA CLR1 2633)
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance
- 1993 Horowitz Discovered Treasures: Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, Scriabin, Clementi (Sony 48093)
- 1991 The Last Recording (Sony SK 45818)
- 1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)
- 1982 The Horowitz Concerts 1979/80 (RCA ARL1-3775)
- 1980 The Horowitz Concerts 1978/79 (RCA ARL1-3433)
- 1979 The Horowitz Concerts 1977/78 (RCA ARL1-2548)
- 1977 The Horowitz Concerts 1975/76 (RCA ARL1-1766)
- 1974 Horowitz Plays Scriabin (Columbia M-31620)
- 1973 Horowitz Plays Chopin (Columbia M-30643)
- 1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas) (Columbia M-30464)
Grammy Award for Best Classical Album:
- Columbia Records Presents Vladimir Horowitz
- 1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall: An Historic Return
- 1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas)
- 1978 Concert of the Century with Leonard Bernstein (conductor), the New York Philharmonic, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Lyndon Woodside
- 1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)
- 1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1990
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical:
- 1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall — An Historic Return
- 1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)
Repertoire and technique
Horowitz is best known for his performances of the Romantic piano repertoire. His first recording of Liszt’s Sonata (1932) is still considered by some piano afficionados as the definitive reading of that piece, after almost 75 years and almost 100 performances committed to disc by other pianists. Other pieces with which he was closely associated were Alexander Scriabin: Etude Op. 8, No. 12 D-sharp minor, Frédéric Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G minor, and many Rachmaninoff miniatures, including Polka de W.R.. He is also acclaimed for his recordings of the Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 and Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, as well as for his famous hair-raising transcriptions, especially of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 15 and No. 2. Towards the end of the Friska section of the latter, Horowitz gives the illusion of playing with three hands as he combines all the themes of the piece. It was recorded in 1953, during his 25th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and he stated that it was the most difficult of his transcriptions. Horowitz’s other transcriptions of note include Variations on a Theme from Bizet’s Carmen and Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever. The latter became a favorite with audiences, who «expected» it as an encore. Later in life, he refrained from playing it altogether, because «the audience would forget the concert and only remember Stars and Stripes, you know.» Other well-known recordings include works by Schumann, Scriabin, Chopin, and Schubert. He also championed contemporary Russian music, giving the American premieres of the Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas No.6, Op. 82, No. 7, Op. 83 and No. 8, Op. 84. He also premiered the Samuel Barber: Piano Sonata and Excursions.
Spiritual music
He termed himself the last pianist to play «in the grand manner» (of the nineteenth century) in search for the «spiritual values» behind the notes and in the manner of a modern day Liszt, creating an aura of mystery equaled by no other artist of his day. Even his dress echoed the period of that time. He seemed proud when called «the Greta Garbo of the piano» and one manager recalled, that he had the best sense of self-promotion that he’d ever found in an artist. He was careful not to be over-exposed.
Horowitz’s extravagances were always well received by concert audiences, but not by some critics (Virgil Thomson was famous for his consistent criticism of Horowitz as a «master of distortion and exaggeration» in his reviews in the New York Herald Tribune). The style of Horowitz frequently involved vast dynamic contrasts, with overwhelming double-fortissimos followed by sudden delicate pianissimos. He was able to produce an extraordinary volume of sound from the piano, without ever producing a harsh tone, leading some to wonder if he had tampered with the hammers. He could elicit an exceptionally wide range of tonal color from the piano, and his taut, precise, and exciting attack was noticeable even in his renditions of technically undemanding pieces (such as the Chopin Mazurkas). He is also famous for his octave technique; he could play precise scales in octaves extraordinarily fast. When asked by the pianist Tedd Joselson how he practiced octaves, Joselson reports, «He practiced them exactly as we were all taught to do.» Horowitz’s unusual hand-position meant that he played with straight fingers, and the little finger of his right hand was always curled tight until it needed to play a note; as New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg put it, “it was like a strike of a cobra”. Sergei Rachmaninoff himself commented that Horowitz plays contrary to how they had been taught, yet somehow with Horowitz it worked. Another account has it that when asked by an interviewer why he played his octaves so loud and so fast, his response was, “Because I can!”
For all the aural excitement of his playing, Horowitz seldom engaged in bodily or facial histrionics on the stage. He rarely raised his hands higher than the piano’s fallboard, his body was immobile, and his face seldom reflected anything other than intense concentration.
Peers’ Quotes
Van Cliburn
His art sprang from the great Russian school of pianism that gave scope to melody, breadth to sound and vision to a narrative.
His intense search for beauty, not only in the musical arts but also in the visual arts, was the fabric of his being.
Gaby Casadesus
His technique was dazzling and so natural that it seemed effortless.
Santiago Rodriguez
None of this ‘let the music speak for itself’ nonsense. He challenged you with his playing and you either loved it or hated it. But there was no ignoring it.
Gabriel Tacchino
Horowitz’s pianism was complex as was his musical being. It was through him that a great part of the twentieth century could realize the meaning of what could be accomplished in the realm of technical mastery. Horowitz knew how to infuse new life into the piano. His success will be encouragement for all pianists in the future.
David Bar-Illan
The only virtuoso of our time who could be mentioned in the same breath with the two greatest composer-performers of the piano, Liszt and Rachmaninoff.
Bella Davidovitch
Today, many confuse the electrically charged playing of Horowitz with playing merely fast. It was ever so much more than that. After hearing him, one felt compelled to play, carried away by the force of his inspiration.
Vladimir Feltsman
Vladimir Horowitz had accomplished what he was born to do. He died with a full life behind him and at the height of his glory. In a way he had already become immortal during his lifetime and his voice will always be present in this world, his song floating above us forever.
