Vladimir Horowitz plays Chopin: Ballade No.4 (audio only)

[pinkfloyddwc]

god i wish this was a better recording... he's so brilliant!

[jdhasey]

what is up with the jew thing?

[jdhasey]

what's the jew thing?

[Chopibeetho]

Beautiful music and recording. Thank you for posting.

[straycat316]

How very precious and beautiful!!

[olivleonardo]

Absurdly awesome.

[561marina]

горовиц -лучший в исполнении этой баллады !

[forgottenbooks]

Awesome.

[thisismeplusyou]

I couldn't get over the beginning, it was especially harshly played. This is one of the few times I have stopped a Horowitz video because I didn't like it.

[sgivas]

let's not forget the composer in all of this. Horowitz was a superb pianist, to be sure, but he was lucky to have compositions such as this whereby he could display his technical skill (Which, by the way, he allowed to eclipse any artistry that he may have had). Lets see if we can wow the audience some more by playing even faster......like a dancing bear aping for quarters, let's prostitute our art for a few pieces of silver. Shame...he could have been REALLY great.

[streek23]

Horowitz interpretations of Western Romantic composers' works are usually fascinating and often quite powerful as this one is. I find, though, that Horowitz's performances lack the majestic nobility and gravitas that Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli or Vladimir Sofronitsky bring to their interpretations, especially of Chopin. Still, he is an invaluable musical phenomenon. Long live Horowitz!

[Bret6464]

@streek23 Horowitz is the greatest Chopin interpreter IMO, along with Gilels and Rachmaninoff though there are very few Chopin pieces performed by Rach, and we can not forget Rubinstein :-))

It's sad to see the racist scum commenting here, even in their "tags", the "person" above.

[freeqwerqwer]

too much ego and eccentricities in his playing. I don't know why people extol him as a genius of the keyboard. He plays almost like a crack addict.

[steamednotfried]

@freeqwerqwer Yes, that is a brilliant description. I know exactly what you mean. Haha! I find all of his chopin playing to be like that but then I find his Rachmaninov and Beethoven to be very beautiful.

[thecouchonfire]

@freeqwerqwer

it's called passion, and Horowitz' interpretation of this has a lot of it

[hophmi]

If it suffers from anything, it's too controlled, interestingly enough. The greatest performances of the Ballades tend to have an improvised quality.  This is great performance, but a little too calculated for me.

[iplongnin]

@hophmi Perhaps the last thing Horowitz ever did in his playing is calculating..

[camomileeee]

It makes me cry ;(

[saintvingt]

I think this playing is a feast of miss touching.

[refrmcetsryt]

The best version I've heard of this was by Soyeon Lee in the semifinals from the 2006 Esther Honens competition. She palyed it like I imagined Chopin would have on his best day. Horowitz, if he doesn't play it the way I think it should be, always gives an interesting and educational interpretation. He was a master instructor through all his interpretations.

[skeltube]

I prefer Rubinstein's version. Horowitz is great, but sometimes he just plays too fast.

[ultracoolhomies]

Just amazing

[itamararbell]

best version ever!

[mindovermattjr]

This is simply amazing.

[juampixx]

When you get used to hearing a particular version, you compare that version with the others and that is all.

[Appassionata90]

This is like a "ballade" has to sound like, as well as Chopin.

[semme01]

the aesthetic sense of beautiful music back then was different than we expect it nowadays from pianists. this is still one of the most melancholic and yet so cryable piece about joy and happines.

[freeqwerqwer]

this is not chopin .  The playing is too ideosytncratic

[aiuhepdos]

I have a nose, I can smell anything i want in music then...

[aiuhepdos]

Just because Horowitz is an icon doesn't mean he is the best... go figure...

[aiuhepdos]

I think this sounds to messy... Zimmerman has the best for sure.

[Elicgt]

if Zimmerman was recorded with the same equipment as this recording was(1949) he have been sounded not less messy :)

[FaithIsAnnoyed]

One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever.

[keelan111]

Nobody could spin those bravura passages at the end of a Chopin ballad into a wall of sound quite the same way that Horowitz could. Sound, in his hands, became a Tsunami.

[audreyhsux5727]

@horowitzitsfukingJEW actually, u had it all wrong...hes really good, first of all, second, actually, he isnt a jew

[8Ho03EdONl1liL]

@audreyhsux5727 Horowitz isn't a Jew? Both his parents were Jews, he was a Jew. WTF??

[audreyhsux5727]

@8Ho03EdONl1liL no, actually he was an atheist...his (still alive) tuner said so, at least ^^ but rubinstein is definitely a jew

[robthekang]

What is with all this commenting and debating and comparing. Just listen to the damn piece, this is breathtakingly beautiful. Chopin was such a genius...

