Vladimir Horowitz

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Biography

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz () & nbsp;& nbsp;(November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russia|Russian -born American Classical Music|classical pianist and composer. His technique and use of Timbre|tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary.Dubal, 1989 He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.Time. Michael Walsh, , July 21, 2008. Retrieved on June 3, 2009.

Life and early career

Vladimir Horowitz was born in Kiev J. Silberman, J. Smilyanskaya. "Kiev Symphony Vladimir Horowitz in the Russian Empire (now the capital of Ukraine ). There are unsubstantiated claims that Horowitz was born in Berdychiv ; however, his birth certificate unequivocally states Kiev as his birthplace. (Title translation: "Sovereign king, an eternal wanderer-artist...")

Horowitz was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia Bodik, who were Jewish assimilation|assimilated Jews . Samuil was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. Horowitz's grandfather Joachim was a merchant (and an arts-supporter), belonging to the 1st Guild. This status gave exemption from having to reside in the Pale of Settlement . Horowitz was born in 1903, but in order to make him 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. The 1904 date appeared in many reference works during the pianist's lifetime.

Horowitz received piano instruction from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a pianist. In 1912 he entered the Kiev Conservatory , where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky , and Felix Blumenfeld . His first solo recital was in Kharkiv in 1920.

Horowitz's fame grew, and he soon began to tour Russia where he was often paid with bread, butter and chocolate rather than money, due to the country's economic hardships caused by the Russian Civil War|Civil War .Plaskin, 1983, pp. 52, 56, 353, 338–7. During the 1922–1923 season, he performed 23 concerts of eleven different programs in Saint Petersburg|Petrograd alone. Despite his early success as a pianist, Horowitz maintained that he wanted to be a composer, and undertook a career as a pianist only to help his family, who had lost their possessions in the Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution .

In December 1925, Horowitz crossed the border into the West, ostensibly to study with Artur Schnabel . Privately intending not to return, the pianist had stuffed American dollars and British pound notes into his shoes to finance his initial concerts.Horowitz interview with Charles Kuralt, CBS News Sunday Morning

Career in the West

On December 18, 1925, Horowitz made his first appearance outside his home country, in Berlin .. Horowitz Berlin. He later played in Paris , London and New York City . Horowitz was selected by Soviet Union|Soviet authorities to represent Ukraine in the inaugural 1927 International Chopin Piano Competition : however the pianist had decided to stay in the West and thus did not participate.

Horowitz gave his United States debut on January 12, 1928, in Carnegie Hall . He played Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky 's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)|Piano Concerto No. 1 under the direction of Thomas Beecham|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.Videotapes interview, 1982, intemission feature from London recital Horowitz's success with the audience was phenomenal. Olin Downes , writing for the New York Times, was critical about the metric tug of war between conductor and soloist, but Downes credited the pianist with both a beautiful singing tone in the second movement and a tremendous technique in the finale, referring to Horowitz's playing as a "tornado unleashed from the steppes".Olin Downes, New York Times, January 13, 1928 In this debut performance, Horowitz demonstrated a marked ability to excite his audience, an ability he maintained for his entire career. As Downes commented, "it has been years since a pianist created such a furor with an audience in this city." In his review of Horowitz's solo recital, Downes characterized the pianist's playing as showing "most if not all the traits of a great interpreter."Olin Downes, New York Times, February 21, 1928 In 1933, he played for the first time with the Conducting|conductor Arturo Toscanini in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 5 Emperor . Horowitz and Toscanini went on to perform together many times, on stage and in recordings. Horowitz settled in the U. S. in 1939, and became an American citizen in 1944., accessed 15 January 2010 .

Despite rapturous receptions at recitals, Horowitz became increasingly unsure of his abilities as a pianist. On several occasions, the pianist had to be pushed onto the stage. Several times, he withdrew from public performances - during 1936 to 1938, 1953 to 1965, 1969 to 1974, and 1983 to 1985. He made his television debut in a concert taped at Carnegie Hall on February 1, 1968, and broadcast nationwide by CBS on September 22nd of that year.

