Volume III: The Historic Return

The Complete Masterworks Recordings

Volume III: The Historic Return - The 1966 Concerts

Sony Classical: S3K 53461

CD 1

Johann Sebastian Bach/Ferruccio Busoni
1-3. Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, BWV 564

Robert Schumann
4-6. Fantasy in C major, Op.17

Alexander Scriabin
7. Sonata No.9, Op.68 (Black Mass)
8. Poème in F-sharp major, Op.32 No.1

CD 2

Frederic Chopin
1. Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op.30 No.4
2. Etude in F major, Op.10 No.8
3. Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23

Claude Debussy
4. Serenade for the Doll

Alexander Scriabin
5. Etude in C-sharp minor, Op.2 No.1

Moritz Moszkowski
6. Etude in A-flat major, Op.72 No.11

Robert Schumann
7. Träumerei, Op.15 No.7

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
8-10. Sonata in A major, K.331

CD 3

Frederic Chopin
1. Mazurka in B minor, Op.33 No.4
2. Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 No.1

Alexander Scriabin
3. Sonata No.10, Op.70

Joseph Haydn
4-6. Sonata in F major, Hob. XVI:23

Robert Schumann
7. Blumenstück, Op.19

Claude Debussy
8. L'isle joyeuse

Franz Liszt
9. Vallée d'Obermann

Welcome Back, Volodya

Volume Three of Sony's complete reissue of Vladimir Horowitz's Columbia Recordings contains the dramatic recording of the great pianist's 1965 return to the stage after a twelve year absence. The four LPs released by Columbia (An Historic Return, Horowitz at Carnegie Hall; and 1966's Horowitz in Concert) have been placed onto three well filled CDs.

Horowitz had been rehearsing in Carnegie Hall for months before he announced a recital scheduled for May 9. He had reacquainted himself with the Hall's acoustics, but could not prevent his shaky nerves from asserting themselves the day of the concert.   Horowitz arrived at Carnegie Hall very late, and his tardiness made the audience as nervous as he was. To make matters worse, Columbia ordered the Hall's noisy air-conditioning turned off, which quickly turned the packed auditorium into a sauna.

Thus, the odds were against Horowitz when he stepped on stage to a tumultuous welcome. To deny the fact that his nerves got the better of him during the opening trial-by-fire Bach-Busoni Toccata is to deny reality. Mixed in with the grandeur of Horowitz's conception, and the dazzle of some passages, are numerous slips of finger. This recording serves to illustrate the fact that the merits of live and studio recordings are weighed in different scales. (There exists in RCA's vaults a 1950 studio recording from Horowitz which outdoes the 1965 version both musically and technically, but it has never been released.)

Schumann's Fantasy is given a rich, vibrant, and ardent performance, which recalls the composer's passionate love for Clara Wieck. The first movement features an array of tonal color which Horowitz could never achieve in the recording studio; in the March Horowitz brings to the fore Schumann's almost obsessive dotted rhythms; and the final movement is some of the most moving playing, by turns reflective and exultant, Horowitz ever achieved. The rarely played Blümenstucke (from 1966) is offered in a teasing, relaxed manner.

In Scriabin's Sonata No. 9 (as well as No. 10, recorded in 1966), Horowitz is in his element. Beyond the demonic temperament required for these works, Horowitz's Scriabin is also notable for its pianistic clarity, architectural solidity, and faithfulness to the score (one can almost take dictation from Horowitz's playing).

Horowitz recorded more Chopin than any other composer. By 1965, Horowitz was long regarded as one of the great Mazurka players, and the two Mazurkas here (C-sharp Minor from 1965, and B Minor from 1966) illustrate why. The pianist was able to balance the dance/poetic elements, preventing the Mazurkas from sounding either straightjacketed or chaotic. The same can be said of the Etude in F, two minutes of musical ecstasy, and the intensely performed Nocturne in E Minor (1966). The Polonaise-Fantasy (1966) is given a brooding, moody performance, with plenty of rubato, yet the work never splinters. This performance is far superior to Horowitz's hectic 1951 version, and his disorganized 1982 London performance. Horowitz ended his 1965 program with the Ballade in G-minor, giving a performance which was by turns poetic, soaring, and epic.

The four encores from the 1965 concert demonstrate Horowitz's increased subtlety in the brooding Scriabin Etude, simplicity in the Debussy Serenade and Schumann's Träumerai, and the "old Horowitz" in the rippling Moszkowski Etude.

Horowitz's playing in the 1966 recitals was more balanced and controlled than in the 1965 return concert.

Horowitz was seldom playing Mozart at this stage of his career. The Sonata, K. 331, is given a highly inflected reading, with a deliberate, rather slow Turkish March. As beautiful as it is pianistically, it lacks the convincing simplicity of the pianist's later Mozart performances from the 1980s. The Haydn Sonata in F Major is more successful. Horowitz seems inspired by Haydn's diverse pianistic textures and sudden musical gear-shifting, replete with deceptive cadences.

Abandoning the "piano without hammers" approach favored by some pianists, Horowitz gives us a dazzling "Isle of Joy" by Debussy, with an array of garish colors and an orgiastic ending.

As with many of his Liszt performances, Horowitz saw fit to make textual changes to the Valee d'Obermann from the composer's Years of Pilgrimage. The changes made here are subtle, mostly confined to tightening Liszt's rambling structure and eliminating repetitive passages. They serve Liszt's memory well, and I cannot imagine the composer being anything less than thrilled at Horowitz's re-creation.

There have long been misconceptions about these recordings. While it is true that portions of the 1965 concert we're edited by Columbia, the extent of the patches has been exaggerated. The second movement coda of Schumann's Fantasy is the only major correction here, and there are a few minor patches in Chopin's G-minor Ballade.   (Horowitz rationalized correcting the Schumann mistakes by stating it was caused by perspiration dripping into his eyes...whatever.) Horowitz did not return to Carnegie Hall the day after the concert to re-record the passages in question, the patches were pulled from Horowitz's rehearsals before the concert.   In the 1966 concerts, Horowitz often played the same program more than once, and Columbia simply picked the best parts from each and spliced them together.

Believe it or not, there are more performances from the 1966 concerts in Sony's vaults, including Beethoven's Variations in C minor, a Mendelssohn Song without Words, and Poulenc's Toccata. Hopefully, some enterprising producer will bring these to light someday.

Despite some overly close microphone placement, this recording captures the unique sound of Horowitz performing in Carnegie Hall (until its acoustics were spoiled in 1986, Horowitz's favorite American concert hall). The remastering has opened up the dynamics, and the piano sound is fuller than in previous issues.

© Hank Drake

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