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Horowitz: The Last Recording

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Vladimir Horowitz had just celebrated his 86th birthday when sessions for this recording began in October of 1989. He had recently been lured to Sony Classical by their new director, Gunther Breest, who had signed Horowitz on at Deutsche Grammphon in 1985. One advantage that Sony carried, besides a bigger paycheck, was the latest technology. This recording utilized Sony's then new 20-bit technology, which resulted in a more defined sound picture for this most subtle of pianists.

The contents of this CD were all new to the Horowitz discography. By the late 1980s, Horowitz had refined and stripped down his art to the essentials. There are none of the histrionics of his early recordings, nor any of the attempts to prove to the listener that he could still play the fastest and the loudest which marred some of his recordings from the 1970s.

Horowitz was stimulated by Haydn's diverse pianistic textures and whimsical changes of mood. The first movement, a bouncy Allegro, is a perfect demonstration the "controlled freedom" of Horowitz's late period. While following the same basic pulse, Horowitz introduces tiny alterations of tempo which keeps the music flowing coherently, without sounding metronomic. The rapidly ascending scale passages here are played with a dazzling evenness of touch. The slow movement, a true cantabile, is phrased as though it were being sung rather than played. The minor key outburst is, for a rarity, truly shocking. The Finale is played with a gentle virtuosity which never goes beyond the bounds of appropriate Haydn style.

Horowitz recorded more of Chopin's music than that of any other composer. He was justly famous for his performances of Chopin's Mazurkas, which seamlessly blended the dance and poetic elements. The performance of the C minor Mazurka here makes one regret he didn't record many more.

Horowitz was fanatically passionate about Ignaz Friedman's performances of the Nocturnes, but recorded surprisingly few himself. Many of his earlier recordings of the Nocturnes were played on too large a scale, with a prevalent note of hysteria. The two Nocturnes presented here are another story indeed. There is a rare sense of repose, at times an almost deathly calm, about these performances. There is also Horowitz's rare ability to weight the various elements of melody, harmony, and accompaniment, down to the smallest micron. Horowitz' floating of the top, middle, and lower lines, interweaving them effortlessly, is in many ways more stunning than any kind of thundering virtuosity.

But if it's the more obvious kind of virtuosity you want, it is amply demonstrated in the Fantasie-Impromptu. Played at an extremely fast tempo, Horowitz demonstrates here that fidelity and freedom with regard to the score can coexist. He is one of the few pianists who bothers to repeat the first phrase as a quieter echo of the forte statement--as indicated in the score. He also preserves the structure of the piece by maintaining the initial tempo in the central section rather than slowing down to chase rainbows--and he adds some tiny embellishments along the way.

Horowitz is technically and musically on top of the A-flat Etude, but the E Minor Etude suffers from an overstressed ending.

Horowitz was very selective about which Liszt he chose to preserve on recordings. For this recording, he chose the rarely played Prelude from Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, a desolate reworking of a theme from J. S. Bach's Cantata No. 12. Horowitz masterfully alters the mood for each variation, while maintaining the inner continuity of the piece.

Naturally, the Wagner/Liszt Liebestod (literally, "Love/Death") would have extramusical implications due to the circumstances of the recording. It is true, Horowitz plays the aria as if he knew this would be his swansong, giving the performance all the eroticism, lyricism, and thundering virtuosity he could muster, for the last time. He died on Sunday, November 5th, four days after the Liebestod was taped.

This recording is a must for all Horowitz admirers, indeed, for all those who value great piano playing. The informative and moving liner notes are by Horowitz's friend and junior colleague Murray Perahia, who was with the Maestro the day before he died.

It is truly amazing to think that Horowitz was 86 years old when he made this recording. The virtuoso passages of Chopin that require fingertip pyrotechnics are played with flawless precision and a sense of nuance and shading that is exquisite. At his very best, Horowitz took music to a level where he made the piano into his palette and painted a marvelously subtle musical picture. On the slower passages, every note and even the intervals between the notes exhude a calm self-assured artistry. This is not just wonderful music; it is sheer poetry. As Murray Perahia writes in his touching essay in the CD insert, Horowitz felt that what made a composer truly classical was "an intensity and purity of expression where every note matters, every note has meaning." One certainly hears and feels that intensity and purity on this CD.

There is also a noticeable improvement in sound quality on this CD, that was recorded digitally, in comparison to earlier Horowitz recordings I have heard from the analog era. How fortunate we should all feel that he lived into the digital era and was still playing at such a sublime level into his final years, so that he could leave us this musical legacy. My personal favorite on this CD is track 6, the "Fantaisie-Impromptu, Op. 66 of Chopin, which is played with dazzling scintillating brilliance and, at the same time, superb control, subtlety, and deep emotion. However, a close second for me is the tenth track, Liszt's "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen" a Prelude based on a theme from Bach's Cantata No. 12. Horowitz's performance of this composition is achingly beautiful. The CD booklet has an excellent essay by Murray Perahia in English, with German, French and Italian translations. A wonderful CD and fitting memorial to one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century.