Recordings

In 1926, Horowitz performed on several piano roll s at the Welte-Mignon studios in Freiburg, Germany. His first gramophone recordings were made in the United States in 1928 for RCA Records|RCA Victor . Because of the economic impact of the Great Depression , RCA Victor agreed to allow its recording artists' European-produced recordings to be made by HMV|His Master's Voice , RCA's London based affiliate. Horowitz's first European recording, in 1930, was of Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff 's Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)|Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra , the world premiere recording of that piece. Through 1936, Horowitz continued to make recordings for HMV of solo piano repertoire, including his famous 1932 account of Franz Liszt|Liszt's Piano Sonata (Liszt)|Sonata in B minor . Beginning in 1940, Horowitz's recording activity was again concentrated in the US. That year, he recorded Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, and in 1941, the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, both with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini. In 1959, RCA issued the live 1943 performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Horowitz and Toscanini; it is generally considered superior to the commercial recording, and it was selected for the Grammy Hall of Fame . During Horowitz's second retirement, which began in 1953, he made a series of recordings in his New York City|New York townhouse , including LP album|LPs of Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin and Muzio Clementi|Clementi . Horowitz's first stereo recording, made in 1959, was devoted to Beethoven piano sonatas.

In 1962, Horowitz embarked on a series of acclaimed recordings for Columbia Records . The most famous are his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall and a 1968 recording from his television special, Vladimir Horowitz: a Concert at Carnegie Hall , televised by CBS . Horowitz continued making studio recordings, including a 1969 recording of Robert Schumann|Schumann's Kreisleriana , which was awarded the Prix Mondial du Disque.

In 1975, Horowitz returned to RCA and made live recordings until 1982. He signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 1985, and made studio and live recordings until 1989, including his only recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto No. 23 . 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 and consisted of repertoire he had never previously recorded.

All of Horowitz's recordings have been issued on compact disc, some several times. In the years following Horowitz’s death, CDs were issued containing previously unreleased material. These included selections from Carnegie Hall recitals recorded privately for Horowitz from 1945–1951.

Students

Horowitz taught six students between 1944 and 1962: Byron Janis (1944-1948), Gary Graffman (1953–1955), Coleman Blumfield (1956–1958), Ronald Turini (1957–1963), Alexander Fiorillo (1960–1962) and Ivan Davis (1961–1962). Plaskin, Glenn (1983) p. 10 "interviews with all six of Horowitz's students: Gary Graffman, Byron Janis, Ivan Davis, Ronald Turini, Coleman Blumfield, and Alexander Fiorillo" Janis described his relationship to Horowitz during that period as a surrogate son, and he often traveled with Horowitz and his wife during concert tours. Davis was invited to become one of Horowitz's students after receiving a call from him the day after he won the Franz Liszt Competition. Plaskin, Glenn (1983) p.305 "...he also won the Franz Liszt Competition and received a surprise phone call from Horowitz the day after the announcement." "...with 60 concerts planned for his first cross-country tour and a CBS record contract, Davis intrigued Horowitz." At the time, Davis had a contract with CBS Records and a national tour planned. Horowitz claimed that he had only taught three students during that period. "Many young people say they have been pupils of Horowitz, but there were only three. Janis, Turini, who I brought to the stage, and Graffman. If someone else claims it, it's not true. I had some who played for me for four months. Once a week. I stopped work with them, because they did not progress." Plaskin, Glenn (1983) p.300 "Many young people say they have been pupils of Horowitz, but there were only three. Janis, Turini, who I brought to the stage, and Graffman. If someone else claims it, it's not true. I had some who played for me for four months. Once a week. I stopped work with them, because they did not progress." "The fact that Horowitz disavowed most of his students and blurred the facts regarding their periods of study says something about the erratc nature of his personality during that period." According to biographer Glenn Plaskin, "The fact that Horowitz disavowed most of his students and blurred the facts regarding their periods of study says something about the erratic nature of his personality during that period". Horowitz returned to coaching in the 1980s, working with Murray Perahia , who already had an established career, and Eduardus Halim .

Personal life

In 1933, in a civil ceremony, Horowitz married Toscanini's daughter Wanda Toscanini|Wanda . Although Horowitz was Jewish and Wanda Catholic, this was not an issue, as 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). It has never been determined whether her death, from a drug overdose, was accidental or a suicide.

