"Artists are the Breath of Creation" By Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr © 2007
Artists Are More Than Notes Framed In The Structure of A Vibrated Wave, Creating Time Through Its Occupation Of Our Hearing,
Artists Are More Than The Stimulation Of Our Eyes, Through The Birth Of Vision, Bringing In A Wave Of Color Or Lack Thereof, Creating Emotion And Excitement In Thought And Soul,
Artists Are More Than The Healing Brought To Our Temporal Soul And Bodies Through Touch,
Artists Are The Breath of Creation, Which We Behold And Receive Through Our Senses, In Life.
All Rights Reserved Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr. © 2007
Vladimir Samoylovych Horowitz (Russian: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц, Ukrainian: Володимир Самійлович Горовиць) (OS 18 September, NS October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a Jewish-born, Ukrainian, classical pianist. His use of colors, technique and the excitement of his playing are thought by many to be unrivalled, and his performances of works as diverse as those of Domenico Scarlatti and Alexander Scriabin were equally legendary. Detractors claim that his output is uniformly mannered (termed Horowitzian), and often too much so to be true to the composer's intentions. Even so, he has a huge and passionate following and is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century.
Horowitz himself said that he was born in Kiev, Ukraine (then part of Russian Empire), but some sources have given Berdichev as a birthplace. His cousin Natasha Saitzoff, in a 1991 interview, stated that all four children were born in Kiev; Horowitz's wife, Wanda Toscanini, however, gave credence to the Berdichev possibility. He was born in 1903, but in order to make Vladimir appear too young for military service so as not to risk damaging his hands, his father took a year off his son's age by claiming he was born in 1904 (This fictitious birth year is still found in some reference sources, but authoritative sources now list - and Horowitz himself confirmed - his correct year of birth as 1903). Horowitz had piano lessons from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a competent pianist. In 1912 he entered the Kiev Conservatory, where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. He left the conservatory in 1919 and played the Piano Concerto No. 3 of Rachmaninoff at his graduation. His first solo recital followed in 1920.
His star rose rapidly, and he soon began to tour Russia where he was often paid with bread, butter and chocolate (Plaskin 52) rather than money, due to the country's economic hardships. During the 1922-1923 season, he performed 23 concerts of eleven different programs in Leningrad alone (Plaskin 56). In 1926 Horowitz made his first appearance outside his home country, in Berlin. He later played in Paris, London and New York City, and it was in the United States that he eventually settled in 1940. He became a United States citizen in 1944.
Horowitz gave his U.S. debut on January 12, 1928, in Carnegie Hall. He played Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham who was also making his U.S. debut. Horowitz later commented that he and Beecham had divergent ideas regarding tempos, and that Beecham was conducting the score "from memory and he didn't know" the piece.[citation needed] Horowitz's success with the audience was phenomenal, and a solo recital was quickly scheduled. Olin Downes, writing for the New York Times, was critical about the metric tug of war between conductor and soloist, but Downes credited Horowitz with both a tremendous technique and a beautiful singing tone in the second movement.[citation needed] In this debut performance, Horowitz demonstrated a marked ability to excite his audience, an ability he preserved for his entire career. As Olin Downes commented, "it has been years since a pianist created such a furor with an audience in this city." In his review of the recital, Downes characterized Horowitz's playing as showing "most if not all the traits of a great interpreter."
In 1932 he played for the first time with the conductor Arturo Toscanini in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (the Emperor concerto). The two went on to appear together many times, both on stage and on record. In 1933, Horowitz married Wanda Toscanini, the conductor's daughter in a civil ceremony. Their different religious background (Wanda was Catholic, while Horowitz was a Jew) was not an issue, since neither was observant. As Wanda knew no Russian and Horowitz knew very little Italian, their primary language became French. They had one child, Sonia Toscanini Horowitz (1934-1975).
Despite receiving rapturous receptions at his recitals, Horowitz became increasingly unsure of his abilities as a pianist. Several times he withdrew from public performances (1936-1938, 1953-1965, 1969-1974, 1983-1985), and it is said that on several occasions, Horowitz had to be pushed onto the stage (Plaskin 353). After 1965 he gave solo recitals only rarely (various sources).
