Horowitz at the Met

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Vladimir Horowitz's 1981 Metropolitan Opera recital had its ups and downs. Portions of the Liszt and Chopin Ballades, for instance, push the 78-year-old pianist's technique to its limits, though his fortissimos still rock the room. If the G Minor Rachmaninoff prelude is effortful and fussy, the Chopin A Flat Waltz (Op. 69 No. 1) sings with unforced simplicity and individuality. As for Horowitz's imaginative, skittish Scarlatti sonatas, you can't hear how the pianist deliciously varied the repeats because RCA edited them out. For shame! --Jed Distler

Tracks:

Six Sonatas: In A-Flat, Kk. 127, L. 186: Allegro
Six Sonatas: In F Minor, Kk. 466, L. 118: Andante moderato
Six Sonatas: In F Minor, Kk. 184, L. 189: Allegro
Six Sonatas: In A, Kk. 101, L. 494: Allegro
Six Sonatas: In B Minor, Kk. 87, L. 33: Andante mosso
Six Sonatas: In E, Kk. 135, L. 224: Allegro molto
Ballade No. 4 In F Minor, Op.52
Ballade No. 2 In B Minor
Waltz In A-Flat, Op. 69, No. 1 'L'adieu'
Prelude In G Minor, Op. 23, No. 5

Customer Reviews:

You need it to complete your collection of Horowitz.......2003-02-25

His Chopin, there is a little bit of mannerism and too spontaneou. Well, even Liszt himself was a showman after all. Horowitz had to earn his living by concertizing before he was emotionally ready, and then having to flee from his motherland and later losing his only child and then the onset of horror for the stage... these all help to explain his demonic, which is so daring and sometimes even at the expense of the necessary emotional import, sometimes more amusing than touching...

Horowitz is unique, too sensual perhaps, but never dry. Here Horowitz gave his best keeping the balance between mannerism and dryness. Better than most of his middle age recordings. First rate, no question about that. What is more, the audio sound here is excellent. Recommended.

a rewarding Horowitz disc.......2001-03-09

One of Horowitz's most rewarding discs. I don't like the remastering work here much either, but it's still a first-rate recording. The first issue had a more authentic sound. Audiophile concerns, however, are the least important aspect attending a recording like this. The playing is stupendous in every way - magisterial and lighthearted at once! For all his natural Russian bluff (something essential to his art, and hardly a disparaged excess), Horowitz is ultimately a color man, and a singer when he plays; his Scarlatti in fact owes everything to the opera, so layered with detail, and delight of the 'first' voices. When I hear Horowitz's Chopin, I often think of Guiomar Novaes- not the same movement of sound, but the same ideal of singing in the playing. The 'L'Adieu' is perfect art here, the kind Horowitz never failed to honor with his Chopin. A good deal of what we truly love about Horowitz's playing is of course the pianos he uses, why not say it?! HE would! This recording at the Met illustrates that principle in beautiful proportions; the sound of the instrument (I suspect it's the one from his home?) is a constant joy throughout the recording, especially on the first issue CD. The second half of the program here is both ambitious and safe (I think the programming finer on the Moscow concert), but it's the Scarlatti that means the most; those sonatas like a row of little jewelled houses living under the sun are each a testament to the greatness of this man's pianistic art. Not only that, Horowitz was an enormously cultured man of constant individuality; the elegance of a legacy comprised of uncompromising musical taste and consummate daring speaks louder than the shadow of an almost savant facility. I think he was one of music's rare beings - this recording so testifies. Don't wait.

A Stunning Recital.......2000-04-02

The original release of Horowitz at the Met was one of the first CDs I bought when I got my first player in 1986. The clarity and beauty of sounds were nothing short of astonishing back then. RCA has remastered the recording using the latest technology and for me the results are varied: The dynamic range is dramatically increased, but the hall ambiance seems to have been almost eliminated.

Whatever one's opinion of the sound, the recording captures Horowitz in his autumnal prime in works he was obviously comfortable with. Horowitz almost single handedly ressurected Scarlatti, and his approach to these elusive works consistenly illuminates. He almost never embellished the text, but provides more than enough variety with an endless pallette of tone colors.

Horowitz seemed more at home in Chopin's Ballade #4 than he did in the first Ballade. The phrasing, dynamics, and dramatic build up are just so "right" here, that one can scarcely imagine a better performance--even with the occasional minor slip of finger.