Despite his marriage, there were persistent rumors of Horowitz's homosexuality . Arthur Rubinstein said of Horowitz that "Everyone knew and accepted him as a homosexual."Plaskin, 1983, p. 162 David Dubal wrote that in his years with Horowitz, there was no evidence that the octogenarian was sexually active, but that "there was no doubt he was powerfully attracted to the male body and was most likely often sexually frustrated throughout his life."Dubal, 1991, p. 16. "During the years I knew him, there were no signs of any sex life and very little talk on the subject. I personally doubt that he was capable of loving a man emotionally, but there was no doubt he was powerfully attracted to the male body and was most likely often sexually frustrated throughout his life." Dubal observed that Horowitz sublimated a strong instinctual sexuality into a powerful erotic undercurrent which was communicated in his piano playing.Dubal, 1991, pp. 16–17. Horowitz, who denied being homosexual,Dubal, 1991, p. 251. once joked "There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists."

In the 1940s, Horowitz began seeing a psychiatrist . According to sources, this was an attempt to Conversion therapy|alter his sexual orientation .Janis, Byron. Chopin and Beyond: My Extraordinary Life in Music and the Paranormal, pp. 67-68. Wiley. ISBN 0-470-60444-1Plaskin, Glenn (1983). Biography of Vladimir Horowitz Quill ISBN 0-688-02656-7 Page 215 "In December 1940, Horowitz had begun psychoanalysis with an eminent psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Kubie, a strict Freudian who was attempting to exorcise the homosexual element from Horowitz." In the 1960s and again in the 1970s, the pianist underwent electroshock treatment for Major depressive disorder|depression .Plaskin, Glenn (1983). Biography of Vladimir Horowitz Quill ISBN 0-688-02656-7 Pages 338, 387, 389

In 1982, Horowitz began using prescribed anti-depressant medications; there are reports that he was drinking alcohol as well. Consequently, his playing underwent a perceptible decline during this period. The pianist’s 1983 performances in the United States and Japan were marred by memory lapses and a loss of physical control. (At the latter, one Japanese critic likened Horowitz to a "precious antique vase that is cracked.") He stopped playing in public for the next two years.

The last years

By 1985, Horowitz, no longer taking medication or drinking alcohol, returned to concertizing and recording and was back on form. His first post-retirement appearance was not on stage, but in the documentary film The Last Romantic|Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic . In many of his later performances, the octogenarian pianist substituted finesse and coloration for bravura, although he was still capable of remarkable technical feats. Many critics, including Harold C. Schonberg and Richard Dyer, felt that his post-1985 performances and recordings were the best of his later years.

In 1986, Horowitz announced that he would return to the Soviet Union for the first time since 1925 to give recitals in Moscow and Saint Petersburg|Leningrad . In the new atmosphere of communication and understanding between the USSR and the USA, these concerts were seen as events of political, as well as musical, significance. Most of the tickets for the Moscow concert were reserved for the Soviet elite and few sold to the general public. This resulted in a number of Moscow Conservatory students crashing the concert, Charles Kuralt liner notes for Horowitz in Moscow CD which was audible to viewers of the internationally televised recital. The Moscow concert, was released on a compact disc entitled Horowitz in Moscow , which reigned at the top of Billboard's Classical music charts for over a year. It was also released on VHS and, eventually, DVD. The concert was also widely seen on a Special Edition of CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt , reporting from Moscow.

Following the Russian concerts, Horowitz toured several European cities including Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. In June, Horowitz redeemed himself to the Japanese with a trio of well received performances in Tokyo. Later that year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom , the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States, by President Ronald Reagan .

Horowitz's final tour took place in Europe in the spring of 1987. A video recording of one of his last public recitals, Horowitz in Vienna , was released in 1991. His final recital, in Hamburg, Germany, took place on June 21, 1987. He continued to record for the remainder of his life.

Vladimir Horowitz died on November 5, 1989 in New York of a myocardial infarction|heart attack , aged 86. He was buried in the Toscanini family tomb in the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano|Cimitero Monumentale , Milan , Italy .

