ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Radio: Horowitz's Return

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31139, 16 August 1966, Page 8

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Radio: Horowitz's Return

One of the biggest musical events of 1965 was the return to the concert hall of Vladimir Horowitz, one of this century’s great pianists, after 12 years in selfimposed retirement. Horowitz, a highly strung artist, had given up concerts in 1953 because he hated travelling and he hated strange halls. The break from travelling suited him so much that his only playing for the public was in an occasional visit to the recording studio. Neville Cardus once wrote of Horowitz as “the greatest pianist living—or dead” and started a big argument, but no-one would deny that his technique was one of the most brilliant in the history of the piano. It was said that Horowitz could achieve more in the way of a thundering climax in Rachmaninoi’s Third Concerto than the composer himself.

The records added to the legend and also made the pianist dissatisfied with playing only for a microphone. He became convinced that, he “should say something for a whole new generation” in the concert hall.

On May 9, 1965, Horowitz made his return, with a concert in Carnegie Hall, New York, before an audience of 2860, mostly distinguished

persons. The entire concert was recorded and most of it will be broadcast from 3YC on Saturday evening. “STILL A MONARCH” “Horowitz put many questions to rest,” wrote Harold C. Schonberg, chief music critic of the “New York Times.” “He demonstrated that he is still a monarch. There he was at the piano, looking exactly the same as he did at his last New York appearance 12 years ago. He leaned into the keyboard, shoulders high, body almost immobile, only his arms and fingers doing the work. “He must have been terribly nervous at first. He came out rapidly, launched into the Bach-Busoni Toccata in C, and probably started it a little faster than he had intended. Soon, he settled down, and the rest of the concert was sheer magnificence. “Are there any changes? The easy thing to say is that there is a new maturity in his playing. In a way there is. Horowitz is, after all, 12 years older. Every artist grows, to his dying day. “At this concert one did feel a grander, more spacious line in such works as the Schumann Fantasy and the G minor Ballade by Chopin. And there were a few other changes. For one thing

Horowitz uses a little more' pedal than he used to. For another his playing is emotionally more poised, more of a piece, less driving and nervous.

COLOUR RESOURCE “But basically there has been no major shift in musical or keyboard philosophy Horowitz still has a staggering technique, all the colour resource in the world, and a sonority that is unparalleled in the history of piano playing. He always had that ability to orchestrate on the piano, now creating flute-like sounds, now crashing with great salvos of percussion, now outlining a melody as sung by a group of cellos. “He did this is the adagio of the Toccata in C —and, remember, this is BachBusoni, not Bach. He started

the great melodic inspiration simply, slowly built it to a majestic climax, then let it recede' into a pianissimo whisper. In the fugue every voice was clearly outlined, every note weighted for maximum musical and colouristic effect.

“What was remarkable about the Schumann Fantasy was the way Horowitz held it together. His performance pulsated with life and drama, was full of original ideas, and had a continuity from first note to last. It was a heroic performance that never sounded punched neurotic or spasmodic. “Also in the great tradition were the chances Horowitz took. Any pianist approaching the near-impossible coda of the second movement has two alternatives —pile into and the devil take the hindmost, or play it slowly and with caution, thus robbing it of its effect. Horowitz took the chance, and the one spot where his fingers tangled must have been of great comfort to the many pianists in the audience. It proved that Horowitz was mortal.” And so the concert continued. Horowitz also played Scriabin's Ninth Sonata and Chopin's Mazurka in C sharp minor, the Etude in F and the Ballade in G minor, and received a standing ovation.