Liszt's Ballade is more bombastic than anything else. Horowitz fills the work with such epic "mad-scientist" fury, one can actually take the work seriously, at least until the track ends.

The Chopin Waltz combines both--very different--editions of Chopin's text, with perhaps a dash of Horowitz' melancholy.

The Rachmaninoff Prelude has a swinging beat that one seldom hears from this piece. The central section is as sexily voiced as a siren's song. The applause at the end is most welcome.

The master and audiophole technology.......1999-12-19

This is the first time I heard the 24/96 audiophile recording. It feels so real and sounds much better than a regular 20/44 CD. I hope some of the great Horowitz recordings can be released again on this format. I will have no hesitation to buy any Horowitz recordings on this format.

virtuosity & incredible sound quality.......1999-11-17

Admittedly, I am no expert on the classics and hadn't heard anything that's on this CD before, and only bought it to hear the "24/96" audiophile sound. That said, it's a great performance, all the more so when you consider Horowitz was 78 at the time. And the sound...it is just the best, most realistic, most musical piano sound I have ever heard on any CD. It sounds like a grand piano is in the room. When Horowitz does the thundering low scales in the Liszt piece, the intensity and sound quality will thrill you. And the more sedate pieces also sound wonderful. Lots of praise has to go to the technical people responsible for this reissue...and all you have to do to marvel at the results of their work is buy this CD.

Average customer rating:

A Stunning Recital

Horowitz at the Met

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Waltzes | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Ballads | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Classical Instrumental Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Horowitz Plays Schumann
Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff/Concerto for Piano in Dm; Sonata for Piano No2/Vladimir Horowitz, Pianist
Horowitz Plays Mussorgsky, Scriabin, Prokofiev, and others

ASIN: B000003FCW
Release Date: 1993-04-06

Tracks:

Son in A flat, L.186: Allegro
Son in f, L.118: Andante Moderato
Son in f , L.189: Allegro
Son in A, L.494: Allegero
Son in b, L.33: Andante Mosso
Son in E, L.224: Allegro Molto
Ballade No.4 in f, Op.52
Ballade No.2 in b
Waltz, Op.69, No.1 'L'adieu'
Prld, Op. 23: No.5

Amazon.com

Vladimir Horowitz's 1981 Metropolitan Opera recital had its ups and downs. Portions of the Liszt and Chopin Ballades, for instance, push the 78-year-old pianist's technique to its limits, though his fortissimos still rock the room. If the G Minor Rachmaninoff prelude is effortful and fussy, the Chopin A Flat Waltz (Op. 69 No. 1) sings with unforced simplicity and individuality. As for Horowitz's imaginative, skittish Scarlatti sonatas, you can't hear how the pianist deliciously varied the repeats because RCA edited them out. For shame! --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

A Stunning Recital.......2006-10-01

The original release of Horowitz at the Met, the pianist's first digital recording, was one of the first CDs I bought when I got my first player in 1986. The clarity and beauty of sound was nothing short of astonishing back then. This recording captures Horowitz in his autumnal prime in works he was obviously comfortable with.

Horowitz almost single handedly ressurected Scarlatti, and his approach to these elusive works consistenly illuminates. He almost never embellished the text, but provides more than enough variety with an endless pallette of tone colors.

Horowitz seemed more at home in Chopin's Ballade #4 than he did in the first Ballade. The phrasing, dynamics, and dramatic build up are just so "right" here, that one can scarcely imagine a better performance--even with the occasional minor slip of finger.

Liszt's Ballade is more bombastic than anything else. Horowitz fills the work with such epic "mad-scientist" fury, one can actually take the work seriously, at least until the track ends.

The Chopin Waltz combines both--very different--editions of Chopin's text, with perhaps a dash of Horowitz' melancholy.

The Rachmaninoff Prelude has a swinging beat that one seldom hears from this piece. The central section is as sexily voiced as a siren's song. The applause at the end is most welcome.

Average customer rating:

Horowitz at the Met

Manufacturer: MHS
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000MSHNTG

Average customer rating:

Horowitz At the Met
Vladimir Horowitz , Scarlatti , Chopin , Liszt , and Rachmaninoff
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000E68J
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Track Listings:

Track Listings

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