[JspekRex]

This piece has such great emotion, it to me has its ups and downs throughout the song that help relate to to the turmoils and happiness in life itself. Chopin truly was a master composer.

[RSFREAK969]

I am sorry but instead of being the ignoramus person you are, try to understand that there is nothing too complex for Horowitz, or for that matter, anyone; it's just that his interpretations might be a little obscured to the ordinary listener. Boring? Not at all. Weird? Maybe in its own essence. But this is definitely vintage Horowitz.

[mltube]

That should explain it, RSFREAK, me being an ordinary listener. Thanks for clearing this out. I just thought it was rather clueless interpretation.

[FredilYupigo]

Although I do prefer the First Ballade over the fourth, I must disagree that this piece is too boring and strange. Horowitz does this piece justice (perhaps not as well as Zimerman, but still!) and this is one of the most beautiful, emotional, and heartfelt pieces ever written. Like all of Chopin's works, it has a degree of... distance from the works of other composers, but is made even more beautiful by that. Boring it is not.

[mltube]

It is not the ballade itslef, which is boring, Fredil.

[Rouzbeht]

I don't know whether you are an idiot or a jackass. No doubt that both qualities are in abundance in you.

This is the problem with youtube, you get fantastic and legendary recordings of these pieces and it could be a great recourse for an artist, but then an idiot like you is allowed to express his stupid opinions.

It's just very very sad.

[mltube]

Take it easy, Rouzbeht, my man. I did not know that is was "fantastic and legendary" performance. Had I known that, I would have never written my comment. I am entirely with you, bro, when it comes to dissing fantastic and legendary stuff, and believe that YT should ban such blasphemous opinions like mine. Yes, it is sad; I share your grief. Peace :-)

[ThomasMusicWizz]

You guys are silly.

[Liblibido]

Like an old professor used to say to me: Opinions are like noses, we all have them, and they smell!!

[anonymousQ45]

@Rouzbeht idk who the comment was to but i know exactly what you mean. for someone who doesnt know any better it could really distort their judgement

[SerpienteMX]

5:33 following sounds nice :) i like those

[DERFNAM72]

Finalmente la parte intermedia della ballata mostra il suo meraviglioso senso musicale grazie ad Horovitz. L'intera interpretazione è meravigliosa.

[flamingcookbook]

hey, thanks for putting this up. i think it's the best of chopin's ballads and one of the best interpretations.

[quelindaqueeslavida]

Increible Maestro!ESPECTACULAR INTERPRETACION!POR DIOS!

[enak1989]

magnifica interpretacion. que gran interprete expresa mucho

[K189T]

Have you heard Pollini? He's not bad ;)

[funeverestfun]

To understand horowitz, one has to have basic training and instinct

[RomanticNotes]

The Most Un Good Brilliant Playing .

[SCHneiDen777]

sense of climax is unbelievable, altho in my opinion, it couldve shouldve been faster, but thats just me. undeniable ability. amazing and all those other words. BRAVO!

and 1:50 to 2:11 IS like a dream! i havnt heard anyone equal this sense of drama, altho rachmaninov was good in his very climatic way also.

we dont have a recording of ballade 4 from the Rach do we?

[RabidCh]

Sadly... no there isn't.

Another recording that should be heard is Alfred Cortot's, although I think it's quite different from Horowitz's.

[SCHneiDen777]

! almost forgot about Cortot! amazing musicality, sometimes i think he doesnt have the skill to fulfil his mind, as which one of us do?! but AMAZING! sense of musicality in almost every direction. something i find no equal for today. I hope God resurrects these fine men so they can all play again!

[lizziemarie17]

the way he does 1:50 to 2:11 is brilliant. to me that part should sound like dream, and he evokes this by becoming quieter and using more pedal. then from 2:20 on it sounds like waking from a dream, then at 2:45 there is a gradual rise in intensity and clarity.

[OorvakanSar]

This picture reminds of the times I was little and I went through my grandma's things and found weird pictures, some painted like this one.

[bigfrisian]

Tipical Vladimir... I am a whitness of his performances. Twice. Amsterdam 1985 and the year after. Concertgebouw. The queen was sitting in front of me, Karel Appel the painter next to me. I was mezmerized.

Robert from the Netherlands.

[goobleglob]

SOOooo handsome....

[cattleman6420012000]

Absolutely wonderful to hear this!! Thanks so much.

[bigfrisian]

I totally agree with you, Cattleman, I share this with you. Love from the Netherlands.

[TAHSEENALANI]

clear and quite