I find the picture at the very end (of him smiling and waving, as if of goodbye) particularly moving, for, if I am not mistaken, his wife said that this was the very last piece he played before he died.
The few times I listened to a Horowitz recording, I didn't think think it was that big of a deal...I imagined he might have been a little overrated. This is the most beautiful playing I've ever heard.
Listen to a couple of the interpretations of this piece by other pianists, then listen to this. He is in another universe. The way his gift persisted so long, for his entire life, is astonishing. I wonder if he had one foot in Paradise already. I think this piece is really impossible to encompass on a piano, so he decides to interpret it in his own way and brings a kind of eerie tenderness to it. Magnificent!
@lykigos I would also suggest strongly that most pianists of today just play the keys - they do not sing the piano, dance the piano or transmit something transcendental. Too much brain, too little soul. And soul to me is very different from emotions. Horowitz is way beyond emotions.. that is the clue. Emotions are shallow.
@kasyapa anyway the title mean a Love death, and it's like he would commemorate his love and his life given to the music. He couldn't choose a better piece I think (and this is the last track on this last cd, I don't think it's a coincidence)
@kasyapa considering how absolutely musical and emotional and simply perfect the performance is, it does have a certain feeling of closure to it, as if Horowitz had been working his whole life towards this one piece.
@fledgehog - his playing of the liszt-bach at the same time has that same feeling. the final f minor chord is like his corpse laying in the grave. perfection.
His recording here also is the most exciting one we can find. The secret of Horowitz is the deep understanding of music and then to execute it perfectly with the best sound possible. Or lets say best different sounds possible.... as it seems a whole orchestra is playing this.... He did listen a lot to opera music and singers and tried to repoduce the intensity and sonority of them. The result you can listen here
I am re-reading "Remembering Horowitz: 125 Pianists Recall a Legend
by David Dubal". I think the critcisims of Horowitz who made himself more
important than the composer are unhappy with anything other than correct playing of the score. Whether in piano or voice IMO this correctness is for the most part bland. Some one with a personal message may say something I do not respond to favorably but they say something and when ON create music of an unequaled emotion.
@65attila No decent composer in the history of music ever wanted a performer to play their work exactly as they wrote it. And before the 20th century they never expected a performer to. Furthermore no decent composer has always performed his own works exactly as he has written it. (Wagner, Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin) all of them. So why on earth would anyone believe that following exactly what is written on the score equates to respecting and following the composers intentions?
@Gargantupimp AGREE. As a composer the question is always, "how well can (traditional) notation express human emotions that we don't even have words to describe because they are so complex?" You get as close as you can with the notes, lines, smears and smudges, and then it's up to the performer to re-translate those gestures back into the language of the soul, i.e. interpret the score. This is why no computer program will ever sound as good as a real performance - errors and all.
Tener transcrito para un solo instrumento una pieza de la talla aristocrática como es el Liebestod debe ser una placer soberbio además de un inmenso privilegio para el intérprete. Lástima que sea una pieza tan exclusiva para los comúnes... :)
I admire the piece very much, it ranks among Liszt's greatest and most musical transcriptions, along with his Schubert lieder. Jorge Luis Prats and Lazar Berman also played this superbly, have you heard their live performances on Youtube?
im only 16. I am also a pianist. but i can sense the amount of emotion, passion and torment that it in this.
i dont understand it and im not completely sure what it is, i can only wish that i will be able to.
hopefully, a few decades later, ill come back and listen to this. maybe ill understand all of it then.
1231partyanimal 1 week ago
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Camielpianist90 2 weeks ago
How classy his playing was! Horowitz is probably the only pianist whose recordings I would always recognize.
LordMgls 1 month ago
I find the picture at the very end (of him smiling and waving, as if of goodbye) particularly moving, for, if I am not mistaken, his wife said that this was the very last piece he played before he died.
JTHassellPiano 3 months ago
It is wonderful that Horowitz recorded this marvelous rendition before he left us on his final journey!
CanadaPisces 4 months ago
Awesome. TY demosj for posting this gem.
paulostroff99 4 months ago
The few times I listened to a Horowitz recording, I didn't think think it was that big of a deal...I imagined he might have been a little overrated. This is the most beautiful playing I've ever heard.
doowopdiddler 4 months ago
Is this his last recording, Swan Song? I cried when I listened to his last recording CD.
camomile988 5 months ago 2
@camomile988 yeah, it's wonderful
newFranzFerencLiszt 3 months ago
Very fine. I am so grateful to you for this. I had not heard this before. Thank you!
cynic150 5 months ago
what a genious!
I was honoured indeed to listen to him once and even to chat with him after the perfomance!
eagerek 6 months ago 2
@eagerek What did you say - and he? : )
kasyapa 3 weeks ago
Listen to a couple of the interpretations of this piece by other pianists, then listen to this. He is in another universe. The way his gift persisted so long, for his entire life, is astonishing. I wonder if he had one foot in Paradise already. I think this piece is really impossible to encompass on a piano, so he decides to interpret it in his own way and brings a kind of eerie tenderness to it. Magnificent!
ferociousgumby 6 months ago 2
At the loudest moments it sounds like simple hammers and strings cannot produce enough sound. It's humbling to hear the master in his final days.
