horowitz improvises for students - october 10 1977

[IsaacH1273]

this is better than most piano compositions.

[paulprocopolis]

Fascinating!

[gerardbedecarter]

Beautiful.

[srothbardt]

This reminds me of Ignaz Friedman or Leopold Godowsky. I think Horowitz was showing students how the older pianists used to improvise, etc. He was the last of the old type of virtuoso who also composed, or "adapted" the work of others, such as in Horowitz's versions of certain Liszt pieces.

[MarcJohan2009]

@srothbardt

For the record: Marc-André Hamelin is alive, performing and composing.

I love this clip of Horowitz, full of beautful long lines and played with a dose of humor too!

[TheRatchopper]

Thank you very much for publishing this

[MademoiselleChopin]

Soooo lovely.

[olivleonardo]

Very beautiful.

[AChrisL]

1:12 a little bit of Chopin's 4th Ballad...

[ykrahs666]

@AChrisL lol...yes!

[BNCCNL]

thank you Kasyapa for sharing this excepional music.

[aardvaark069]

This sound so reminiscent of the soundscape in his last recording.

[VirtuousR]

thank you for posting

[frutiboy1]

Amazing! I can hear there "almost everything", he ever played.

[TripleRhu]

awesome!

[shilloshillos]

Mr. Kasyapa, who are you? How do you have all this wonderful unpublished material? You are a treasure on youtube!!!

[kasyapa]

shilloshillos - how can i answer that question? :) i'm a writer named michael r. brown. i love horowitz and nyiregyhazi and love to share.

[gerardbedecarter]

Interesting!

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

wow. exciting! thanks Kaysapa =)

[kasyapa]

ReturnOfTheStienway - ever a pleasure!

[Gargantupimp]

Wish Horowitz would of been more of a composer I think he would of been good, but his romantic style wouldn't of gone good with the time period he was in.

[kasyapa]

Gargantupimp - agreed. probably one reason he held off - he may have seen rachmaninoff's troubles as the century went on (and rach's unsuccessful and unfortunate attempted recreation of himself as a modern'ish composer).

[Gargantupimp]

@kasyapa Yeah that does seem like quite a reason especially when you consider the consistent brilliance of Rachmaninoff, and the equally as consistent criticism and disagreement against his works, I would think that in Horowitz time which spanned right through the entire atonal modernist golden ages, he would have had even more difficulty than Rachmaninoff.

[JASenior44]

@kasyapa Hi, I'm interested which pieces you include in Rachs 'attempted recreation of himself'. I agree that Horowitz's style as a composer may have appeared too romantic. Who do you think he'd have been like? Moskowski perhaps?

[kasyapa]

JASenior44 - 4th concerto, sections of pag. rhapsody, third symphony somewhat too. all the late opus numbers, post-russia.

as for horowitz, some odd melange of moszkowski, blumenfeld/lyapunov, scriabin, rachmaninoff.

[JASenior44]

@kasyapa Well I agree on the Horowitz. Personally I love almost all Rachmaninoff and wish there was more at the level of the second Sonata. Great uploads btw. Thank you very much!

[HankDrake]

Advanced harmonics here. Thanks for posting this.

[kasyapa]

you mean his modulations and such, yes? [most welcome, especially for you, sir!]

[goodmanmusica]

wow!

[kasyapa]

that sound. that amazing sound.

[lisztzstil]

incredible, kasyapa. Thank you for this.

[kasyapa]

it's my hope to find and bring out many more. for the rest of my life, truly.

[ByrneBelew]

Presumably there's some footage of him commenting before this?

[kasyapa]

not that i know of. he may have been too nervous to be filmed doing this. that may have been why he pulled out of doing the master with dubal at julliard.

[ByrneBelew]

Oh, I just wondered what he said in the way of an introduction to this, explaining whether it was something he made up on the spot.

[kasyapa]

ah, ok. i believe i have a complete recording of the occasion, where he spoke to students at length in a kind of seminar setting. it's in line to go up before long. i don't think there was much introduction to the improvisation.

[ByrneBelew]

Wow, that sounds amazing!!! I look forward to hearing it :0)

[nearenough3]

I does sound a bit like the Faure Nocture and a little Rachmaninoff added, but it seems to wander a bit. But fascinating to have this display of noodling. Imagine being a fly on the wall at 14 E. 94th Street. Of course, Wanda had a near lifetime of listening to him -- what an experience!

[kasyapa]

it is definitely him without much overarching Idea. more like a few moods every second! that's him, in a capsule.

[kasyapa]

oh, and i've had just those thoughts - about wanda, and about 94th street [which i as a kid staked out]!

[culturehorse]

...wow

[kasyapa]

thank you.