Horowitz made many recordings, starting in 1928 upon his arrival in the United States and ending four days before his death in 1989. His early recordings were made for HMV, the most notable of which is his 1930 recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra, the first recording of that piece. From 1940 to 1959, Horowitz recorded for RCA Victor. During this period, he made his first recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, under Toscanini. In 1953, when Horowitz went into retirement, he made a number of acclaimed recordings at home, including discs of Alexander Scriabin and Muzio Clementi.
In 1962, Horowitz began recording for Columbia Records, and it is these recordings which are among the best known. The most famous among them is his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall and his 1968 performance from his television special, Horowitz on Television, featuring Scriabin's Etude Op. 8 No. 12 and Horowitz's own Variations on a Theme from Bizet's Carmen, the most famous of his piano transcriptions along with the Stars and Stripes Forever. From 1965 until 1982, many of Horowitz's recordings were done live.
Horowitz made numerous recordings, starting in 1928, upon his arrival in the United States. His first recordings in the US were made for RCA Victor. Because of the economic impact of the Great Depression, RCA Victor agreed that Horowitz's European-produced recordings would be made by HMV, RCA's London based affiliate. Horowitz's first European recording was his 1930 recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra, the first recording of that piece. Through 1936, Horowitz continued to make recordings for HMV of solo piano repertoire, including his famous 1932 account of the Liszt Sonata in B minor. Beginning in 1940, Horowitz's recording activity was concentrated in the United States. During this period, in 1941, he made his first recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 under Toscanini. In 1959, RCA issued the live 1943 performance of the concerto with Horowitz and Toscanini; some[attribution needed] say it is superior to the commercial recording. Beginning in 1953, when Horowitz went into retirement, he made a series of recordings in his New York townhouse, including discs of Scriabin and Clementi. Horowitz's first stereo recording, made in 1959, was devoted to Beethoven piano sonatas.
In 1962, Horowitz embarked on a series of highly acclaimed recordings for Columbia Records. The most famous among them are his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall and a 1968 recording from his television special, Horowitz on Television, televised by CBS. Horowitz also continued to make studio recordings, including a 1969 recording of Kreisleriana by Robert Schumann, which was awarded the Prix Mondial du Disque.
In 1975, Horowitz returned to RCA Victor, and made a series of live recordings until 1982. He signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 1985, and made both studio and live recordings until 1989, including his only recording of the Piano Concerto No. 23 (Mozart). Four filmed documents were made during this time, including the telecast of his April 20, 1986 Moscow recital. His final recording, for Sony Classical, was completed four days before his death.
Beginning in 1944, Horowitz began working with a select group of young pianists. First among these was Byron Janis, who studied with Horowitz until 1948. Janis described his relationship to Horowitz during that period as that of a surrogate son, and he often traveled with Horowitz and his wife during concert tours. During his second retirement he worked with more pianists, including Gary Graffman (1953-1955), Coleman Blumfield (1956-1958), Ronald Turini (1957-1963), Alexander Fiorillo (1950-1962) and Ivan Davis (1961-1962). Horowitz returned to coaching in the 1980s, working with Murray Perahia, who already had an established career, and Eduardus Halim. By this time, Horowitz was concerned that a pianist studying with him might be regarded as a Horowitz clone, so the sessions were not publicized and Horowitz insisted "I am not teaching you. I give you tips." Late in his career, Horowitz only endorsed Janis, Graffman, and Turini as pupils, although he admitted a number of pianists had played for him.
After another brief retirement from 1983 until 1985 (he was playing in a drugged state and as a result, memory lapses and loss of physical control occurred during his tour of America and Japan), Horowitz returned to recording and occasional concertizing. In 1986, Horowitz made a return to the Soviet Union to give a series of concerts in Moscow and Leningrad. In the new atmosphere of communication and understanding between the USSR and the USA, these concerts were seen as events of some political, as well as musical, significance. The Moscow concert was recorded and released, entitled Horowitz in Moscow. He also made a widely successful tour in Vienna in 1987, the video recording also available, entitled Horowitz in Vienna.
