Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoïlovitch Horowitz (in, in), was a Pianiste Russian virtuoso of world famous, born with Kiev on October 1st 1903 (certain sources quote Berditchev) and dead the November 5th 1989 with New York.
Of Jewish origin, coming from a middle-class medium of the cultivated Ukrainian company, Vladimir Horowitz learned the piano as of the five years age in company from his mother. At twelve years, it entered to the Conservatoire of Kiev. It accepted there a musical teaching which made of him an achieved pianist, although then it preferred to compose rather than to play the music of the others. He studied then with Sergueï Tarnovski, then with Felix Blumenfeld. A musical meeting undoubtedly marked the formidable destiny of the Horowitz young person: the famous Russian type-setter Alexandre Scriabine, after having heard it with the piano, encouraged it in the way of the musical career.
It is at only seventeen years that Vladimir Horowitz gave its first public concert, with Kiev, its birthplace. Its musical fame was already ensured in Russia thanks to its interpretation of twenty-three recitals Leningrad in 1924. The following year, it made a round very appreciated in Europe. He already is very noticed for his precise play and its great virtuosity, so that a concert with Berlin in 1926, is worth to him the nickname of “hurricane of the steppes”.
Consequently, Vladimir Horowitz connects the representations: in 1928 it occurs with London then with New York with the Carnegie Hall, by playing the first concerto for piano of Tchaïkovski with the Philharmonic orchestra of New York. It began the same year its first recordings. Horowitz became acquainted then with Sergueï Rachmaninov; the two pianists quickly became very friendly. Rachmaninov, itself pianist virtuoso, declared about his third concerto which he had not imagined that one can play it as brilliantly as Horowitz. Rachmaninov restores especially for Horowitz, which was made a speciality of its interpretation, its second sonata which it had simplified because it did not exceed of it any more itself the technical difficulties.
Liking the environment of the French capital, Vladimir Horowitz settles temporarily with Paris, of which he will want to never leave the culinary richnesses thereafter (!). In 1933, it played for the first time as a soloist, with the large Italian leader Arturo Toscanini, the Concerto n° 5 (known as “the Emperor”) of Beethoven with the Philharmonic orchestra of New York. The same year, in December, he marries Wanda Toscanini (the girl of the leader), met at the time of one of the repetitions in this concert. It is in 1939 that it leaves the France to settle definitively with the the United States, with New York.
The public of Horowitz could regret certain periods of complete absence of the scene: before its departure in the United States (between 1936 and 1938) then between 1953 and 1965, 1969 and 1974 and of 1983 with 1985. These periods correspond to periods of deep depression of the artist, contributing to the romantic image which one can have of his character. Horowitz indeed knew misfortune to lose his/her single daughter, Sonia, which died in Geneva in 1975.
Nevertheless, the hurricane of the steppes moved crowd for each one of its concerts where the places expensive and were reserved very a long time in advance. Its very narrow and accessory report/ratio with the public was constitutive of its great charisma. However, its rare concerts were very appreciated owing to the fact that he carried out his best interpretations there, exceeding by far all the recordings programmed in studio. Horowitz arrived at incredible performances in front of thousands of people, taking great risks pianistic in front of which move back the near total of the pianists in public, and creating a “ protoplasmic reaction with the goes down for hearing ” (extracted from interview in a queue where camped the fans in order to buy tickets for one of its recitals in Carnegie Hall).
Its propensity of youth with the musical writing haunted it all its life, often said it. Thus, it arranged many pieces, which sublimated, musicalement and technically the originals, and the scarcity of its appearances in public gave them only more price. For example, the Rhapsody S Hungarian women 2,6 13,15 (Rackoczy March) of Liszt, or its exceptional rewriting of the macabre Dance of Camille Saint-Saëns arranged for piano by Liszt, or its impressive transcription of American walk The Stars And Stripes Forever, of John Philip Sousa, where one can understand per moment 3, even 4 completely different votes at the same time!. More subtly for example of discrete modifications of scherzos of Chopin, or the finale of Polish heroic, of which the interpretation which it gave in (a) in Berlin in the years 1980 is a model of interpretation horowitzien, putting very well forward the “beautiful canto” characteristic of its play. A particularly famous composition (it gave of it in particular a single version in concert deprived to the White House) are the Variations Carmen on a topic of the famous opera of Bizet. Many pieces arranged or composed by Horowitz are interpreted or currently begun again besides by young pianists, such Arcadi Volodos (Variations Carmen, macabre Danse, Rackoczy March…) or Valeri Koulechov ( Homage to Horowitz, virtuoso transcriptions for piano , at (A). This list is nonexhaustive: one can add his paraphrases of Tableaux of an exposure of Moussorgsky, or of others).
Horowitz was nevertheless conscious of the theatrical drift that such brilliant parts made take with the recitals, being said to voluntarily limit, in serious musician , this type of pieces in (a), describing them as “ mints ” which one could not misuse:
One can regret today that Horowitz put such an amount of care to compose its recitals, and to choose the few worthy pieces to be interpreted in concert or of recording. The consequence is indeed that its discography is less wide than one could have wished it. For example, he did not interpret an other rhapsody of Liszt only the four already quoted. However, all its interpretations were maturely reflected, it did not play a type-setter as long as it had not read integral work of it. This made it possible the musical world to redécouvrir in particular Muzio Clementi or Domenico Scarlatti, of which Horowitz ingénia to show itself that they were precursors of the romanticism and music of Beethoven.
At the end of its life, Horowitz developed a love of the music of Mozart and carried out a recording of the famous concerto n°23 in the major one in 1987. It is in spring of the same year that its last public representation was given, in Germany. Let us underline finally the art of Horowitz in the interpretation of the music impressionist (Liszt, At the edge of a source for example; Wagner Isoldes Liebestod arranged for piano by Liszt, one of the last recordings of Horowitz) but also of the modern music. Horowitz indeed created many sonatas of Kabalevsky and Prokofiev in the USA (6th, 7th, 8th). For the anecdote, Horowitz played the 7th sonata of Prokofiev, written in 1942, to the Soviet consulate of New York in January 1944, and sent the first specimen of the disc to Prokofiev which returned a signed specimen of the partition to him on which he wrote with the extraordinary pianist on behalf of the type-setter .
Vladimir Horowitz died at his place, in New York, on November 5th 1989, of an heart attack. He is buried in the tomb of family of Toscanini, with Milan.
Mythical pianist from now on, the “king of the pianists” Vladimir Horowitz was admired for the power of his play pianistic and his multiple technical prowesses, by the public as by the professional pianists Clara Haskil (which called it “Satan with the keyboard”), Martha Argerich, Sviatoslav Richter, Arcadi Volodos, Valeri Koulechov… It gained the reputation of the best virtuoso for his interpretations of Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scriabine and Tchaïkovski.