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

When making these transcriptions for guitar, one is therefore presented with an abundance of authentic examples and alternatives, for the guitar itself has both a melodic and harmonic nature and therefore the ability to move freely between all the existing original versions.

Not surprisingly the most difficult choices were in Bach's E major Violin Concerto, and in the Solo Andante. Whenever Bach arranged his solo violin music for keyboard he changed it very deliberately to a "keyboard" conception with far more ornamentation, changed arpeggio figures and generally more complex writing. Inevitably in doing so, some of the melodic simplicity and charm of the original gets lost - I have in mind particularly the Fugue from G minor solo Violin Sonata and Bach's own arrangements for lute and organ. For these reasons I prefer the original E major Violin Concerto to its keyboard companion and have used this original as the model, with borrowings from the harpsichord version where arpeggio patterns are more idiomatic on the guitar, mainly in the first movement. In the wonderful second movement the only problem was the opening sustained G# in the solo instrument - nothing can equal the beauty of that note on the violin, and as the guitar cannot sustain for that long and I don't like the trill Bach gives the harpsichord, it seemed obvious to give it to the organ continuo. The third movement was happily straightforward, having a dance-like character very suited to the guitar.

The solo Violin Sonata in A minor was transcribed by Bach for harpsichord in D minor. I have selected the Andante from this Sonata and adapted it rather freely in the style of an ornamented aria.

The Chaconne was originally a slow Spanish dance in triple time which emphasised and usually began on the second beat of the bar: its eight bars, usually four bars repeated, were the perfect basis for instrumental variation and from the sixteenth century onward composers have been attracted by it simple form and endless possibilities. Bach's great Chaconne in D minor has thirty-one variations which are developed in several continuous sections to create a work of expressive "grandeur", with its central climax in the major key. 2 developments in the variations are particularly interesting; excepting the arpeggio section, most minor key variations from No. 5 onwards are based on the descending "Spanish" harmony D (mi) C, B-flat, A and they begin on the first beat of the bar instead of the second. These changes enhance forward movement and continuity - but did Bach also have in mind the Spanish origin of the Chaconne?

John Williams

Bach

Violin Concerto nr. 2, BWV 1042 *
Aria (Andante from Solo Violin Sonata, BWV 1003) *
Chaconne (from Violin Partita nr. 2, BWV 1004) *
Lute Suite in A minor (orig: G minor), BWV 995
Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996

* Arrangement for guitar by John Williams

John Williams, guitar

Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Kenneth Sillito, conductor


Quality: mp3, varied kbps
Size: 131 MB

In the history of music there has never been anything quite comparable to the interweaving of song, song cycle and symphony that is a unique feature of Mahler's ouvre. The crossovers were there pretty much from the start and continued to fertilise his music until his last years. What remains as a source of fascination is the changing relationships between all the components that make up to what today we hear as Mahler's own "voice". ...

DL Schubert Sonatas
Disc 1
Disc 2

Quality: mp3, 192 kbps
Size: 98 MB + 71 MB