horowitz - the white house 1986 - 03a mozart sonata in c maj mvt 1 kv330

vladimir horowitz in recital at the white house - 5 oct. 1986 - 03a mozart sonata in c major mvt. 1 kv330. this recording was never released commercially.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• vladimir
• horowitz
• mozart
• sonata
• in
• major
• kv
• 330
• ronald
• reagan
• white
• house
• piano
• live
• 1986

[chipheo24]

From 4:02 until 4:16, these bars sound very romantic. And at the beginning, is it a harmonic preparation like the one he did in Moscow (i think) for traumerei?

[kasyapa]

they are definitely proto-chopinesque. but, then, mozart could do almost anything harmonically. some of his stuff - like the d min fantasy - is almost modern. same as bach - it's a post-modernist myth that only we have a variety of modes that can be chosen freely.

[kasyapa]

and yes, those are the same kind of thing - warmup, and possible even more so sound tests to gauge the hall with people in it. very typical among romantic pianists of the past, as we can hear with e.g. hofmann.

[mikejunior80]

I don't recall these opening chords were scored by Mozart in this sonata that he wrote.

[kasyapa]

they weren't. it was a tradition among romantic pianist of the past. the main purposes are to test the sound of the hall and piano when the audience is present at whatever the existing temperature/humidity combination is, to announce the pianist's personality a bit, and probably a bit of nerves-steadying warmup. in horowitz's hands it's probably also a gesture associating him with that romantic era. you can hear josef hoffman doing it between pieces on youtube.

[brtherjohn]

@chipheo24

I remember seeing him play those warm up chords during the Moscow performance when it aired. But on my DVD copy it's not there! Fortunately we can find those few seconds on Youtube!