Repertoire, technique and performance style

Horowitz is best known for his performances of the Romanticism|Romantic piano repertoire . Many See, e.g., Joachim Kaiser and Klaus Bennert, Grosse Pianisten in Unserer Zeit (1997) consider Horowitz's first recording of the Liszt Sonata in 1932 to be the definitive reading of that piece, after over 75 years and over 100 performances committed to disc by other pianists.“This colossal account of Liszt’s great, arching tone-poem for piano...has never really been surpassed for technical authority.” Sunday Times, 3rd January 2010 Other pieces with which he was closely associated were Scriabin's Étude Op. 8 No. 12 (Scriabin)|Étude in D-sharp minor , Chopin's Ballade No. 1 (Chopin)|Ballade No. 1 in G minor , and many Rachmaninoff miniatures, including Polka de W.R. (Rachmaninoff)|Polka de W.R. . Horowitz was acclaimed for his recordings of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, and his performance before Rachmaninoff awed the composer, who proclaimed "he swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring." Horowitz was known for his performances of quieter, more intimate works including Schumann's Kinderszenen , Scarlatti sonatas, and several Mozart and Haydn sonatas.

During World War II , Horowitz championed contemporary Russian music, giving the American premieres of Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 and 8 (the so-called "War Sonatas") and Dmitry Kabalevsky|Kabalevsky 's Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3. Horowitz also premiered the Piano Sonata and Excursions of Samuel Barber .

He was known for his transcriptions of several of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies . The Second Rhapsody was recorded in 1953, during Horowitz's 25th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and he stated that it was the most difficult of his transcriptions. Horowitz's other transcriptions of note include his composition Carmen Variations (Horowitz)|Variations on a Theme from Carmen and Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa . The latter became a favorite with audiences, who would anticipate its performance as an encore. Transcriptions aside, Horowitz was not opposed to altering the text of compositions to improve what he considered “unpianistic” writing or structural clumsiness. In 1940, with the composer’s consent, Horowitz created his own performance edition of Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)|Second Piano Sonata from the 1913 original and 1931 revised versions, which pianists including Ruth Laredo and Hélène Grimaud subsequently used. He substantially rewrote Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky 's Pictures at an Exhibition to make the work more effective on the grounds that Mussorgsky was not a pianist and did not understand the possibilities of the instrument. Horowitz altered short passages in certain works, such as substituting interlocking octaves for chromatic scales in Chopin’s Scherzo No. 1 (Chopin)|Scherzo in B minor . This was in marked contrast to many pianists of the post–19th-century era, who considered the composer’s text sacrosanct. Living composers whose works Horowitz played (among them Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Francis Poulenc|Poulenc ) invariably praised Horowitz's performances of their work - even when he did take liberties with their scores.

Horowitz's interpretations were well received by concert audiences, but not by some critics. Virgil Thomson was famous for his consistent criticism of Horowitz as a "master of distortion and exaggeration" in his reviews appearing in the New York Herald Tribune . Horowitz claimed to take Thomson's remarks as complimentary, stating that Michelangelo and El Greco were also "masters of distortion."Plaskin, Glenn (1983). Biography of Vladimir Horowitz. UK: Macdonald. ISBN 0-356-09179-1 In the 1980 edition of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians , Michael Steinberg (music critic)|Michael Steinberg wrote that Horowitz "illustrates that an astounding instrumental gift carries no guarantee about musical understanding." The New York Times|New York Times '' music critic Harold C. Schonberg countered that reviewers such as Thomson and Steinberg were unfamiliar with 19th-century performance practices that informed Horowitz's musical approach. In addition, many pianists, amongst them Shura Cherkassky , Earl Wild , Lazar Berman , John Browning (pianist)|John Browning , Van Cliburn , Maurizio Pollini , Murray Perahia , Yefim Bronfman , and Horacio Gutiérrez held Horowitz in high regard and expressed their admiration for him. Dubal, 1993

Horowitz's performing style frequently involved vast dynamic contrasts, with overwhelming double-fortissimos followed by sudden delicate pianissimos. He was able to produce an extraordinary volume of sound from the piano, without producing a harsh tone. Horowitz could elicit an exceptionally wide range of tonal color from the piano, and his taut, precise attack was noticeable even in his renditions of technically undemanding pieces such as the Chopin Mazurkas (Chopin)|Mazurkas . He is known for his octave technique; he could play precise passages in octaves extraordinarily fast. When asked by the pianist Tedd Joselson how he practiced octaves, Horowitz gave a demonstration and Joselson reported, "He practiced them exactly as we were all taught to do." Music critic and biographer Harvey Sachs submitted that Horowitz may have been "the beneficiary - and perhaps also the victim - of an extraordinary central nervous system and an equally great sensitivity to tone color."Harvey Sachs, "Virtuoso," Thames and Hudson, 1982 Oscar Levant , in his book, "The Memoirs of an Amnesiac," wrote that Horowitz's octaves were "brilliant, accurate and etched out like bullets." He asked Horowitz, "whether he shipped them ahead or carried them with him on tour."