This album was the last ever made by this awesome legend of piano-playing. Recorded at his own home in six sessions over twelve days, it is stunning to realise that this performance comes from a man of 86 years of age. I thought I had heard just about everything he had ever recorded. This album includes music he had never before played publicly ' at least not in the USA - or recorded.
Haydn's Eflat Sonata No 49 sparkles from start to finish, full of typical Horowitzian colour and drama, yet classical in flavour and beautifully balanced.
A Mazurka, two Nocturnes and two Etudes by Chopin, and Liszt's arrangement of Wagner's 'Liebestod' follow, each pianistically fabulous in terms of colour, multiple singing melodic lines, textural richness and clarity.
The popular and much-hackneyed Fantasie Impromptu flows unexpectedly quieter than one usually hears it played, which is rather refreshing. I took a while to get used to the absence of sentimentality in the middle section.
The 'Weinen Klagen' Praeludium is a gem. This late Liszt composition is not particularly well-known. In his later years Liszt explored and developed visionary harmonic ideas, which are exemplified in the richly chromatic 'Praeludium.' Horowitz brings it's darkly exquisite harmonies to life with turbulent intensity. Although it comes second to last, I understand this was the last piece of music recorded for this disc, therefore the last ever recorded by the maestro. This recording was completed on 1st November 1989. The maestro died on November 5th 1989.
A few quirky features here and there, but it would not be vintage Horowitz without those. Essential listening for piano music lovers and especially Horowitz fans.

I make the case that Chopin is the father of modern music in my review of Horowitz's "The Last Romantic" ..... and this CD provides more evidence ..... think of the extraordinarily haunting melody and chords of "Some Enchanted Evening" ..... this song was lifted directly from Chopin's Etude 1 No. 25 and you can hear it on this disc.... beautifully played by Chopin's greatest interpreter (in my opinion). The disc also includes "Fanatasie Impromptu" ... one of the tunes that opened the ears of this pop and jazz fan to 'classical' or 'romantic' music.

In his book "Evenings With Horowitz", the eminent piano professor David Dubal quotes someone by the name of James Hilton (an author, I think) who wrote: "If by some dispensation a man born deaf were to be given hearing for a single hour he might well spend the whole time with Horowitz. Indeed, when I listened to Horowitz for the first time, it was almost like that - as if I had never heard the piano before - as if the instrument itself had never known what it could do until Horowitz came along."

Listen to this CD and you will no doubt agree. As Dubal says elsewhere, Horowitz somehow unlocked the secrets of sonority on the piano. Listen to Earl Wild's or Alfred Brendel's or Jean-Yves Thibaudet's recordings of the Liszt/Wagner Liebestod. Then listen to Horowitz's - it's a revelation, it's shocking, it's hard to comprehend. After Horowitz, the others are impossible to listen to again, they sound wrong, they sound ill thought-out. So how does he do it? I think the answer is very complex. It's partly the unique singing sound he produces, in itself miraculous. It's also the particular accents, nuances, crescendos, diminuendos and other "effects" he employs. It's also partly the tempo - not fast but somehow just right and it makes you realise that the other recordings are too slow. And I suppose it's also the decades of experience and learning that he brings to bear and which help him stamp the piece with his own individual authority. The other pianists' recordings of this piece are commonplace and frankly unmoving. Horowitz's recording will bring tears to your eyes with its poignancy, tenderness and sheer beauty.

What of the other pieces? The Hadyn sparkles. The Chopin studies are marvellous - how can an 80-something year old play them better than all the youngsters out there!! The lyrical section of the Fantasie-Impromptu doesn't drag in Horowitz's hands but sings all the same.

I agree fully with the view of Harold Schonberg who wrote the definitive Horowitz biography - he felt that Horowitz in his last five years or so reached new heights of sonority on the piano. He was too old to execute his death-defying technical stunts so instead he pushed the boundaries in other ways. I forget who it was but it was someone like Claudio Arrau or Shura Cherkassky or some other legendary pianist who said that upon hearing Horowitz live for the first time they were "in shock, absolutely in shock". I think this recording is an excellent example of that. The quality of the recording is good enough to give you some idea of the unique, inexplicable Horowitz sound.

