Customer Reviews

Evenings With Horowitz: A Personal Portrait

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Yes! Dubal loves to impress the reading public of how knowledgable he is. When you get around this, however, here is an interesting side of Horowitz that allows you to see the excentricities and warmth of one of the greatest pianists of this century. After listening to one of Horowitz's students about his lessons and meetings over three years with the Maestro, I have to say that Dubal has captured the real personality and intellect of Horowitz. The stories are fascinating and for any piano student, like me, this is an absorbing read. Not a great book....but one for travel and vacation that is easy to read, without the voluminous footnotes.

I read everything about Horowitz that I can get my hands on. And I think that this book is the least superficial and the most emotionally provoking book about the Maestro. It does irk me that the author is elevated a little too much in the book. But, I get a new look at Horowitz that makes me see him as a man and not some eccentric genius that had no feelings.

Other reviewers fault Dubal's self-absorption, and while I realize he is quite pleased with himself, I think the book is excellent - delightful to read, full of interesting stories about life with the monster maestro, and displaying the author's considerable musical erudition. There is much to be learned here. As for the ethical question -- when you have been a guest in a famous man's home for a period of years, do you then write a book exposing the flaws of your host? It is easy to look askance. But if Dubal had not written this book, we piano lovers would all be the poorer. I keep Evenings with Horowitz on a central bookshelf in my library, where I often refer to it -- not least for the valuable discography and insightful comments on Horowitz' recordings. I only wish Dubal had been a guest of Franz Liszt in the 19th century -- what a book that would have been!

This entertaining book gives a small glimpse into the thoughts and habits of Horowitz in the last few years of his life. The conversations about composers and musicians are fascinating and Mr. Dubal has captured Horowitz's enthusiasm for and knowledge of composers and music admirably. Equally fascinating are the descriptions of the Horowitzes at home or dining out. This is a book to be dipped into and enjoyed.

A quick word about the author. Unfortunately, I do think that he inadvertently reveals himself as being rather unlikeable. Furthermore, his literary ability is questionable: I found the book to be poorly structured and written. Yes, he sometimes comes across as self-important and yes, if it weren't for Horowitz no one would ever have heard of Dubal, but the book is enormous fun and I have read and re-read it so many times that I may need to buy a new copy!

This is an excellent book that exposes all aspects of the amazing musician, Horowitz. As a musician, I find it intriguing to learn about the more personal traits of artists, rather than the factual information found in most biographies. A true artist is a complicated person, and I don't believe that Dubal's intent was to either glamorize himself or to make Horowitz unsympathetic. Keep in mind that the title of this book is Evenings With Horowitz. If you are looking for a dry account of this richly inspiring musician, buy another book. I highly recommend this book to any true musician.

How do you get nearly exclusive access to one of the most elusive and reclusive artists in the world? You put yourself in a very submissive position, you grovel, you kowtow to him. That's what author David Dubal did, through most of their relationship, and this book is an interesting look at that.

To be blunt about it, Horowitz--by Dubal's own reckoning--was spoiled, self-centered, and manipulative. He was also magnetic, fascinating and capable of great charm, although he seemed to use it mainly when he wanted to get something from Dubal. The two men used each other to a degree here--Dubal as a conduit to the outside world and Horowitz as profile-booster and fodder for his radio program on WNCN--but that's the only way relationships like these can happen, and we owe something to Dubal for lifting the curtain of what went on inside the maestro's house during the last years of his life. It's a glimpse we would not have had, had Dubal not ingratiated himself into the Horowitz's lives. This book isn't on a par with Joseph Horowitz's (no relation) fascinating study on Claudio Arrau, largely because JH and Arrau's conversations were more of a two-way street. Still, this is a fascinating book, dealing with a wide range of subjects, from Horowitz's views of Rubinstein and Rachmaninoff, to his feelings about his homeland, to his reverence for Mozart, whom he describes as "his Number One." We learn that wife Wanda managed every aspect of Horowitz's career except the artistic. NO ONE made artistic decisions for Horowitz, though if the author is to believed (if), Horowitz did take some repertoire suggestions from Dubal. We also learn, not surprisingly, that for all his culture Horowitz was a very limited man in many respects, unable to function even in simple ways in society without help, and ignorant of much of art outside his own realm.