S3Suggs 7 months ago
Most of the so called legendary pianists played keys and not music!!!
These people were in fact the reason why Beethoven and the others weren't rich!
No body remembers them except a handfull of people!
lykigos 10 months ago
@lykigos I would also suggest strongly that most pianists of today just play the keys - they do not sing the piano, dance the piano or transmit something transcendental. Too much brain, too little soul. And soul to me is very different from emotions. Horowitz is way beyond emotions.. that is the clue. Emotions are shallow.
Piacevole 6 months ago
Stanislav Yovanovitch played the Berlin Philharmonic in this music, Horowitz plays the piano peice. Vast difference.
voyagerlegends 1 year ago
to listen to this performance...a piece called "love death"...with the knowledge that horowitz would die four days later...is just overwhelming...
fledgehog 1 year ago
IMO this performance has a totality that other pianist can only dream of.
He simulates a world class soprano with a gorgeous voice a sumptuos orchestra and a conductor who knows when to let the music breath.
65attila 1 year ago 7
Wonderful!
gerardbedecarter 1 year ago
i wonder if he knew the end of his own life was coming.
kasyapa 1 year ago 23
@kasyapa yes
newFranzFerencLiszt 9 months ago
@kasyapa anyway the title mean a Love death, and it's like he would commemorate his love and his life given to the music. He couldn't choose a better piece I think (and this is the last track on this last cd, I don't think it's a coincidence)
newFranzFerencLiszt 9 months ago
@newFranzFerencLiszt yes, it was one of the last pieces he played in his life - i think within 2-3 days of his death.
kasyapa 9 months ago
@kasyapa considering how absolutely musical and emotional and simply perfect the performance is, it does have a certain feeling of closure to it, as if Horowitz had been working his whole life towards this one piece.
fledgehog 9 months ago 2
@fledgehog - his playing of the liszt-bach at the same time has that same feeling. the final f minor chord is like his corpse laying in the grave. perfection.
kasyapa 9 months ago 2
Horowitz always is best when in good form.
His recording here also is the most exciting one we can find. The secret of Horowitz is the deep understanding of music and then to execute it perfectly with the best sound possible. Or lets say best different sounds possible.... as it seems a whole orchestra is playing this.... He did listen a lot to opera music and singers and tried to repoduce the intensity and sonority of them. The result you can listen here
uhartchristian 1 year ago 4
@uhartchristian there is no secret horowitz is just fucking awesomes
Gargantupimp 1 year ago
@uhartchristian
YES- Horowitz had a singing line like no one else, He was like the great soprano
Claudia Muzio - texture , color and line.
65attila 1 year ago 5
@65attila the parallel between Horowitz and Muzio is very, very, very, beautiful. I totally agree.
TheEngraver 1 year ago
@TheEngraver
I am re-reading "Remembering Horowitz: 125 Pianists Recall a Legend
by David Dubal". I think the critcisims of Horowitz who made himself more
important than the composer are unhappy with anything other than correct playing of the score. Whether in piano or voice IMO this correctness is for the most part bland. Some one with a personal message may say something I do not respond to favorably but they say something and when ON create music of an unequaled emotion.
John
65attila 1 year ago
@65attila No decent composer in the history of music ever wanted a performer to play their work exactly as they wrote it. And before the 20th century they never expected a performer to. Furthermore no decent composer has always performed his own works exactly as he has written it. (Wagner, Liszt, Beethoven, Chopin) all of them. So why on earth would anyone believe that following exactly what is written on the score equates to respecting and following the composers intentions?
Gargantupimp 1 year ago 7
@Gargantupimp AGREE. As a composer the question is always, "how well can (traditional) notation express human emotions that we don't even have words to describe because they are so complex?" You get as close as you can with the notes, lines, smears and smudges, and then it's up to the performer to re-translate those gestures back into the language of the soul, i.e. interpret the score. This is why no computer program will ever sound as good as a real performance - errors and all.
ColtonBrook 1 year ago 2
@65attila Arrau had the BEST sound in the piano, better than Horowitz and everyone else.
arturon111 1 year ago
I loved Brendel's Concert performance (Japan) of Liebestod best....for a long time.
I think he takes too many liberties...but what the heck he is Horowitz and it sounds gorgeous.
xxxyyyzzzar 1 year ago
one of the most beautiful and overlooked performances
thujone0 2 years ago 13
Speechless!
cmonclair27 2 years ago 2
Tener transcrito para un solo instrumento una pieza de la talla aristocrática como es el Liebestod debe ser una placer soberbio además de un inmenso privilegio para el intérprete. Lástima que sea una pieza tan exclusiva para los comúnes... :)
astronomo16 2 years ago
I remember the first time that I listened to this piece; It was around October 2008, 10AM. I had tears in my eyes.
GeneralKuno 2 years ago 15
I admire the piece very much, it ranks among Liszt's greatest and most musical transcriptions, along with his Schubert lieder. Jorge Luis Prats and Lazar Berman also played this superbly, have you heard their live performances on Youtube?
demosj 2 years ago 7
@demosj
I've heard Lazar Berman's playing but not Jorge Luis Prats'. I'll try to listen to the latter.
GeneralKuno 2 years ago