Horowitz Plays Liszt

Franz Liszt (Composer), Vladimir Horowitz (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Vladimir Horowitz
• Composer: Franz Liszt
• Audio CD (June 8, 1993)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003FCV
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,075 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #87 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Ballads

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's a pity that RCA didn't wait until 1978 to record Vladimir Horowitz' shattering Liszt Sonata, rather than issuing this live performance from 1976. Horowitz had just reacquired the work, and its demanding figurations clearly had not settled in all in way. Still, Liszt and Horowitz' heroic voices ring true. The pianist packs everything but the kitchen sink into Mephisto Waltz, adding Busoni's embellishments and a coda of his own devising. By contrast, the gentle Consolation soars with simplicity. For prime Horowitz, turn to his classic 1950 Funérailles, where his big vision and demonic flair prevent the music from becoming a mere octave etude. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly theatrical, an interpretation of extremes, beyond the boundaries of good and bad taste, August 4, 2007

By 

Discophage (France) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Horowitz Plays Liszt (Audio CD)

As a write this review, this disc can be purchased for under 3$ under its other entry (Horowitz Plays Liszt). That's not much for one of the most controversial, but in my opinion one of the most extraordinary accounts of Liszt's Sonata ever committed to disc. It was in 1977, and Horowitz re-recorded that great work 34 years after his pioneering effort from 1933, a version still considered by some as a standard, and certainly one in its time. But I find that in his later version, Horowitz has considerably changed his view and added insights not even hinted at in the earlier recording.

Mind you, I am not a Horowitz groupie (I usually like his Schumann and Scriabin, his Schubert much less, and I have mixed feelings about his Chopin), and I when I returned to this disc (I have the original CD release from 1987), I certainly wasn't ready to genuflect jut because my God was playing. But it has me bowled over.

But be prepared: as the other reviews bear witness, controversial this new reading certainly is. If I heard it for the first time on a blind test, I'd immediately think of a Russian pianist, and one with a big and controversial personality - say, Feltsman, Pletnev, or Pogorelich (OK, not Russian, but Russian-trained). If I were to encapsulate Horowitz' approach in one word, it would be "theatrical". Under the hands of Horowitz, from the first bars on, the Sonata is not just a piece of music, it is a theatre play or an opera - and I bet Horowitz had Faust in mind, one of the composer's great influences (and I do think Faust is the Sonata's hidden agenda). The phrases develop as a story told, or rather, enacted. Now it is precisely this very theatricality that some critics (and listeners) have hated. I remember the Fanfare reviewer when the LP was first released, calling it "vulgar theatrics". Well, theatrics they certainly are, and vulgar? Possibly, as Grand Opera can oftentimes verge on the vulgar. Horowitz here is beyond the boundaries of good and bad taste.

Indeed, it is an interpretation of extremes, extremes of tempo (it is much more spacious than in 1933, 30' to 26:30) and even more, of dynamics. Horowitz can be brutal and demonic and wring out an awesome amount of decibels from his piano, reminding one of the older Richter (but with more demonic power). Even more than in 1933, the touch has an exciting crispness and the technique shows no sign of wilting - it even sounds more assured than before. But Horowitz can sweetly sing as well and mold out his phrases as a soprano would sing them - some might say too effusively, but I don't find so. The big fugue starts at 19:33 in a subdued manner and almost playfully - cat playing with mouse, maybe, or rather Mephisto with Faust, before ruthlessly claiming his soul: "the time has come". And sure enough: soon the extremes of violence burst out.

This is an interpretation to love or hate - I am among the lovers.

To me the rest is sheer bonus. We get the content of the original LP, to which RCA has added the famous 1950 "Funérailles", in a good transfer.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Agony & Ecstasy, November 14, 2001

By 

Robert J. Sullivan Jr. (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Horowitz Plays Liszt (Audio CD)

This is a very mixed bag. Only the "Funérailles" (1950) shows Horowitz in his prime; the rest of the selections date from 1977-81, a period when his technical control (and sometimes his taste) frequently deserted him. The huge sonorities in the Sonata are betrayed by clotted rhythms - the all important flow between titanic climax and cantabile is often ragged. Snatches of coherent narrative are punctuated by indulgent tonal noodlings. There's a really bad splice at 2:03 of the Sonata; after that he seems to gather his resources and achieves some stunning effects, mostly of the fff variety.

The Ballade is a slight improvement; the live acoustic has a powerful resonance (try the climaxes around the ninth minute). Horowitz confided that parallel scales were a weak point in his technique. So, his unison isn't perfect, but he is fearless in the ascending runs of the Ballade. The Mephisto Waltz concludes with an embarrassing pastiche of codas - the final chord may have been struck with Horowitz's elbow. The audience goes wild, of course. Horowitz's "Funérailles" is great pianism. From the stricken opening chords to the primal accelerando that takes hold of the left hand octaves, this is probably the finest rendition ever recorded.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Horowitz CD presents two important recordings., January 1, 1999

By 

[e-mail] Kevin Wilson (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Horowitz Plays Liszt (Audio CD)

For the Horowitz lover or the Liszt devotee, this CD presents two important recordings. First, from Horowitz's late period, is the Ballade No.2 (1981). None of his late recordings better displays his legendary dynamics, tone coloring and melodic lines than the beautiful pianism in the Ballade. Second, from the period shortly before his "retirement", comes his justly famous performance of the Funerailles (1950). The titanic, octave-pounding, super-bravura style of Anton Rubenstein demonstrates the immense "sound" and emotion that made the young Horowitz world famous. The rest of the disc offers lesser performances from his later years, during noticeable periods when his technical skills had declined temporarily. The best all- Liszt CD available is Jorge Bolet's recording, "Franz Liszt, Favorite Recordings" (London, 2CD set): superb throughout, unmatched in the over-all scope of the pianism.