Horowitz Tchaikovsky concerto N.1 (3.mov)

[yyuummiin]

Only Horowitz, Szell and NYPO can perform the piece like this, with the pianist's spontaneity and the orchestra's skills to catch up with him. I wish I could have watched this performance live.

[sdegrace]

Please sell me well but not my soul! That's what is written!!!!

[sdegrace]

That is wonderful, light and precise.

[monobrow638]

Listen to Earl Wild's octaves...not THEY'RE fast!

[monobrow638]

@monobrow638 Now*

[SPACETIMEBEAUTY]

War of the worlds

[4785689]

this was 1953

[12rosebud12]

Was he dying to rush off to the loo?

WHY that hurry thrughout the entire concert? 

[waistoi]

@12rosebud12 This is the real Con Fuoco

[hophmi]

This is all Horowitz's idea.  Szell let Horowitz do what he wanted with the piece.

[caricama]

And you're right, starwarsfanboy. Horowitz and the orchestra seem to be out of sync sometimes...

[KarrotKun1]

Why is the octave passage (starting at 4:47) so messy? Is it the sound quality of the recording, the piano, or did he mess up on some notes there?

[starwarsfanboy]

I think I see what you mean, KarrotKun1....but I dunno if it's just me, I only hear the "blur" around 4:56 and the "A" he's supposed to play at the end (in this case, an F-dom7 chord) And throughout the part right after his cadenza, he seems to be quite a bit ahead of the orchestra =D

And also, is it just me, or does he seem to lag behind slightly at 5:53 or so? (The ending B-flat chords seem to be lagging to accompany him, almost...)

But I LOVE Horowitz's take on this piece =) Brilliant.

[caricama]

Horowitz himself said that a miss touch in playing piano is like a typo in a book. He didn't care that much about missing notes in a piece, but rather looked at the entire piece and his performance as a whole. That probably is what had brought him to such a high quality musician.

We all can mess up little things.

And in my opinion, this performance of both the orchestra and piano was too fast.. Unlike what Horowitz usually would have done.

[caricama]

Just compare it to his performance in 1943.

This one is nearly 110-120% as fast. Especially the octave part is one of the most debated part of this movement among many musicians and music lovers. I prefer it to start out slowly and gain speed as it strikes down to the lower notes.

I kinda don't like Martha Argerich's performance for being to technical on that specific part of this piece. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 is more of a Romantic piece.

[caricama]

I think it's either one of these two: the recording is old and is played at a faster rate for the sake of its sound quality, or the conductor strongly believed that this piece should be played quickly, so Horowitz decided to get along.

In my opinion, Horowitz is not a pianist who would rush a piece unless necessary. He would take time and pull out the emotional side of a piece to an extreme. I see a little lack of that characteristic of Horowitz in the octave passage.

[davidgray2]

No...Horowitz wanted it fast. He always liked to rush this piece-even if it was in bad taste.

[caricama]

listen to the 1943 recording of this piece played by Horowitz. You probably can notice the difference in speed. I personally don't think the 1943 one is that fast. This recording is nearly as fast as Argerich's, which is so fast that I don't see the point of her even trying to incorporate emotions within...

[demosj]

@davidgray2 Fast doesn't necessarily equate to rushed. Horowitz's technique was great enough that his choice of tempi always seemed sensible (with the exception of his Rach 3 recording with Barbirolli :P )

[starwarsfanboy]

I'm sorry if I sounded offensive. I just meant to agree with KarrotKun and add my own two cents. I also think that mistakes in performances are largely insignificant.

Well, I think Horowitz is indeed of playing this fast and it sounds pretty good =) Then again, please don't flame the noob 'cause I can't critique music. I enjoy his performance; unfortunately that makes a large number of other performers of this song sound maddeningly slow....

[caricama]

nonono.. I wasn't offended at all. I agree with what you said, and that's why I commented. Someone gave you a thumb down, so I was trying to help you out with a little explanation :D

I love Horowitz, and I think he sure is one of the best pianists ever born. But I still kinda prefer it a little slower though lol

[starwarsfanboy]

Ohhhhhh, thank you. I appreciate your comment.

Agreed! I love Horowitz too. He was one of THE best.

(But yeah, a wee bit slower is nice - I have his studio-recorded version, it's somewhat slower.)

[Liebromeistal]

man, no one has ever duplicated the "explosion" that occurs when Horowitz hits those first octaves. Really exciting shit

[Alejandro270193]

the octaves passage was really messy.

[KarrotKun1]

I agree.

[IsaacDelarge]

this was absolutely the most electric tchaikovsky i've ever heard.

horowitz adds in a couple of notes here and there for a more unique, tasteful experience.

absolutely sensational.

[davidbaker03]

the octaves are sloppy. he hits a lot of wrong notes. what is the point of going fast if you are going to hit wrong notes.

[SCHneiDen777]

davidbaker03: What have you ever done for the world of music? Complain. This is what takes away from musicality. All everybody every does is complain. That is why we are stuck in a world with a bunch of nobody's who get super rich overnight without any work ethic.

Complainers do not have fun! Horowitz it sounds, had a lot of fun making this and I have utmost respect and a lot of fun listening to this. To Hades with your complaining!

His heart comes out thru the piano.Yours complains over it!

[SCHneiDen777]

davidbaker03: What have you ever done for the world of music? Complain. This is what takes away from musicality. All everybody every does is complain. That is why we are stuck in a world with a bunch of nobody's who get super rich overnight without any work ethic.

