REFLECTIONS & COMMENTS
by MURRAY PERAHIA

Robert Schumann once wrote of himself: "In my case, man and musician always tried to express themselves simultaneously; even now, this is probably so, although I have, to be sure, learnt to control myself and also my art more. How much joy and pain are buried inthis small handful of notes will be discovered by your sympathetic heart."

Though not spoken by him, one can't help feeling that these sentiments would have been exactly Vladimir Horowitz's, for he was a man who gave himself completely through is music and who confided his deepest emotions through his playing. His tone, especially if heard live, had such a dramatic presence - a speaking quality - that you felt you were listening directly to his most private thoughts. At their most inspired, these thoughts just seemed to come forth spontaneously and naturally - unpracticed and unself-conscious. In fact, he practiced very little; most of his prodigious work must have been done in his mind. But he achieved a rare mastery at the piano, a mastery which he said "implies control, in music as well as in life." By this he didn't mean a constricting restraint - quite the contrary - rather "a setting of standards... in regard to taste, style and what is appropriate..." How closely were his life and art intertwined and how closely did his playing reflect the interests and concerns of his life.

Thus it was natural that his playing was always changing, always evolving: the high-powered, demonic virtuoso who walked the tightrope of the possible in his youth became the searching, reflective, mature musician of late years. His was a long and fascinating artistic journey through many different bypaths and side roads, which constantly found an enthusiastic response and, indeed, adoration from his public. In the 30s Horowitz almost singlehandedly generated interest in Scarlatti - the sonatas were hardly known at that time. Later on, Clementi, recognized only for his pedagogical value, was rediscovered as a substantial composer. Horowitz intoxicated us with the startling and daring colors of Scriabin, the visceral excitement of Prokofiev, the daredevil virtuosity of Liszt, the refined elegance of Chopin. Rachmaninoff himself was so impressed by Horowitz's performance of his Third Concerto that he never played it again. Horowitz's passions became the passions of many generations, and we discovered with him new and unimagined possibilities.

This final recording, which documents his last steps on this journey, becomes, in hindsight, a kind of summation. In his last few years the had developed a strong attachment to the simplicity and directness of the classical composers, most notably Mozart and Haydn. When he immersed himself in a composer, he went through the entire output - he would read through all the sonatas, concertos, chamber music, operas etc. He felt that what made these composers classical, in the truest sense, was not a prudish detachment or "objectivity" but rather an intensity and purity of expression where every note matters, every not has meaning.

The same holds true for Chopin, a composer whose works Horowitz played throughout his life. Here his love of singing and opera enabled him to reveal the true shape and character of these beautiful melodies. Perhaps through listening to great singers, perhaps just instinctively, he was able to master the very elusive art of bel canto - the laws of which, according to the great Viennese theorist Heinrich Schenker, "can neither be taught nor transcribed." They come from an inner understanding of the embellishments and diminutions that give the music lfe.

With Liszt, we really reach the heart of the recording. Like Chopin, Liszt was also a lifelong passion of Horowitz's, but here, we don't hear the fire-breathing virtuoso, the dazzling pyrotechnics of earlier years. Instead we get something very personal, as if he were distilling the essence of Liszt. In Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (wich was the last piece Horowitz ever played), the harmonic audacity, the imagination and sheer beauty of the variations is very movingly rendered. The Liebestod, where constant striving for beauty and fulfillment ever higher and higher culminates in a transfiguration, can't help but have extra-musical implications given the circumstances of the recording.

This is indeed an eloquent summation of a life devoted to the beauty of music - a life which we as listeners will always be grateful for and those of us who where lucky enough to know him will always cherish.

Horowitz - The Last Recording


Haydn

Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob. XVI:49

Chopin

Mazurka Op. 56 nr. 3
Nocturnes Op. 55 nr. 2 & Op. 62 nr. 1
Fantaisie-Impromptu Op. 66
Etudes Op. 25 nrs. 1 & 5

Lizst

Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

Wagner-Liszt

Isolde's Liebestod



Vladimir Horowitz, piano

Haydn

Orgelkonzerte Hob. XVIII nrs. 2, 7 & 8

Martin Haselböck, organ
Divertimento Salzburg
(Leitung: Annegret Diedrichsen, violine)

- auf Instrumenten des 18. Jahrhunderts
- Orgel des Doms St. Martin zu Eisenstadt
Orgel der Kirche von Schützen am Gebirge

DL Haydn Concerts

Quality: mp3, 224 kbps
Size: 64 MB

DL Beethoven & Haydn Concertos

Quality: mp3, 224 kbps
Size: 82 MB