Horowitz: Rachmaninoff Polka de W.R.

[1ragtimer]

He is just excellent!!

[137platinum]

in my opinion, not one of horowitz's best performances. some parts are blurred, and not very well played.

[laflib]

not bad but too much gay

[mikosaaol]

elena ulyanova gives a beautiful performance of this

[Sashomei]

where is the walse of chopin in this concert

op.69-1?

he played that before the polka

[ImaginaryNightshade]

the man in the front row, second from the right, is clapping hilariously!

great performance, as we know horowitz :)

[mlr2107]

LOL

[mArvMusik]

4:05 is just exquisite. mmm... =)

[alanmsteen]

To the person who commented about Rosstropovich, he was a widely known pianist, who also accompanied his wife, a well-known opera singer. He only took jup the cello later in life, followed by a successful conducting career. Read up on your history before commenting.

[demosj]

Rostropovich was a pianist of sufficient standing to judge who was the better pianist between Horowitz and Tatum? Be serious.

[TheAspenTom]

Hardly was it "later in life" that he "took up" the cello. He started studying cello when he was 10 years old. Yes, he studied piano first, but his main instrument was always the cello. He studied conducting and composition, too (with Prokofiev, and others). He wasn't "widely known" as a pianist, even though he was good enough to accompany his wife on occasion. To the point, though: he was a well-rounded musician who could form professional opinions about the abilities of any musicians.

[Maroonmug59]

As long as we're arguing about how good of a pianist the great Tatum was, some trivia for you: When Horowitz completed his famous transcription of "The Stars and Stripes Forever", he played it for Mr. Tatum. Tatum went to the piano and played his own version, a lost transcription (to the extent of my knowledge) which, according to Horowitz, far outshined his own. It was improvised. I still think Horowitz was incredible though, truly the best ever recorded.

[stagesix6]

lang lang is the only ione that is as good as him...

obviously its a joke

[Mahler1912]

god,I was shoked when I read the first part of your comment....

[Nateness01]

Unbelievable..

[Imatrix001]

absolutely incredible....

[TheMikester307]

WOW!!!

[farah73]

this guy must have taken over 10 piano lessons to become this good.

[istreba]

Géantissime

[adrct]

You're both naive. Tatum was a jazz pianist. His technique can't even be compared to Horowitz's.

[fingerscarr]

so you might think !

[VikingBerserker]

Horowitz said that if Art Tatum actually took classical music seriously and began performing then he (horowitz) would have to quit.

there.

[72godaddy]

He was trying to be nice to someone he admired

[cattleman6420012000]

You can see Prince Charles in the audience in London's Festival Hall. This was in 1982 I think. Horowitz played with so much magic and musical flair in this performance.

[fingerscarr]

brilliant as most always . as a postscript a concert pianist friend , who performed with rostrpovich at the age of 15 , and plays this , and i were discussing horowitz and tatum .

he said ''it's quite clear who was the better pianist

'' responding to my question ''who ?''

he said ''tatum of course '' ..interesting !

i happen to agree

[adrct]

You're both naive. Tatum was a jazz pianist. His technique can

[demosj]

Rostropovich is a celloist. Yeah, great judge of pianists huh?

Jazz and classical are two entirely different genres. We have no idea about Tatums interpretive gifts.

[fingerscarr]

@demosj ...it's cellist not celloist (smart alec ) and , it was not he who made the comparison but an acclaimed concert pianist who accompanied him at the age of 15 , so he knew what he was talking about

[fingerscarr]

@demosj .. cellist not celloist smart boy , and indeed you have 'no idea'

[FlyboT]

@fingerscarr how about just different?

I don't really see how you could put a descriptive value of "better" on those two brilliant musicians.

[fingerscarr]

@FlyboT ....tks flybo ,guess he meant in the sense of unrehearsed ,fingers across the keyboard technical virtuosity , which horowitz is on record as admirung and possibly even deferring to ! !

would love to have seen them in a cutting contest lol ! check out geoffrey tozer for a great performer and improvisor ! !

[fingerscarr]

@FlyboT tks flybo , this is the third time have tried to post this , guess he meant from the point of view of sheer fingers across the keyboard technical virtuosity , which H admired and may even have deferred to ! ! !

[Mephisto2102]

immer wieder grandios ...geradezu übermächtigt..einer der grössten pianisten..

[selfpraisepomp]

Off-beat Rachmaninov played in a brilliant way!

[cattleman6420012000]

Wonderful performance. This was in 1982 in London (Prince Charles was in the audience).

[jefftam1234]

of cuz Horowitz plays it the best

but I like his moscow performance of this eeven better.

[JohnnJY]

Same to me, very rich, very colorful. This really is magic!!.

Shame about the sound...

Like his whitehouse performance of this piece (in 1978) too. This one is more cautious, i think, the other more daring.

[FranzLiszt]

In my opinion the best performance of this piece. Very rich.

[JohnnJY]

Same to me, very rich, very colorful. This really is magic!!.

Shame about the sound...

Like his whitehouse performance of this piece (in 1978) too. This one is more cautious, i think, the other more daring.

[ThePiano1991]

You have got to love Horowitz!

You can see here that Rachmaninoff got his inspiration from his farther. Boy his father was a fine composer also!

[fingerscarr]

@ThePiano1991 .....rachmaninov composed this for his father's b'day

[RutBats]

@fingerscarr :

It might be but, as far as I know, Rachmaninov dedicated this polka to Leopold Godowsky.

[egrosz]

Wow! He play it in his intelectual way that he use always.

Funny!