Horowitz in London - non-TV 1982 (May 29) concert

[@Diatonic1958]

I was at this recital with my mother, and the more famous, televised one from the 22nd May. Actually, this recording was made by a friend of mine (I can tell), who had a mic up his sleeve! Horowitz was in better form than the previous week, or at least played with greater freedom. Both occasions were memorable however. So good to hear this again. Thank you!

[@OE1FEU]

What was the recording decive? A Nagra portable?

[@Diatonic1958]

@@OE1FEU All I recall is that it was a concealed portable cassette recorder!

[@jeroenpeeters9759]

I was 4 months old!

[@sammyc3720]

@@Diatonic1958 Hello, my name is Sam and I am currently working on a Vladimir Horowitz documentary to post on KZbin - I am going around and asking people like yourself to, if they are willing, to say which pieces were played the best in Horowitz’s performances, as well as how the performance was overall. Three questions I have for you (if you can remember): was the Royal family present in both concerts, or just the first? Secondly, as I have asked many people now, did Mr. Horowitz get a standing ovation at the end of the concert (as the program isn’t as “dense” as the first concert)? Finally, I have seen clips of a Horowitz interview in Paris with Eve Ruggieri (if that’s how her name is even spelled) - do you know if Horowitz performed any other concerts that year, or was his second London concert the last one until the 1983 tour? I’d love to hear back!

[@Diatonic1958]

@@sammyc3720 Hello Sam, I'm happy to help if I can. In reply to your three main questions: 1) Prince Charles was present only at the first concert on 22nd May (no other members of the Royal Family, as I recall). 2) Yes, there was a standing ovation at the end (and even a lot of people standing at the beginning!). 3) I don't know if Horowitz played any concerts later that season, as he was evidently entering a period of decline, resulting in the largely poor recitals in 1983. I think American fans would know better if he did play in the USA later in 1982. I have a feeling he might well have done, although whether this is something I actually heard about or guesswork, I am uncertain. Overall, I found the second recital, on 29th May, more secure and commanding (helped, I would think, by the absence of TV and radio). Apart from the six Scarlatti sonatas, the second programme was entirely different, as you know. I think Horowitz was somewhat restrained in the 22nd May recital, not least because it was his first appearance in London for thirty years! Even so, the beauty of his tonal colours and gradations was a miracle to hear. His technical wizardry was more obvious on 29th May. I hope this is of some help.

[@mosheknoll1603]

His rendition of the Liszt Ballade is EPIC! And his Scarlatti, as usual, is pure luminous magic. Horowitz was truly sensational, larger than life.

[@grubbetuchus]

Man-oh-man-oh-shevitz, these audience recordings are a treasure trove, slices of important parts of world history, the apex of polite civilization. What I'm saying is that archiving this artist is far more important than is the sonic quality of each audience recording. The operative theme is this: make the most of what you have and appreciate it as if it's all there is. Horowitz deserves this because he's uniquely an amazing artist.

[@OE1FEU]

I am a child of audience recordings and started out with a WM-D3 Sony Professional and with this I taped Horowitz, Michelangeli, Richter, Gavrilov, Bolet. This is what I look for: The piano as heard by a member of the audience. Thank god I have these treasures and others do, too. Hasn't changed in 30 years, I still want the hall sound of a piano.

[@grubbetuchus]

Yes, exactly! I wish I had written that, the piano as sounded by a member of the audience. It helps me to better imagine what it might have been like to be there, witnessing Horowitz as he was playing it. The closest I got was to be able to play a couple of notes on his Steinway D, and then listen to my son play a Debussy and then a Schumann on this historic instrument, what an honor & a thrill. Next to that, I was able to query my mother who used to attend his 1940 NYC recitals, asking her to describe to me her experiences being there. Lol, I didn't get much other than that everyone was excited to be there and that he was always wonderful.

[@nevskixx]

I attended this concert a week after the televised first. Remember queuing from 6 am to get 2 tickets a month before.. He had not been to London to play for 30 years. I remember passing the bill board advertising "HOROWITZ RETURNS". I have goosebumps remembering the feeling and excitement that this engendered. And here it is again with the 6 Scarlatti sonatas to start. Thanks for posting.

[@GZ9090]

The interpretation of Liszt's Consolation is truly something! Beautiful! Horowitz really was an amazing pianist!

[@tarakb7606]

Thank you so much for the upload. I was at that recital after having queued for hours for a ticket (which I still have). Unforgettable !!

[@stevenvanstadenvanstaden4317]

Thanks so much for sharing this and all the other treasures.

[@classicaloracle]

I was there with my Mum also! She painted a picture of Horowitz on stage later. I went the previous week as well and remember this one being better. I remember queuing for a couple of days and sleeping in a deckchair to get the tickets. Almost as memorable as the concerts. Years later we learnt that Horowitz was on medication at the time and the first concert certainly reflected that. I sat behind him on that occasion and remember thinking the pedalling was very odd, some very blurred phrases. Thanks for this. I will take a listen and see if it brings back memories.

[@kasyapa]

Do you have, or would you be willing to share, an image of your Mum's painting?

[@classicaloracle]

@@kasyapa Alas, I no longer have it but thank you for your interest. My mother introduced me to Horowitz via that 1965 return recital. As a teenager learning the clarinet it suddenly drew me to the piano and turned around my own piano playing and desire to learn. In certain works I've never lost that feeling that Horowitz is the only way I can hear the music in the most authentic way.

