Vladimir Horowitz plays Czerny: Rode Variations

Carl Czerny: Variations On A Theme By Rode "La Ricordanza" Op. 33

[@cattleman6420012000]

Horowitz always puts me on a different planet when I listen to him. He was so special and unique.

[@canman5060]

I don't think anyone can do a better job than Horowitz on this work.

[@kasyapa]

if i remember rightly, toward of the end of his life horowitz expressed satisfaction with this recording. rare for the rarely-self-commenting pianist.

[@CziffraTheThird]

That does say alot I think how much Horowitz really did look up to and admire Czerny in his heart!

[@fronternijenzonka]

I am so glad there's more appreciation for Czerny's 'real' music... He has such a vast body of work, and unfortunately his studies overshadowed his other pieces, which are absolutely brilliant; see IMSLP for some scores of his piano sonatas...

[@hectorreynoso6308]

can't stop listening to such poetry at the keyboard

[@Eztoez]

I just downloaded the sheet music. Well this will keep me entertained for a bit. What a magnificent pianist Horowitz was. His lightness of touch is bordering on the supernatural. Amazingly accurate playing. Oh how I wish I could have seen him play live.

[@musiclover148]

I saw him live just once, in Buffalo, when he was seventy-four, I think, and he was pretty much the same Horowitz I knew from recordings, but with a sprinkling of clinkers. The audience revered him. I wasn't crazy about his piano, which he always shipped to every concert venue.

[@josephhapp9]

@@musiclover148 not always “his piano” sometimes only a 2 nd choice instrument.

[@labienus9968]

I heard him live several times-including when he was still in his physical prime. Live, the sound was even more entrancing than any recording-more like hearing a great singer. The times I heard him there were no clinkers, which people seem to have a need to point out which of course, did happen as he aged. In addition I get so tired of hearing about his piano-just a fine instrument, obviously regulated to his specifications, as many great pianists have done.

[@hectorreynoso6308]

Czerny and Horowitz, perfect combination

[@nicholasbaltatzis4001]

✨✨✨Best piano playing ever!!!❤️❤️❤️

[@donthuis]

I've never heard Czerny like this, thanks for the posting. Of course I knew that he made more than this trying exercises for piano students, but this is much more lyrical than his sonatines I had to grapple with.... :-(

[@glasnevin2009]

Truely magical!! Thanks for this posting.

[@canman5060]

Thanks very much for uploading this most wonderful performance.I was very disappointed at the recording I have both CDand Vinyl LP for this recording. You have greatly enhanced the fidelity of this mono recording.

[@user-by7pz2yg4h]

Beautiful.

[@paulprocopolis]

Yes, Horowitz turns trinketry into priceless jewelry!

[@sagalat]

Sensational! I, too, recall Czerny only for the exercises. This is a pianistic gem

[@paulostroff99]

Lovely! Bravo! TY.

[@richardhenger7338]

Perfekt in jedem Ton ! Das ist Musik !

[@vova47]

Thank you for sharing this rare treasure, dear truecrypt! I don't know if it's generally known but two years before his death when asked to choose his all-time favorite recording Horowitz picked his 1944 recording of this little known gem. I am assuming this is the recording he meant. (I think he only recorded it once)

[@tomkelly4336]

There is also a live version around someplace but it is not as clear.

[@winslowwong9719]

Damn I used to be able to play this in my teens. Might dust it off again one day 🥲

[@truecrypt]

I just stumbled upon this one while digging! ;)

[@tomkelly4336]

I know that VH: did this live but for the life of me I forget when. I had to guess if would be around the same time as this was recorded 1945ish or so.

[@Eztoez]

2 ppl disliked this? Are they deaf? Trolling? No soul? WTF? This piece is divine and the playing astronomical. I don't understand some people.

[@BachScholar]

This is excellent. Czerny has some great sonatas too. Do you know of any historical recordings of Czerny's op. 740 etudes (other than the famous octave study played by Levhinne)? They are my favorite etudes.

[@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155]

Czerny Op.756 And 692 are better than Op.740

[@Chopinco]

i think part of the recognition he gets is that EVERY pianist should play and must play his etudes hehe

[@truecrypt]

Thanks and sorry for typo - it's Op. 33

[@metteholm75]

I guess his pedagogical music reflects Beethovens ideas about modern pianio technique. Czerny deserves every kind of praise for his studies. They are "gold", and shows a genuine pedagogical talent.