There are a few "bests" here in my opinion so lets list them one by one. This is the best Haydn by far. Horowitz really brings the piece to the summit of artistry but also interpretation. It so hard to comprehend how a pianist can take the aristrocratic and relatively reserved Haydn sonatas and turn them into a potpourri of colors. Everything is here - the typical surreptitious Haydnian staccato - a slow movement with real cantabile. Its a shame that Horowitz didn't record more Mozart and Haydn.
Horowitz playing of both of the etudes here are just sensational. How creative can you get?!!! Bringing out inner voices and colliding/merging them with others. Also the first nocturne is the best I have ever heard.
I must be frank and say that the fantasie-impromptu didn't make me too happy. Its played a little bit sloppy and I don't understand what he is trying to convey with the middle section which plays kind of fast and loud. I think this might have to do witht the fact that the piece is overplayed but who knows.

This is a pianist that has no limits. He can play 1000 different types of staccato, legato, etc... but he also has emotion. Horowitz is up there in heaven looking down and shaking his head at all the immitators.

Listening to Horowitz my whole life, this recording is out of this world! To think Horowitz was days before death when he recorded this makes you wonder if he was indeed human! The musical smoothness and nuances of bringing out inner notes is a joy to listen to. The Haydn is amazing and each Chopin proves to be a new, fresh experience. The Liszt is remarkable from start to finish. There's something about hearing the "Liebestod" (brilliantly played!) and knowing it was Horowitz's final recording and he poetically would die shortly thereafter. The inner response you'll feel upon hearing each piece is a religious experience! I listen to this CD over and over!

This CD is Horowitz blowing out and becoming a supernova, pretty much. This recording is the pianist's swansong, the final track recorded a mere four days before his death. In both the all-new repertoire chosen for this recording, and the unparalleled emotional display of the actual performance exists a level of reflectiveness, maturity, and introversion that is rarely seen in this world. The disc begins with a tenderly presented Haydn sonata, given a delicate touch that only Horowitz could bless the piece with. Among the Chopin works that create the central body and heart of the recording are the nocturnes ops. 55/2 and 62/1, both later, reflective and pensive works (especially the B major nocturne, which was among the last works that Chopin ever wrote...Because of this connection I believe Horowitz's performance to be more true to the composer's intent than even the best performances by other leading Chopinists). The disc closes with two Liszt transcriptions, the first a stunning display of pianism based on a theme of Bach. The final piece is Liszt's transcription of Wagner's "Liebestod" -- which, in an amazing occurrence, translates into English as "Love Death". Horowitz makes the piano roar, chant out the sound of a full symphony orchestra, shimmer with brilliance and radiance, but at the same time he makes it sing longingly, lament love and death, even cry. And with that...a moment of triumph, victory, resolution and peace, Horowitz concludes his career and his life.
So why does this disc deserve a perfect rating? Historical significance (and the way it reflects in the music) aside, this recording is one of the most colorful, the most delicate, the most musical, and the most powerful sets of music I've ever heard in my life. Add in the history behind the disk and the incredibly touching essay included in the liner notes, and this becomes essential purchasing for a connoisseur or any fan of piano music or Vladimir Horowitz.

Once considered as a wizard of the keyboard for his breathtaking technical skills and musical insight, Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989) continued to play before public or make recordings till the end of his life. His last tour brought him to prestigious musical venues (Vienna, Berlin, Hamburg, Tokyo etc) and staged him a glamorous returning in 1986 to his homeland, the former Soviet Union, to perform in Moscow and Leningrad much acclaimed recitals.

Here we have the very last studio recording of Horowitz, achieved during his last months in 1989 and comprising works never recorded by him before : Haydn - Sonata in E flat major, Chopin - Fantasie-Impromptu op.66, Etudes op.25 nos. 1 & 5, Nocturnes op.55 no.2 & op.62 no.1, Mazurka op.56 no.3, Liszt - Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen and Wagner/Liszt - Isolde's Liebestod. As Murray Perahia remarks in the liner notes, "we get something very personal, as if he was distilling the essence" of music he performed, so that one can sense in the late Horowitz style a kind of wise temperance, an equilibrium finally achieved. The most important feature of these last recordings is the need of conveying deep feelings in a serene manner, with the whole wisdom acquired in a life at the piano. The vivid and precise finger-work, though less spectacular than decades ago, carry now the calm memory of his inner turmoil, his pacified passions and contradictions, his pleasure to play. Horowitz's serenity "sounds" wonderful in these valedictory accounts.

For all Horowitz aficionados a genuine must!

Of all of Horowitz recordings ever made, this one to me seems the most balanced. Everything is in good taste here, and there are few "excessive" tendencies except perhaps in one of the endings of the Chopin Etudes perhaps the trills were "over-exaggerated." You won't find a better played Haydn Piano Sonata anywhere. The Fantaisie Impromptu is probably my favorite one ever recorded, as well as the Chopin Mazurkas and Nocturnes. Sound quality is unbelievably clear and warm.