Customer Reviews

Horowitz Plays Chopin, Vol. 2

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Sonata No.2 was recorded in was recorded in 1950. It sounds metalic and clattery. 1st movement is played at strangely measured tempo, quivering with nervous energy. Prest is electrifying, but overall his later stereo recording of the sonata on Sony is more compelling and refined.

Nocturne Op.9 No.2 and Op.55 No.1 is beautifully phrased and paced, with plenty of poetic feeling and breath-taking tonal shading.

Impromptu No.1 suffers from background hiss, but the pianist's brilliance and subtlety still shine through. Etude Op.10 No.3 slightly suffers from distortion, but the performance itself is more poignantly felt than his later recordings. Etude No.4 is played with astonishing clarity and agility, if not as intense as Richter's breakneack-speed accounts of the piece.

Although poorly recorded in 1947, I love this particular performance of Ballade No.1 for its urgency and the sense of inevitability in the build-up of emotional intensity.

Scherzo No.1, recorded in 1951, is one of the most powerful and intensely felt accounts of the piece in Horowitz's entire discography, second only to Richter's devil-may-care accounts.

My personal major discovery listening to this extraordinary recording is that Chopin truly took many ideas from Bach; it is only thanks to Horowitz playing the Étude Op. 10, No. 4 in C-sharp minor that I suddenly realized that it is based on another work from another time - on Prelude (and Fugue) No. 3 in C sharp major, BWV 848, from Bach's Well-tempered Clavier.

Chopin did say that Bach was one of them who shaped his musical outlook - so this surely must have influenced the composition of this etude. Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in C sharp major, BWV 848 could be found in many interpretations, and one of them by Glenn Gould can be easily found on youtube or elsewhere.

It is so ironic and suspicious that Gould was adulatory about Bach and dismissive towards Chopin - did he really not know of such an obvious link between the two composers? It is hard to believe that a professional piano player would not know; so it must have been Gould's pose. Perhaps he reached his limitations with Chopin, because with this composer, in addition to impeccable technique one must be able to transcend emotion - those Nocturnes, Ballades, Etudes require an additional layer of mastery as compared to the difficulty of playing French suites, for example.

Well, luckily Horowitz played both, Chopin and Bach, adding another facet to the unique diamond of his musical genius.

What is also so special about Le Divin Horowitz playing this Etude is that no one else can match him with exquisiteness, as always - no Shura Cherkassky, no Richter (Svyatoslav could never compete with Vladimir), and only Martha Argerich is just as fast, furious, exact and technically impeccable - but her playing is lacking Horowitz's elegance and expression; she may be a tigress, but Horowitz is truly a Lion King.

Some insights about this etude:

"Étude Op. 10, No. 4 in C-sharp minor is a solo piano work composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It is written with a very quick tempo, continual sixteenth notes (semiquavers), and rapid voice fluctuations. In addition to mastering the technical difficulties of this étude, the focus is also on never losing the thread of the melody, as it passes from one hand to the other.

The étude is episodic in length and complexity, and features four distinct sections. The first theme is presented, and rapidly progresses into a short second theme. This leads back into a repetition of the first theme, which then develops into the climax and Coda.

Many elements contribute to the overall difficulty of this momentous étude. The phrasing is frequent and detached, and many editions cite pedaling, but none appears in the original, except at the last four bars (79-82). The key signature, C-sharp minor, leads to peculiar finger positions, especially in the second theme, which consists almost entirely of fully diminished 7th chord arpeggios."

What I find marvelous, a typical innuendo that writers and composers play with themselves, is that the key is still C sharp in Chopin; the only change from Bach is that he uses C-sharp minor, while Johann Sebastian used C-sharp major! Somehow this seems like a major statement to me, expressed so discreetly and eloquently at once.

There are many other masterpieces in this recording and each requires a detailed analysis, as they all are very complicated works, despite the deceptive easiness of Horowitz playing and pleasing the ear. Thus only a few can be chosen, and I chose the Etude; however for me the other notable one is the Scherzo No. 1 op. 20 in B minor. It is said to be influenced by his feeling for his native Poland, at that time in conflict with Russia. It is a rare opus where Chopin uses folk melody - an old Polish Christmas song ((Lulajze Jezuniu).

The structure of this Scherzo is as follows:

"The tempo is marked as Molto Piu Lento. The B major area dissolves as the harmony mysteriously changes character via secondary dominant. The two chords from the very start reappear, superimposed over vestiges of the middle section. Then the beginning presto repeats itself in the familiar minor tonic.

The lead-in to the dramatic, virtuosic coda is similar to the approach toward the Molto Piu Lento, but slightly different (as it is with Chopin's Second and Third Scherzi also). This final section incorporates dizzying arpeggiated flights up and down almost the entire keyboard, suspended by a climactic series of nine ten-note chords (E# diminished seventh (with diminished third), augmented sixth chord in root position, secondary leading-tone chord of tonic B). After the resolution and a rapid chromatic ascent over four octaves in both hands, the coda and piece come to a triumphant end via a bold minor plagal cadence."

In this rendition of the Scherzo No. 1, Horowitz famously duplicated the chromatic scale near the ending into interlocking octaves, a technique he often uses as his signature on other pieces. The interlocking octaves were meant to be played at the same speed as the original chromatic scale.

Amazing virtuosity; he is Mozart among pianists; surely there must have been numerous Salieris fearful of his prowess, afraid of him for reaching insurmountable heights that no one else could attain. I think he did it - even if there are many other pianists to love and admire, no one can play like him; he is truly an Elbrus and Erebus of the hellishly divine art of piano playing.

When I heard this version of "Funeral" at the classic branch of a music store, a stuff of its jazz section rushed here to ask what title this album has. I had already decided to buy it, surprising at its sound effects. It was the real story twenty years ago. This amazement would be re-presented even now.

It is the young Horowitz that played this Funeral. He did never try to evoke the kind emotion, but simply to show the effect that the music has. It is the moment of the genuine pleasure to bring us the concentration of the consciousness on this sound and lead to the catharsis at last.

This splendid masterpiece is lack of the repetition of the trio, according to his intention. It seems to him too quiet and kind to play twice.

Once you hear this sound, you will never forget it all your life.