[@pianopera]

Horowitz anno 1944 -- "good fingers!"

[@MrInterestingthings]

I think Czerny has never sounded this tasteful or musical before . Horowitz has a charm here I had forotten from his schumann! What made Horowitz discover him not a Scarlatti or Clementi but so musically performed here it becomes memorable and is turned into gold ! Horowitz like Hofmann can get sounds, textures out of the piano we may never here again. Pogorelich 's Scarlatti is the best piano recording I've ever heard but i have a feeling DG does things in the studio . I can't believe he outshones Horowitz rather easily in his scarlatti recording . I wonder if Michelangeli heard it.Argerich knew ! There were many great minds at the Warsaw competition that year how they have said no.Or was this an agreed upon way to make the world notice. No Busoni,Leeds,VanCliburn winner has risen and fallen like he did.Lupu,Uchida,Perahia Blaechaz all of these will continually shine in history !

[@bigdick3228]

Czerny is extremely under appreciated and there are so few interpretations of his real music that have true soul in them. This is one of those exceptions. I hope for more.

[@jesusalbertoduranfdz9922]

No se ha hecho justicia con la obra de Czerny. Sus obras didácticas tienen una musicalidad unida a la tecnica pianistica que creo deberían tomarse mas en cuenta .

[@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155]

Te invito a visitar mi canal donde yo le hago justicia a la música de Czerny, saludos

[@goldberg72]

pensavo di aver ascoltato tutto di horowitz...questo e' formidabile

[@truecrypt]

Oh.. I see. Though I can't judge much in this respect, it's well known many Horowitz's recordings were *heavily* edited and/or assembled. I personally developed some kind of mental sound filter which allows me to listen beyond recording's imperfections.

[@dukedome]

PUTZ! Amazing!!!!!!!!!

[@camaysar222]

Re: editing, KZbin probably filters all music. I don't know if Czerny's non-pedagogical music is generally available, but I own many first and early editions of his various variation sets (he churned them out, as Chopin delightfully observed during his visit). Some are good, including the one that Liszt performed many times as a child, Variations sur une Valse Autrichienne op. 14. Most are not interesting music. He wrote a fascinating "Eroica-like" Marche Funebre on the death of Beethoven.

[@voolare]

Great post! Only the magic of VH can make me actually appreciate Czerny (my bad!). What year was this recorded in?

[@truecrypt]

Why do you think it was edited? This is *exactly* the track. The only change is an automatic compression applied by YT.

[@owatson322utube]

Great! Is this available on CD truecrypt?

[@Eztoez]

I keep hearing Beethoven and Mozart throughout this. Even Verdi. The opening theme could have come from an Italian opera aria. The last two lines of the piece are pure Mozart.

[@Askeys]

Truecrypt (France) & David Hertzberg (USA) are the best classical youtubers.

[@muslit]

With Horowitz, the banal becomes sublime.

[@MorganHayes_Composer.Pianist]

a little harsh on Czerny! His music isn’t without value , and a certain charm.

[@muslit]

Ok, but Horowitz makes it sound better than it is. @@MorganHayes_Composer.Pianist

[@truecrypt]

I recall the most "used" opuses were 299 and 740 - both are etudes. Probably 299 will work well for you.

[@liedersanger1]

What year was this recorded please?

[@shenalec927]

Recorded in New York on 23 December, 1944. This Horowitz is almost like von Sauer!

[@kasyapa]

@mihajmi a bit of treble suppression. big deal? : )

[@therightmusic7639]