Horowitz's hand position was unusual in that the palm was often below the level of the key surface. He frequently played chords with straight fingers, and the little finger of his right hand was often curled up until it needed to play a note; to Harold C. Schonberg, “it was like a strike of a cobra.” For all the aural excitement of his playing, Horowitz rarely raised his hands higher than the piano's . His body was immobile, and his face seldom reflected anything other than intense concentration.

Horowitz preferred performing on Sunday afternoons, as he felt the audience would be more well-rested and attentive than during a weekday evening.

Awards and recognitions

Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with or without orchestra)

Grammy Awards of 1968|1968 Horowitz in Concert: Haydn, Robert Schumann|Schumann , Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin , Claude Debussy|Debussy , Mozart, Chopin (Columbia 45572)

Grammy Awards of 1969|1969 Horowitz on Television: Chopin, Scriabin, Domenico Scarlatti|Scarlatti , Horowitz (Columbia 7106)

Grammy Awards of 1987|1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)

Grammy Awards of 1979|1979 Golden Jubilee Concert , Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (RCA CLR1 2633)

Grammy Awards of 1989|1989 Horowitz Plays Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 (Deutsche Grammophon 423287)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)

Grammy Awards of 1963|1963 Columbia Records Presents Vladimir Horowitz

Grammy Awards of 1964|1964 The Sound of Horowitz

Grammy Awards of 1965|1965 Vladimir Horowitz plays Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin

Grammy Awards of 1966|1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - An Historic Return

Grammy Awards of 1972|1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas) (Columbia M-30464)

Grammy Awards of 1973|1973 Horowitz Plays Chopin (Columbia M-30643)

Grammy Awards of 1974|1974 Horowitz Plays Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin (Columbia M-31620)

Grammy Awards of 1977|1977 The Horowitz Concerts 1975/76 (RCA ARL1-1766)

Grammy Awards of 1979|1979 The Horowitz Concerts 1977/78 (RCA ARL1-2548)

Grammy Awards of 1980|1980 The Horowitz Concerts 1978/79 (RCA ARL1-3433)

Grammy Awards of 1982|1982 The Horowitz Concerts 1979/80 (RCA ARL1-3775)

Grammy Awards of 1988|1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)

Grammy Awards of 1991|1991 The Last Recording (Sony SK 45818)

Grammy Awards of 1993|1993 Horowitz Discovered Treasures: Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, Scriabin, Clementi (Sony 48093)

Grammy Award for Best Classical Album :

Grammy Awards of 1963|1963 Columbia Records Presents Vladimir Horowitz

Grammy Awards of 1966|1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall: An Historic Return

Grammy Awards of 1972|1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas)

Grammy Awards of 1978|1978 Concert of the Century with Leonard Bernstein (conductor), the New York Philharmonic , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin , Mstislav Rostropovich , Isaac Stern , Lyndon Woodside

Grammy Awards of 1987|1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)

Grammy Awards of 1988|1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award , 1990

Prix Mondial du Disque

1970 Kreisleriana

Miscellaneous awards

1972 - Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (London)Horowitz Papers in the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University ">

1982 - Wolf Foundation Prize for Music

1985 - Legion of Honor from the French Government

1985 - Order of Merit of the Italian Republic

1986 - United States Presidential Medal of Freedom

1988 - National Bow tie|Bow Tie League List of 10 Best Bow Tie Wearers of 1988Anthony Tommasini, , The New York Times , Sunday, September 25, 1988

2012 - Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone Hall of Fame entrant

Copyright Citations

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1. Elisa Fiorillo 2. Sviatoslav Richter 3. Art Tatum 4. Fats Waller 5. Waller Thomas 6. Hollywood Bowl Orchestra 7. Murray Perahia 8. San Francisco Symphony 9. Nathan Milstein 10. Mstislav Rostropovich 11. Arturo Toscanini 12. Jean Yves Thibaudet 13. Robert Schumann 14. Ormandy 15. Sergei Rachmaninoff 16. Horowitz 17. Sergei Rachmaninov 18. Sergey Rachmaninoff 19. Arcadi Volodos 20. Christopher Tin

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