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96 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Horowitz finally gets his due - sort of, December 2, 2009
This review is from: Vladimir Horowitz- The Complete Original Jacket Collection (Audio CD)
After being released in a piecemeal, disorganized manner for decades, all of Vladimir Horowitz's RCA, Columbia, and Sony recordings are now available in one convenient, budget priced boxed set. (The Deutsche Grammophon recordings are not included, of course, nor are the HMV/EMI.) This set contains some newly issued performances, which I will comment on below. For space reasons, I refer you to my other reviews on Amazon for the previously issued material.
While this 70CD set is not remastered from scratch, this set does use the best existing versions of each recording. As for the RCA recordings, wherever possible, the Gold Seal versions from the 1980s and early 1990s are not being used. For example, the Beethoven Moonlight and Waldstein Sonatas from 1956 utilize the Classics Library master from 2004, which is far superior to the Gold Seal CD that was issued around 1990. Likewise, the 1943 Tchaikovsky Concerto with Toscanini uses the source material that appeared in the 1992 Toscanini Collection, rather than the lower quality version that was used in the Gold Seal CD issued in 1990. There are numerous other examples. For those of you who are wondering, the correct takes for the 1976 Schumann Concerto without Orchestra are used in this issue (a set of outtakes was briefly issued by mistake in 1989).
As to the Columbia recordings, Sony is using the same remasterings that were used for the blue boxed set in 1993. (The sole exception is the 1962 Kinderszenen which was remastered in 2003.) In the 1969 Kreisleriana, the (wrong) takes that were issued on the 1993 boxed set and every CD since are used again here. So, hang on to your LPs and the MK42409 CDs if you still have them.
As with other Original Jacket issues, the cover art from the original LPs (or, in a few cases, CDs) is used. The original programming is also strictly being adhered to, which has not always been the case with this series. The advantage is that Horowitz's programming concepts are respected (and Horowitz was a master at building a contrasted and interesting program). The disadvantage is that the playing time for most of these CDs is short. However, at budget price, I'm not complaining. Some trivia: in the early LP era, RCA issued both 10" and 12" LPs, depending on the playing time of the program. For this set, only the 12" LPs are used, with one exception: the Brahms Violin Sonata with Milstein, which was originally issued as a 10" record and only appeared on a 12" LP decades after the fact. Also, none of the 45RPM issues are being used (RCA had issued 45s as a transition between 78RPMs and LPs).
One CD includes assorted RCA recordings that were never issued on LP. This includes both the 1928 and the 1957 expanded version of Horowitz's Carmen Fantasy. The Chopin Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4 from 1975 that was issued on the Japanese version only of Horowitz Rediscovered is likewise included. Also, two CDs have the contents of Horowitz in Concert - 1967-1968 and Discovered Treasures, combined with two short Debussy works that were released in 1993.
Now, some information on the two "new" recitals: both the 1951 and 1967 recitals show Horowitz in excellent form and are valuable additions to his discography - though there is no new repertoire in either recital. The sound for the 1951 recital is mixed, because two different sources are being used: RCA's tapes of the recital and 33 1/3 RPM discs that were made for Horowitz's review. Both the taped and disc items sound cleaner than those in the Private Collection recordings. Mozart's K. 333 Sonata is a radically different (and more musicologically "correct") interpretation than the pianist's 1987 performances - yet I find the later recordings more pleasurable to listen to. Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata is thundering and compelling, similar in conception to Horowitz's 1945 studio recording, but with the added adrenaline he invariably put into his live performances. The Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 illustrates one of Horowitz's unique attributes: he could play "cool" and "hot" at the same time. The ending to this piece defines the word climactic.
The 1967 recital from Brooklyn College is in spectacular sound - indeed it sounds more like the Horowitz I heard live than many of his digital recordings. Horowitz plays the music (including Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 101, five Scarlatti Sonatas, Chopin and Rachmaninoff) in much the same manner as his existing Columbia recordings. Two exceptions are Chopin's Barcarolle, which is played tenderly and in contrast to his other rather tempestuous recordings, and Horowitz's own Carmen Variations, which has a different coda. Both the 1951 and 1967 recordings are unedited, so this is the real Horowitz without any interference: imperfect and utterly compelling.
Where this set falls short is documentation. While the liner notes are reproduced on the back of the mini-LP jackets, you'll need a magnifying glass to read them - and not all the LPs had notes. The 200 page booklet includes track listings, recording dates (some of which are not accurate), another photo of each LP cover, a perceptive essay on Horowitz by Jon Samuels, and a chronology of Horowitz's life. The chronology contains errors, and there is a humorous misspelling on one of the LP jackets. The track listing of Volume 55 does not match the contents of the disc. (I detect the work of interns.) It's not realistic these days to expect that Sony/BMG can give Horowitz the red carpet treatment that Arthur Rubinstein was accorded in 1999 (although Horowitz certainly deserves it), but is it too much to ask for adequate and accurate documentation? The above complaints demote this set from five stars to four.