Vladimir Horowitz died in New York of a heart attack. He was buried in the Toscanini family tomb in Cimitero Monumentale, Milan, Italy. His body was rumored to have been buried along with a book of Hanon's piano exercises, because according to Horowitz, "I never want to do anything without warming up; that includes dying." Horowitz was 86.
Horowitz is best known for his performances of the Romantic piano repertoire. His first recording of Liszt's Sonata (1932) is still considered by many piano afficionadi as the definitive reading of that piece, almost 75 years later, with almost 100 other performances committed to disc. He is also acclaimed for his recordings of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, as well as for his famous hair-raising transcriptions, including his rewriting of the piano version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and his transcription of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Towards the end of the Friska section of the latter, Horowitz appears to have three hands as he combines all the themes of the piece, resulting in a fantastic finale. It was only recorded once, in 1953, during his 25th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and he stated that it was the most difficult of his transcriptions. Other transcriptions of note are his Variations on a Theme from Bizet's Carmen and Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. Audiences often would not let him leave the concert hall until he played his "scoring" of this piece. Later in life, he abstained from playing it altogether, as he said "the audience would forget the concert and only remember Stars and Stripes, you know." Other well-known recordings include works by Schumann, Scriabin, Chopin, and Schubert. He did much to champion contemporary Russian music, giving the American premieres of Sergei Prokofiev's 6th, 7th and 8th piano sonatas. He also premiered Samuel Barber's Piano Sonata.
Horowitz was sometimes criticized for his performances, with overwhelming double-fortissimos suddenly followed by delicate pianissimos. He was capable of producing an extraordinary volume of sound from the piano, without ever banging; this rare ability was also found in the playing of Liszt. Another unique aspect of his pianism was his taut, precise, and exciting attack, which was ever-present, noticeable even in his renditions of pieces that were not particularly technically demanding (e.g. his magnificent performances of miniatures, such as the Chopin Mazurkas). He is also famous for his octave technique; he could play scales in octaves extraordinarily fast without sacrificing any precision. When asked by the pianist Tedd Joselson how he practiced octaves, Joselson reports, "He practiced them exactly as we were all taught to do." (Schonberg). His hand-position was very unusual, playing with flat fingers. Rachmaninoff once commented upon it, saying that Horowitz plays contrary to what they had been taught, yet somehow with Horowitz it works. The little finger of his right hand was always curled tight until it needed to play a note; as music critic Harold Schonberg put it, "it was like a strike of a cobra" (The Great Pianists 436).
His extravagances were always well received by his audiences, but not by many critics. Virgil Thomson was famous for his consistent criticism of Horowitz's interpretations in his reviews in the New York newspapers.
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Wikipedia contributors. Vladimir Horowitz. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
July 7, 2006, 20:08 UTC. Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Horowitz&oldid=62612706.
Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr. would like to thank the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity. Thank You To "The Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia and The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc" For the Service You Perform For All Humanity, Free To The Public, And Which Purpose Is For The Education of Both The Soul & Spirit As Provided Through Their Internet Portal As So Here Linked, Referenced, And Displayed Above.
"Artists Are The Breath Of Creation" By Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr. © 2007
"Artists are the Breath of Creation" By Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr © 2007
Artists Are More Than Notes Framed In The Structure of A Vibrated Wave, Creating Time Through Its Occupation Of Our Hearing,
Artists Are More Than The Stimulation Of Our Eyes, Through The Birth Of Vision, Bringing In A Wave Of Color Or Lack Thereof, Creating Emotion And Excitement In Thought And Soul,
Artists Are More Than The Healing Brought To Our Temporal Soul And Bodies Through Touch,
Artists Are The Breath of Creation, Which We Behold And Receive Through Our Senses, In Life.
All Rights Reserved Daniel Lawrence Chesnut Sr. © 2007
Daniel L Chesnut Sr © 2007