Search - Vladimir Horowitz :: Legendary Berlin Concert 18TH May 1986

Memorable concert

Brother John | The O.C. | 02/03/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Horowitz discography has been amended again by more latter-day performances that are just now being released. Fans of VH will obviously take note at the sheer number of duplicate performances of many of these pieces from his last years. To date there must be at least a dozen commercially available recordings of Schumann's Traumerei alone. Or the Chopin Op. 53 Polonaise. The Schubert-Liszt Soiree Waltz too. It's fascinating how different each version is. It is true that he never played the same piece twice in the same way. Not even two days apart for that matter. (The famous Moscow telecast and the lesser-known, lo-fi, Leningrad boot concert is evidence of that!)



Let's first observe the obvious: there is a sheer number of technical mistakes in this concert. VH was no perfectionist and he admitted it publicly. There was no attempt to scotch-tape takes from other sources to these performances. That's what RCA and CBS did during his lifetime. Nonetheless, VH has always had a spell on his listeners with his musical communication - as flawed as it could be. His performances largely transcended the technical errors. Not many musicians could ever get away with this. And this live concert is no different.

The Kreisleriana had been rerecorded in the studio the previous year. This version (and other available boot live versions that have been floating around form the same time) could not be more different. And certainly it is substantially different than his 1969 studio recording. There is some sign of technical struggle for VH, but basically this night he is quite 'on' and storms through with a lionhearted passion. It is certainly one of the 'free-ist' renditions one will ever hear! The Liszt, Scriabin and Chopin items all display similar spontaneity and zest.

Such Horowitzian qualities are mostly lacking in today's musical performance education. Individualism, creativity and spontaneity is oppressed in favor of excessive refinement and adherence to the ultimate authority of the published score. Nothing too loud, too soft, too fast, too slow, or too 'showy', is encouraged. Cerebral refinement and perfectionism is key in the minds of the musical performance academia. Still, young artists should be exposed to playing like this, and not because it is good to hear mistakes - but to take part in what it means to experience music straight out of the heart and into the heart.



The live recording is quite good, by the way. The audience rarely gets in the way outside of a few coughs here and there.

"

Horowitz conquers Berlin

Hank Drake | Cleveland, OH United States | 02/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Despite returning to studio recording in 1985, a number of Vladimir Horowitz's live recitals have been released over the last two decades: Two from Milan in 1985, Moscow (on both CD and video) and Leningrad from 1986, Vienna (on video) and Hamburg (his last recital) in 1987. This recital from 1986, Horowitz's first concert in Berlin (then known as West Berlin) since 1932, is in many ways the best of the bunch.



The Scarlatti Sonatas are by turns sober, sprightly, and bouncy. The biggest piece is Schumann's Kreisleriana, and the performance really coheres, belying the fragmentary nature of the work. Despite a few wrong notes and some blurring at points, Horowitz's treatment of Kreisleriana's more demanding passages proves that the technical achievements of his 1985 studio recording were no editorial trick. Horowitz must have been in love with the Schubert-Liszt Soirees de Vienne, he played it at every one of his 1985-1987 concerts. The piece brings out Horowitz the charmer, nearly a forgotten commodity these days.



There is a minor fumble in the Rachmaninoff G Major Prelude, (where the right hand crosses over the left) but Horowitz covers it up in a way that will have knowledgeable listeners smiling. The remaining Rachmaninoff and Scriabin pieces go without incident and are more technically stable than Horowitz's Moscow performance. Liszt's Sonetto del Petrarcha is more organic, less sectionalized than the Moscow performance, with a slight reduction of bravura in favor of poetry - and ravishing pianissimos. Those pianissimos also feature in Liszt's Valse oublieé, given as an encore.



It was in Berlin where Horowitz's performances of Chopin Mazurkas in the 1920s led to the headline "Our Piano Culture is Reawakened." Appropriately, two contrasting Mazurkas are presented here, featuring lovely plasticity of phrasing and creative balancing of inner voices. The A-flat Polonaise makes for a sure-fire recital closer, with Horowitz taking the famous left-hand octaves at a faster pace than he usually did in his later years.



The acoustics of the Berliner Philharmonie auditorium seem to agree with Horowitz, and the sound quality is excellent. The reverentially quiet audience helps. Strangely, this recording is being issued by Sony Classical rather than Deutsche Grammophon, which was Horowitz's recording company in 1986. No matter. The 36 page booklet contains three perceptive essays and numerous photos (including rare pictures of Horowitz wearing eyeglasses)."