Complainers do not have fun! Horowitz it sounds, had a lot of fun making this and I have utmost respect and a lot of fun listening to this. To Hades with your complaining!

His heart comes out thru the piano.Yours complains over it!

[davidbaker03]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and taste in music. Complaining is NOT all that I have done for music. thanks for the insult, when you do not even know me. you are very ignorant. I happen to love music, and I do find fun, and joy out of a LOT of music. You do not know me, and you do not know my taste in music. I am very glad that you find fun and respect for Horowitz, I also enjoy his music and respect him. Thanks for sharing your opinion, and insults.

David

[trschaefer]

I kind of agree with you on this point. There are sections of the performance that are "electric" as IsaacDelarge states above. But other parts seem to sound a bit anxious and just too fast.

[ArturoAlejandroS]

It's good,but not at all.I far prefer Van Cliburn.Too fast!

[mario54671]

Are you joking?? Too fast? Van Cliburn is way too slow! I do like the way Van Cliburn does his first movement, but he kills the third movement. I say Bronfman does the best third movement, even after seeing him live perform it with Salonen conducting in the Disney Hall, he did it much better. Van Cliburn just plays it too slow and not full of energy, Bronfman's packs a powerful punch, and Van Cliburn's third movement is really missing that.

[miliona1re]

la mega cappella finale e' permessa solo a Horowith :) se l'avesse fatta un altro l'avrebbero crocifisso :D

[enantiodrom]

E soprattutto Szell..

[miliona1re]

Finally a Pianist that plays this third time Allegro con Fuoco like it's written in the beginning of the last time.

[elinor12]

Horowitz has a formidable technique but there were

obviously some mistakes in his octaves whereas

Argerich is perfectly accurate.I prefer accurate piano playing rathen than an arrogant demonstration of dexterity with lots of mistakes.The piece should not be spoilt for the sake of velocity.

[pupusman]

You apparently don't know excitement, even when it has hit you full in the face!

Hahaha, ok I've had my fun.

[ngexpert]

and i prefer accurate remarks to stupid comments made by people with no ear for music. c'mon, every pianist has his own style. as for the mistakes, who does not make mistakes? no one is perfect in the world, not even argerich.

[elinor12]

Your comment on every pianist's style is totally irrelavant because I said nothing about Horowitz's style.But it seems that you don't care for the sound and the quality and a showy performance is always toyour satisfaction even with dreadful mistakes made.

Every one makes mistakes but the fewer they are the better your sound is.So next time you decide to comment think deeply about the sound before you come up with such a stupid comment.Apparently you have no taste for what is of high quality.

[pupusman]

if even Horowitz's charisma is lost upon you then i'm afraid you're wasting your time here. i for one find his tchaik positively electrifying.

technique serves only to facilitate musical expression and Horowitz here, is no slave to his technique.

so go on searching for your midi-perfect recording - i've had it with musical mediocrity.

[davids2000]

You are right that this is like electricity. Imagine how high-strung he must have been at this time. He retired for 12 years after this. His octaves are incomparable in speed and volume. One would have to look to Josef Hofmann for sheer forcefulness of nature for an equal.

[SCHneiDen777]

elinor12: Anyone who says Horowitz is not high quality cannot possibly say anything of high quality. Case closed!

[SCHneiDen777]

enlinor12: In case this stupid thing didn't work the first time, I'll say it again:

Anyone who says Horowitz is NOT high quality, cannot say ANYTHING of high quality.

Case. Closed!

[jjg7]

those octaves are slighty faster than argerich's

[johnbaptistlulu]

rubinstein, arrau, brendel, kissin, cziffra, argerich... all of them are great but not one of them has played this piece better than the divine Vladimir Horowitz. hell, tchaikovsky himself couldn't have played it better...

[SCHneiDen777]

agreed 100%. altho, maybe Liszt couldve ;) altho, on record, i think this is probably the best performance, Szell + Gorowitz. octave passage is the best from all of the Gorowitz recordings i think. my goodness, his accuracy is still amazing, cus i dont hear the equivalent of Gorowitz even today.

does anybody have horowitz playing with Beecham?

[strikerdisc]

pwned....the fuck...

[davids2000]

I think he wanted to recreate his 1928 octave furor with Beecham conducting. Also remember, this was the early 50's and Horowitz was strung tighter than Michael Moore's waistband. He started his 12 year retirement soon afterward.

[volodya2]

horowitz=god

[gnildarps]

Although Szell was regarded as objective, there is reason to conjecture that his colaboration with Horowitz might be even better than Horowitz and Toscanini. Any of Horowitz' performances of this concerto are superlative, but this one stands in a class by itself. Musical and artistic experiences such as this one are extremely rare. Is Horowitz' 12 year retirement easier to understand in light of a performance such as this one, with its incalculable tension and power?

[j72050]

Toscanini's daughter, wife of Horowitz described the death of Vladimir...he looked ahead with a blank stare...was almost white.....she went away, heard the inevitable drop onto the floor, and Horowitz was gone.

[SCHneiDen777]

oh god. that is really heart dropping. don't worry Horowitz. God loves you...

[jabsomdoc]

funny how horowitz totally disregards the orchestra at the end and finishes two measures before they do. nobody could get away with that anymore

[bw2082]

argerich does

[volodya2]

the fault is of szell! XD

horowitz can't play this slowly! XD

lol

[jsteinacker]

man you clowns...

he played one entire octave scale more, and the orchestra didn't wait for him, that's what happened. if the conductor knew what he was gonna do, it's his fault..

[billyguns2]

This sounds exactly like the early 40s Horowitz/Toscanini performances!