One further note: The Horowitz material issued in 2009, including the 1986 Berlin Concert and the two Private Collection recitals (an additional CD is planned for 2010) are not included in this set. 2009 is the twentieth anniversary of Horowitz's death. It's nice to know he hasn't been forgotten.
ADDENDUM: This set won the 2010 Gramophone Award for Historic CD Reissue.
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52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
awe inspiring, December 2, 2009
This review is from: Vladimir Horowitz- The Complete Original Jacket Collection (Audio CD)
I was fortunate enough to attend three Horowitz recitals in the 1970's, while he still was in top form. I remember the thrill of getting the tickets to these concerts - I'd been collecting Horowitz albums for years and never expected I would have the opportunity to see this great pianist in performance. My experience was that what I heard in performance was just as amazing as what I heard on records. How many 76 year old pianists would dare to play the Rachmaninoff sonata in recital? Horowitz, and it was a tour-de-force.
Yes, Horowitz could exaggerate things (composer-critic Virgil Thomson famously called him a "master of distortion and exaggeration"); and over time, I came to realize that his musical personality wasn't well-suited to certain composers (Beethoven, for example). But when it came to Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Scarlatti, Chopin, Schumann and so forth - well, the insight, creativity and energy he brought to these composers was unparalleled.
As for the albums: Horowitz started recording with RCA 1952, signed a contract with Columbia in 1962, and then returned to RCA in 1975. I'd been collecting for years and owned most of the mono 1950's RCA LP's, all of the Columbia LP's and most of the later RCA albums. While Sony, which purchased the Columbia catalog many years ago, did a good job reissuing the Columbia Horowitz material on cd, the hatchet job that was done on the RCA LP's when they were issued on cd was appalling and I regretted buying most of them. Why hadn't RCA replicated the programs of the LP's when issuing the cd's? This is a rhetorical question, of course; it all had to do with marketing. But this "complete original jacket collection" is a reversal of the ill-conceived programs cobbled together on the earlier cd incarnations of these recordings. Instead of taking advantage of the 80 minutes or so that can be squeezed onto a cd, the producers of this new box set elected to reproduce, on a one for one basis, the LP's as they were issued by the respective recording companies. This approach respects the artist's thematic plan for each LP as it was recorded, recognizing that an album is a sum of its individual parts and not just a collection of randomly chosen pieces.
This new set, then, restores what has been lost - literally and figuratively. In my case, literally, as I lost my home in a wildfire two years ago and thousands of cd's and LP's went up in smoke. Now, in one fell swoop, this 70 cd set restores to my library all of the RCA and Columbia material, plus some new things. The Columbia material, which has been readily available on cd for a long time, is pretty much indispensible; however, the Sony recordings from late in the pianist's career, are of less interest. Those who have never been exposed to the 1950's RCA recordings, as they were originally programmed, are in for some amazing listening.
The sheer number of recordings in a reissue of this size demands a considerable amount of time to digest, and there are so many highlights that to comment on them almost implies that those not mentioned are in some way inferior. Nevertheless, for me the recordings that are most memorable (not in any order) include the RCA Scriabin album from 1955 with the forceful third sonata; the seminal 25th anniversary double album, from a Carnegie Hall recital in 1953, just before Horowitz's 12 year retirement; an earlier, even more sensational, Carnegie Hall recital double album from 1951, never before released except for Schumann's Clara Wieck Variations & a Chopin mazurka (and with a glaring cover typo wherein Carnegie is spelled "Carnegy") - an incredible concert from beginning to end, including a kaleidoscopic Prokofiev seventh sonata and a shattering Liszt sixth rhapsody; the "Piano Music of Chopin" album (rec 1949-52) with the third and fourth ballades that uncoil like electrified snakes; "Horowitz Plays Chopin" (1957) including brilliantly conceived scherzi nos. 2 and 3 along with an assortment of nocturnes and an epic Barcarolle; the "Piano Music of Mendelssohn and Liszt" album (rec 1946-50) with remarkable recordings of Variations Seriuses, the Wedding March Variations, and a pulverizing Liszt Funerailles and 15th rhapsody; "The Young Horowitz" with Kabelevsky's third sonata and a beguiling reading of Tchaikovsky's Dumka; the 1951 Carnegie Hall recording of Pictures at an Exhibition, for which there are no superlatives except to say that it surpasses Richter's famous 1956 Sofia recital reading; the Rachmaninoff third concerto with Fritz Reiner, a benchmark recording. And this just covers some of the mono RCA recordings.