This rendition or interpretation is irrefutable, crystal clear evidence of Maestro Horowitz's technical and musical purity, freedom and perfection ... though he claimed many times throughout his life that he was not a perfectionist; it is obvious (I think) that he meant that he didn't care (or worry ) too much about, occasionally, playing (accidental) wrong notes here and there, just as Picasso (for example) didn't care or worry too much about the tortuous lines of his fresh paint that occasionally and maybe accidentally (and carelessly) streamed down his canvas when he was painting on it ... He didn't care to clean them ... He was so focused on the actual meaning and soul of his conception, creation or work that those little details seemed, somehow, to have become inconspicuous to him ... and paradoxically as it may seem, those little details or imperfections seem to make the work or art of these geniuses even more exciting, interesting or appealing, in some way ..., probably because those little imperfections, somehow, suggest that the artist is totally focused on what is (and should always be) the main objective, aim or goal of a true artist ... But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it is good to play wrong notes ... obviously no artist wants that to happen, however, if it happens because most of your mental and emotional energy(ies) are focused on expressing with all your heart and soul what you conceive (understand) as the meaning and character of the piece that you are playing and if that concept or understanding of yours is wise, accurate and convincing and if your technique is good enough and if you feel comfortable, relaxed and confident enough and your concentration is at its best to let you express it fully and freely, then, not only the result will always be great but again, those little details or imperfections might seem unimportant or invisible to a wise audience and again, they might even find your interpretation (performance) more appealing or exciting (if you like) ... Anyway, Horowitz scales and arpeggios sound so clear, natural, fluent and beautiful in this recording/interpretation (which is, in my opinion, among the best of his repertoire ... It's like a cascade of crystal notes from the purest spring that showers you with its delicate beauty ... I think that if Czerny can listen to this piece played by this definite God of the keyboard (Horowitz) from where he is now, no doubt he must be really satisfied ... I have to admit that I never thought a Czerny piece could sound this good ... Bravo Maestro Horowitz!!! ... wherever you are ....

[@antoinezygfryd]

Des sons vides de sens.

[@metteholm75]

Yes, Horowitz can present i as that pretty, rather sweet biedermayer hausmusik, it is. Cosy biedermayer :-)

[@ayso78]

As good as it is, weird that Horowitz singled out this performance as his most successful.

[@tomkelly4336]

I think Horowitz liked this because of the fingerwork, which is superb.

[@RabidCh]

Again, and closed again. :\

[@MrInterestingthings]

Amazingly attentive ,charming tasteful playing but I find Czerny just a succesful teacher who abetted hs income by using his reputation to "churn'" out seemingly tens of thousands of unimaginative pieces which when well played fool me into thinking them gems. even the studies on youtube profit from meticulous ,tasteful playing! Unbelievable.Moskowsk is worth more .I just can't listen to this period.Schubert and Beethoven amae me that they could do interesting hings with these simple harmonies!

[@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155]

What happens is that you are one more of the pile and surely you know nothing of harmony

[@bigdick3228]

Czerny was an extremely busy man but let us not forget the praise Liszt had for him. Furthermore you are only thinking of his exercises. But his real music lies in the Sonatas. There is no need to judge his works if they are beautifully rendered by masterful interpreters.

[@camaysar222]

Ok, after consulting the music again... the Variations on the Valse Autrichienne are not really good ;). They are "generic" variations meant to exhibit the basic keyboard skills one by one, according to a formula common at the time. (Liszt apparently performed it with orchestra.) Of course Czerny, and Liszt'a father Adam, would want to show the public that "Master Liszt" could do everything. Imagine a little 13 year old boy doing what Horowitz does here, but better!

[@Manx123]

I dislike it. Horowitz is a little to florid for my taste, but the real failure is the piece itself, which is little more than a collection of somewhat technically dazzling sections that, while somewhat unique to Czerny, were extremely hackneyed at the time, and sound so now, involving very little creativity. Compare it to the similar Grande fantaisie sur des motifs de Niobe by Liszt, which he played in his successful piano duel with Thalberg. Hardly among Liszt's best works, yet displays so much more ingenuity and originality and better melodic sense.

[@czeynerpianistproducercomp7155]

What if you dare to make a Composition and show us that it is a dazzling composition, you have to get in the head that you are "Nobody", if you like Liszt then go ahead and listen to Liszt but do not come to criticize the man who gave all the skills and resources to Liszt, you are the most annoying person there is KZbin besides you do not have a single video I guess Tampico will have a brain and worse yet you do not have a single neuron

[@labienus9968]

Too bad for you. Nobody it is claiming it is "great music" thought the theme has its charm, even more so in his hands But the playing transcends the piece. Such easy elegance and style, such tone and jewel like sound-just to be enjoyed.

[@Manx123]

@@labienus9968 “playing transcends the piece” Probably🤷🏻‍♂️

[@labienus9968]

@@Manx123 Ha, I like my own phrase the more I read it-that's a bad sign. But that does capture my reaction to it. Another phrase that came to me listening to it was, magisterial insouciance-how's that? Also, not the first time time the variations were better than the theme, though we have to remember the composer heard something in it.