As the book goes on, despite some touching and rewarding moments, we gradually see a resentment building and finally bubbling over because of the way both Vladimir and, even more, Wanda, tried to control and manipulate Dubal. Aside from a jacket blurb for a book, Horowitz never favored Dubal with any reciprocity for the favors Dubal did him. His self-centeredness can't be attributed merely to his being a "genius"; the pianist was reportedly fawned on non-stop as a small child before he even played a note, and grew up with a sense of entitlement. In short, he was spoiled rotten, though in fairness he did suffer many hardships, mostly at the hands of Soviet authorities. Later marrying Toscanini's daughter probably didn't help things, either. Horowitz could be so incapable of reaching out--or unwilling to reach out--to anyone, that his own daughter eventually committed suicide as a result of his indifference to her. Even his marriage to Wanda appeared passionless. Dubal discusses much-speculated homosexuality but concludes Horowitz was probably never intimate with members of either gender--his feelings and emotions poured out through the piano, and were meant for an audience of thousands, not an intimate one or two. (Ironic, then, that Dubal later bemoans the death of intimacy and the rise of mass-communion with audiences in the afterward of his book.)

I recently pulled this off my shelf and reread it.

Taken as a whole, it is a wonderful, inside look at one of the last century's greatest (if not the greatest) pianists. The maestro's musical knowledge and tastes offer a sincere and many times amusing view from his world. Mr. Dubal takes the warts and all approach (some personal details could have been left out). One can see how much they appreciated each other. While Wanda (Toscanini) Horowitz comes off as quite caustic (the acorn didn't fall far from the tree!) she also came to love Mr. Dubal.

I do believe Mr. Dubal has a love for music. He has a more direct, opinionated style that sometimes puts people off than say a Karl Haas who exuded a certain warmth. But, his Horowitz discography at the end of the book is a tremendous insight into Horowitz's proclivities and a handy guide to his recorded works.

Recommended for serious music lovers and you will certainly learn something about the great composers.

Dubal's penetrating account of his relationship with Horowitz is compelling and fascinating. Of course it is a personal account...how could it not be?

Growing up and taking piano lessons from a European-trained teacher I would buy every record Horowitz put out and listen to it closely. But reading this book was a revelation. Every great artist has a right to control what they choose to put out in front of the public but Horowitz is like Bob Dylan (a comparison that would have him turning in his grave I suppose) in that there is so much great material the public has no access to. I thank Dubal for writing this book because I found the subjects he discussed fascinating and much of it would not otherwise have seen the light of day. Contrary to some reviewers I am thankful that Dubal puts himself and his opinions upfront because I find them very informed and useful, as did Horowitz himself I might add. I was entranced by the discussion of the Busoni cadenza and how it would up on Horowitz's Mozart recording- this is the sort of detail that only adds to my enjoyment of the record.
It's interesting that genius can go hand-in-hand with a tangled psyche and Horowitz by all descriptions was a difficult man. But the same can be and has been said of personalities as diverse as Richard Feynman, Thelonious Monk, and Phineas Newborn. They give us works of genius and that will last long after the associated baggage is a matter of history. I love this book and every time I go back and reread sections I am immediately driven to replay some of the music. The music will stand the test of time, I have no doubt about that, and I for one am grateful to have more information about it, particularly concerning views and pieces that we would otherwise be in the dark about.

There are four biographies of Vladimir Horowitz. I have read all four, and this one is by far the best. The other three either only describe historical facts or only randomly put together other musicians' critiques of Horowitz's pianism. "Evenings with Horowitz" is the only one which really reveals the inside world of this legendary pianist.