The Columbia albums, which Horowitz began making in 1962, demonstrate an overall quality of playing and recording that is exceptional. The debut album opens with a stunning remake of Chopin's second piano sonata, Rachmaninoff etudes tableaux that raise goosebumps and then the pianist's arrangement of the 19th Liszt rhapsody. Along the way are novelties like the all-Scarlatti album, the all-Scriabin album (Horowitz's readings of this composer are truly unparalleled, but listening alone is not enough; go to Youtube and watch Horowitz play the op. 8 no. 12 etude from his 1968 TV broadcast, and Vers la flamme from a video made in his home, both simply astonishing), an all-Rachmaninoff album, and so forth - there's hardly a dud among them. Among the highlights is the double album drawn from various 1966 Carnegie Hall recitals, finally restored to its brilliant original format, with, among other gems, a biting and idiomatic Haydn sonata, transcendant readings of Scriabin's tenth sonata and Debussy's L'isle Joyeuse plus Horowitz's "re-arrangement" of Vallee d'Obermann - a supercharged traversal, even though Liszt didn't need any help from Horowitz in this case. Did I mention "Horowitz Plays Chopin," opening with a sizzling Polonaise-Fantasie taken from a 1966 recital, and which also includes a genuine Horowitz "find," the obscure Introduction and Rondo op. 16?
Horowitz's work after re-signing with RCA in 1975 is of a high order, although, as he aged, some of his later recordings started sounding less like Horowitz and more like other pianists, which is to say, less superhuman. Interestingly enough, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as the nervous edge that characterized so much of his work was gradually replaced by greater expansiveness and scope. The debut album for RCA presented two major works that were new to Horowitz's repertory, Schumann's "Concerto Without Orchestra" and the Scriabin 5th sonata. Next, however, came the Golden Jubilee Recital disc featuring a disjointed Liszt sonata, a disappointment especially in view of the pianist's famous EMI recording from the 1930's. The next solo disc was exceptional - Schumann's Humoresque, two pieces from Rachmaninoff gorgeously played and two from Liszt including a sumptuous Consolation No. 3 and an overwhelming Mephisto Waltz. The last four albums that Horowitz made for RCA are somewhat less interesting. There's a remake of the Rachmaninoff sonata, previously revised by Horowitz, that incorporates further revisions by the pianist; but it can't replace the scintillating version he recorded for Columbia twelve years earlier. "Horowitz at the Met" opens with a clutch of Scarlatti sonatas (Horowitz was a brilliant miniaturist), then an excellent fourth ballade of Chopin. Critics seemed to love his reading of the Liszt Ballade which follows, but it's filled with garish effects including splashy scales and turbocharged octaves that are completely out of place. But Horowitz could still deliver delightful surprises: the 1979/1980 "On Tour" album opens with an unusual choice, a superb Clementi sonata "Quasi Concerto" - who else played this stuff then? The three Rachmaninoff pieces which close this disc confirm once again that not even the composer himself played his music as well as Horowitz.
Not everything Horowitz tackled came off well. His Beethoven, which I mentioned earlier, is not to my taste (the op. 101 captured in the previously unreleased Whitman Auditorium recital from 1967 is representative); and his Chopin recordings from the 1940's and 50's could be hard and edgy. Horowitz's temperament was very different from that of RCA's other pianistic star, Artur Rubinstein, something which is apparent in a side-by-side comaprison of their Chopin recordings. For example, Horowitz's Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise is driven, if not explosive, whereas Rubinstein's recording is a model of elegance coupled with virtuosity. For me, Rubinstein prevails. Generally speaking though, Horowitz had the wisdom to play what was within his musical grasp and to stay away from that which was not. And despite the occasional accusations of showmanship, which I think are mostly unfounded, Horowitz had a great understanding of tension and drama that transformed many of the pieces he played into (dare I say it?) great theater.
One quibble with this set is that the producers elected to reissue most of the discs organized by label rather than in chronological order by recording. Thus the discs Horowitz recorded and released by RCA are sequenced together, even though Horowitz stopped recording for that company in 1959 and didn't resume until 1975. Confusing matters, the previously unreleased RCA recitals such as the two "Private Collection" discs from 1945-50 and "Horowitz Rediscovered" from 1975, among others no matter what label they were issued under or their vintage, are lumped together after the Columbia material. It would have made far more sense to arrange the discs following the arc of the pianist's career: RCA mono, then the Columbia recordings, then back to RCA. One can, of course, rearrange the discs in the box, which is what I did.
Hank Drake, an astute pianophile who has written numerous articulate and knowledgable reviews for Amazon, has pointed out the only deficiency of substance, which is the mediocre documentation (replete with sloppy typos) that accompanies this set - but, as he himself acknowledges, the music is ultimately what it's all about. With this I completely agree.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Piano at its best, December 25, 2010
This review is from: Vladimir Horowitz- The Complete Original Jacket Collection (Audio CD)
Many consider Vladimir Horowitz the greatest pianist that ever lived. This set includes recordings covering the majority of his career and repertory and is an excellent value.
If, however, you aren't quite prepared to start with a 70 CD set, or if you already have this set and are looking for the recordings not included in it, you may want to take a look at the Horowitz Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon. Since this large set does not include any of the Deutche Grammophon recordings, you can also safely get both sets.
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