HOROWITZ AT THE WHITE HOUSE 1-The Star-Spangled Banner

[Bret6464]

@imrich6 LOL Thanks - have been searching for something good to say about him :-)

[Squeaky1423]

What an ABSOLUTE THRILL!!!!

[LoudCitizen]

I would not be surprised if this were Horowitz's own arrangement of the song. He wrote many technically brilliant arrangements, including his legendary Carmen Fantasie and The Stars and Stripes Forever.

[bordersish]

@LoudCitizen just for the record, "songs" have words. anything that doesn't is referred to as a piece.

[liszt141]

@LoudCitizen It's Rachmaninoff's

[bordersish]

@liszt141 "it's Rachmaninoff's," what? WHAT? a fucking song for piano solo? plz.

[Bret6464]

@bordersish liszt141 is correct, this was transcribed (arranged) by Rachmaninoff for solo piano :-)

[jazzyazz]

Carter comes off great in this. He absolutely beams when Horowitz strikes the last chord, and he;s the first to clap. What a thrill for him.

[jakesmithsoild25]

the whowhite house?

[osmsm]

@jakesmithsoild25 hwite house. lol

[jakesmithsoild25]

@osmsm 0:08-0:11

[osmsm]

@jakesmithsoild25 why do americans pronounce 'wh' like this? sounds ridiculous to me.

[JohnnyStricklett]

Horowitz supposedly was dissapointed with the performance. Guests that had heard him play before felt that that special intangible horowitzian quality was somehow missing. Nonetheless it was remarkable.

[FilRock93]

This is better than Jimi Hendrix in Woodstock!

[WAMEDJO]

I wish he could have made a BIG mistake when they where all standing up, they would have smiled to him with embarrassment, like : "That was a cute wrong note" and him : "But I'm the only one that knows that I made it intentionnally"

[mrdarcyme]

Nice presentation. Thanks for posting this interesting clip. A more civilized era...

[bsd300d]

This peanut picking redneck didn't deserve such an honor. Carter was a fool then, and is a fool now.

[kandutery]

the most ugly president ever

[tagexing]

and what a contrast of volume he can produce! that's amazing.

[oilyear]

What a volume he can produce!!!!!

[richclayderman]

fuck! what a style!

[EricTheRed03]

That made me tear up and I'm not even American. Just wow!

[jamkablam]

4:00 lol! :)

[uhartchristian]

Carter speaks of Horowitz as a national treasure, Reagan speaks about a treasure of the whole world....

the only pianist is Vladimir Horowitz who was honored in such an important way by two different presidents of the united states. Its a shame that russia never did the same...

Gorbatchev had the chance to make a gesture in that sense, he didn t. shame on that ancien russian regime who forced so many important artists to emmigration.

[L4RSLink]

im the  11111 vieuwer.

5/5

[minasgekos]

At least that was while Jimmy Carter - respected personnality - was the president. Imagine Reagean beeing in the audience it would have been disgusting and disappointing. Like when Yo-Yo Ma performed a duet with Condoleeza Rice on the piano (again in the WH)......

[nintendowns]

Two points to make. First, the President does not have any effect on the beauty of the music, which tells me that you simply want to attack President Reagan regardless. Second, basing the quality of music on the prescence of a President means you trivialize it.

[Noahedwinbeach2]

what a moron

[BOSOX9004]

I'm viewer #10,000! I feel special.

This is really too awesome for words.

[mepnomon]

omg, I'm Jim Lehrer too!

[DaPianist]

This is Rachmaninoff's arrangement with some added flourish. A bad pianist can make an easy piece sound bad. Horowitz did justice to this. Stop bagging on him. Besides, it was appropriate to play the national anthem at the beginning in the setting he was in. Stars and Stripes for introduction? It's was the encore piece he recorded in the 40's. By this time he was playing different encores such as Moszkowski Etincelles.

[AIKevorkian]

I have to admit...I got a little tears in my eyes watching this. I've played piano, bass, guitar etc. since the 1970s but I consider Vladimir a true "Level 20" musician, like Frank Zappa. Vladi could play almost anything, and have a smile on his face :)

[monkeyboy308]

lmao! Stars and Stripes for one of the most celebrated pianists of our time! LOL must've been a joke to him!

[halavey]

He did play the stars and stripes

[silverlightjewelry]

I loved it! He was truly awesome, what a treat it must have been to be there.

[evgenijpro]

This was a really beautiful performance.

[Manx123]

Horowitz didn't play the Stars and Stripes? Fail.

[BenMcCormack91]

For some reason, I find this performance comedic. As if he's been asked to play "chopsticks," or something. It's what happens when you give someone like Horowitz a simple piece like the National Anthem, and he plays it merely to humor you.

Nice video. Thanks for the post.

[lscully3]

Horowitz arranged this. So therefore it isn't simple.

[BenMcCormack91]

I have the sheet music. It's not exactly sightreadable, but Horowitz wasn't big on excessively notey transcriptions. The reason some of his transcriptions are ridiculously difficult is just that he wanted to get as much of the full orchestral sounds onto a single piano part. With the Star-Spangled Banner, there's not too much you can do, and he's smart enough not to just throw in excess notes. That's why I like him - he makes it hard when it needs to be, not just to show off.

[starfalco]

where did you get it?!!?

[bsd300d]

@BenMcCormack91 Can you email me that sheet music?

[BenMcCormack91]

@bsd300d You can download PDF files of all his transcriptions, either individually or all of them in one big PDF, at vkgfx dot com. With Star Spangled Banner, the edition is pretty much fine.  With some, like Stars and Stripes Forever, there are multiple editions that each often have wildly different notation. If you try doing any of the other ones, just be sure to compare editions.

Hope that helps!

[bsd300d]

@BenMcCormack91 Thank you. I really appreciate that. I've only been playing piano for 9 months so i think it will be a while before i get to play that, but i will play it someday. Thanks again.

[Mongoose1358]

well said ben.. it is a bit of a joke to play a national anthem on a piano

[jvandle]

Nice speech by President Carter, amazing performance by Horowitz.

[Manx123]

Epic facial expression 4:01

[elbartorowitz]

hahaha i didn't notice it ! great man

[argus1948]

Great post. I tried to say what I really thought, but kept getting hammered by pathetic YouTube's 500 character limit. Maybe next time. Loved it!

[ReppingIt]

wowzers

[CliffX]

I know, Jim Lehrer has hair!!!

[HeadlessJedi]

HAHAHAHA

a moment of pure comedic brilliance-kudos sir