Your favorite Horowitz recording?

[Klaus]

I've never been a huge fan of Horowitz, but I think I've now found it.

Link to video

How THE FUCK does he do this? His melody line is almost never louder than mp and sometimes goes down to pp, yet it floats over the accompaniment so crystal-clear that it's hard to believe. How does he get to that level of control? Damn. Damn.

At that age, he may not have been the guy who delivers the best performances of the most technically demanding pieces (he's famously sloppy in some of them), but this one ...

Compare that with other recordings of the same piece of other top-level pianists. None of them come close to Horowitz.

Link to video

Link to video

Link to video

[George K]

@klaus interesting comparison.

Perhaps Brendel comes closest. But none of them particularly what's-her-name achieve the subtlety that Horowitz has.

[Klaus]

Also, he was 85 years old when this was recorded. In a live concert.

Damn.

By the way, "what's-her-name" is a pretty good pianist who has much more than just the two obvious arguments going for her. I like her a lot. Check out her recording of "Ständchen" on YT.

[Horace]

That sort of sensitivity is achievable only by the oppressed.

[George K]

@klaus said in Your favorite Horowitz recording?:

"what's-her-name" is a pretty good pianist

She's Yuja-riffic!

Actually, looking at her face during that video, she's kind of Lang-ariffic as well.

Horowitz, despite his flaws had none of those affectations (nor did Brendel).

And, of course, he didn't hum.

[Renauda]

I have always thought Horowitz’ interpretations of Scriabin as unsurpassed. His recordings of Vers la flamme, and the 9th and 10th sonatas are other worldly.

[kluurs]

@renauda said in Your favorite Horowitz recording?:

I have always thought Horowitz’ interpretations of Scriabin as unsurpassed. His recordings of Vers la flamme, and the 9th and 10th sonatas are other worldly.

Couldn't agree more on his Scriabin. Horowitz has no competition for the last two sonatas. He could do magical things. I am also partial to his Schumann Kreisleriana.

As for the Schubert impromptus, I like Maria João Pires.

[jon-nyc]

I like his Kreisleriana, some of his Scarlatti (K87, for example), and much of his Scriabin. The glaring exception to the latter is his D#m etude, sloppy AF. He downright loses control in the end.

[kluurs]

He does well with Clementi as well.

[Axtremus]

@klaus said in Your favorite Horowitz recording?:

His melody line is almost never louder than mp and sometimes goes down to pp, yet it floats over the accompaniment so crystal-clear that it's hard to believe. How does he get to that level of control?

I have seen this sort of amazement at Horowitz's mastery before. I quite share the sentiment and have many times found myself at awe listening to Horowitz's very precise, very nuanced control of tone and volume across multiple layers of sound coming out of his piano.