What The Critics Say Second Debut At 60

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 7

What The Critics Say Second Debut At 60

THE PERFORMANCE: Vladimir Horowitz (piano), at Carnegie Hall, New York. THE CRITIC: Miles Kastendieck, in the "Christian Science Monitor.” Reprinted by arrangement. In the New York season marking the return of Jascha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Maria Callas, and Sviatoslav Richter, that of Vladimir Horowitz becomes the more memorable. He had been absent from the concert stage for 12 years, and his recitals had become legendary. Many despaired of ever hearing him play in public again. What a great moment it was both for him and the public that he resolved to resume his career! To begin to write a new chapter at 60 can be a feat in itself, if only to carry on where he left off. His “second debut,” however, marked the emergence of a great musician enriched by a long rest from public appearances and profiting from reflecting about the music that he had mastered technically years ago. When he first began to play the Bach-Busoni Organ Toc-

cata in C, both pianist and audience were tense. For Mr Horowitz, this was a moment of beginning again, for the audience, it was a moment of witz, this was a moment of beginning again, become reality.

The “old” Horowitz, famous as a technical wizard and an electrifying virtuoso, asserted himself immediately. The Bach sounded clinical and Schumann’s Fantasy in C, Opus 17, that followed, less romantic than it should sound.

The “new” Horowitz appeared after the intermission as he began playing Scriabin’s Sonata No. 9. The first spontaneous applause came after a singularly

beautiful performance of the Poem in F-sharp minor, Opus 32. The pianist had penetrated to the heart of both these works and communicated a beauty through his magical fingers that revealed a new artistic dimension within. Here was romantic expression not released when he had played the Schumann. Thereafter the introspection characterising the new Horowitz evolved more graphically as he played the Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Opus 30, No. 4, the Etude in F, Opus 10, and the G minor Ballade. What he might have tossed off once as virtuoso pianism, he moulded as artistic creations. The great shout of appreciation that broke forth from the audience attested the recognition of what his return really meant.

POTTERY Warren Tippett’s second Christchurch exhibition of pottery opened this week in Several Arts. MORE Lionel Bart’s musical comedy, “Oliver!” began its sixth year in London’s West End this month. NEW PLAYS At least nine new plays will be given their first performance at the Dublin Theatre Festival in September. BRITISH BARITONE Peter Glossop is said to be the most popular Briton in Italy after the Beatles and James Bond. After triumphs in Parma’s lion pit and at La Scala as Rigqletto, he has triumphed as lago at Spoletto’s Festival of Two Worlds, and is being acclaimed as the new Gobbi.