[@stevenvanstadenvanstaden4317]

@@kasyapa I also attended this and the 'Royal' recital, and also had the oppoortunity to meet him and play his piano while he complained about the acoustic of the RFH (dry from the stage but I think the official recording of the previous recital captured the sound as closely as possible to what we heard in the hall, which wasn't all all dry esepcially with Horowitz's pedalling on these occasions). I have two oil paintings of Horowitz that I commissioned for my music room. Could I share them?

[@kasyapa]

@@stevenvanstadenvanstaden4317 Yes, please! I'm very glad that you had a chance to meet Maestro. Any memories or anecdotes of anyything else talked about or anything he did?

[@stevenvanstadenvanstaden4317]

@@kasyapa I'll post pictures of the two paintings soon. Re memories and anecdotes: I gave him a small wooden carving of a grand piano which was a cigarette case. Pressing the keyboard released a single sigarette, and I suggested he played that piano no more than five times a day. Wanda later told me he played it more often than the Steinway, and she wasn't pleased! He kept it on his bedside table at the NY house and it's visible in one of the interviews which pictures him in that room. I was playing the Scriabin Etude Op.8 no.12 which he played as an encore at the previous London recital. We discussed it and, surprisingly, he was interested that I dropped the A-sharp octave eight bars from the end one octave lower than written (I think he hadn't done so previously but he did it at the previous recital and smiled to me in the front row). I was playing the difficult leaps in the LH towards the end of this etude, which he'd always "facilitated" and he said - which I agree with - that not only was the writing there too busy (my words - can't remember his ... "crowded" perhaps) but that it bogged down and impeded the effect he felt necessary (I agree again, though I still pay all those LH chords). This is something I feel valid to counter the arguments of some detractors who say Horowitz cribbed. Yes, he did leave out notes and make awkward passages 'easier' - but his alterations served musical ends (the same applies for Rach 3 which was also under discussion). We also discussed Scriabin's Ver la Flamme and the 5th sonata. He hadn't played the latter in public at the time but knew it intimately and had many interesting ideas about that work too, including feelings about the structure and holding it together. So much for those who say he had no sense of structure, solely because he also saw the trees in the forest. of which there are always many varied and valuable species which those whose concern is mainly structure miss. There was also great insight into pedalling to suit the hall and to help the piano sing. I have what I think is a magnificent NY Model D, but his piano of that time (the +-1964 vintage S&S - not the less characterful one that replaced it about the late '80s) was so responsive (as responsive as Gould's piano before it was dropped) but the most special quality was a fabulous sustain (slow 'decay'). By the way, I notice that so many prefer the Hamburg S&S to the NY. While they are more consistent, almost unvarying, the best NY model Ds are in my view superior, especially in respect of having a more snarling bass, and being less 'buzzy' and 'fizzy'. Hamburgs are good in soft playing but once over forte, in my opinion, the sound deteriorates and becomes clangy. I digressed. To end, Horowitz was very drugged and tired during his visit to London. I think that Plaskin book might have been part of the reason (he must have known what was coming). He did want to go to a certain club in London one night though, but that's by the way. Thankfully, after to Tokyo disaster that shortly followed these London recitals, he recovered and gave us so much more of his magical playing. How I miss him. No wonder, then, that many of us are so grateful that these audience recordings are being made available. What a tregedy that the recording companies missed so many unqique recitals, even from the '60s. And why is only one commercial (truly) live recording available of the Scriabin 5th? I'd love to hear any others.

[@stefanufer608]

Fabulous - only London 1st June 1986 left to go I think!

[@Diatonic1958]

I was privileged to be there too. I've often wondered if anyone managed to record it but have yet to find a copy.

[@YoshiyukiMukudai_NBC-ABC-CBS]

What a remarkably marvellous treat that Mr. Horowitz plays these two works that were dedicated to Baroness de Rothschild in London on the date of 65th John Fitzgerald Kennedy's birthday! Thank God that RCA had to record this (these) unissued recitals including the ones that ended with Kreisler-Rachmaninoff "Liebesleid" as a bis.

[@YoshiyukiMukudai_NBC-ABC-CBS]

For London, it's been 42nd anniversary of nightmares, especially around Buckingham Palace!!! Today is 29 May 2024.

[@ronl7131]

Gotta’ love VH Artistry…..

[@eriksatieofficiel]

He was playing Liszt second ballad like nobody else.

[@ulfwernernielsen6708]

Erik Satie Yes, nobody else plays the Liszt Ballade like this. Horowitz put so many things of his own into it that the right title would be “Liszt/Horowitz Ballade no2 “ . In my opinion Arrau was the greatest for this piece but I am also deeply moved by the recording of Freire . Among younger pianists I have listened with great pleasure to Georgia Pletea and Primavera Shima . Another wonderful performance is from Linzi Pan but it is unfortunately not on You Tube any more.

[@sam0xin]

❤️🙏🏻💐👏🏼‼️

[@stefanufer608]

Of all the concerts he did in the last few years it seems to be the only one not recorded by anyone

[@kasyapa]

Pardon?

[@brtherjohn]

I would think that there is/was a professionally recorded version of this concert that is probably stashed somewhere in the BBC vaults. They recorded everything through the years...

[@kasyapa]

@@brtherjohn - I'm not sure the BBC broadcast this in any way. But there are doubtless treasures in all the vaults and they need to be found.

[@OE1FEU]

I have taped the whole recital of Horowitz in Amsterdam in June 1986 and so far no other copy has surfaced so far.

[@Pogouldangeliwitz]

@@OE1FEU Put it on KZbin! We'll lick your feet in all eternity!!