Horszowski recital
That rich quality is still there as a glorious pianist plays into the sunset
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pablo Casals, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Fryderyk Chopin, Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: BBC Legends
Magazine Review Date: 8/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 77
Mastering:
Stereo
ADD
Catalogue Number: BBCL42302
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Prelude |
Pablo Casals, Composer
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Pablo Casals, Composer |
Sonata for Piano No. 3 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV543 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Sonata for Piano No. 12 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Guia pratico, Movement: No. 2, A maré encheu |
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
(16) Cirandas, Movement: Passa, passa gaviao |
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Mazurkas (Complete), Movement: No. 17 in B flat minor, Op. 24/4 (1834-35) |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Mazurkas (Complete), Movement: No. 34 in C, Op. 56/2 (1843) |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
(48) Songs without Words, Movement: No. 4, Presto in C, 'Spinnerlied: The Bee's Wedding' |
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Composer or Director: Fryderyk Chopin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Wigmore Hall Live
Magazine Review Date: 8/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 75
Catalogue Number: WHLIVE0023
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Sonata for Piano No. 17 |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
Sonata for Piano No. 17, 'Tempest' |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Arabeske |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Robert Schumann, Composer |
Mazurkas (Complete), Movement: No. 25 in B minor, Op. 33/4 (1837-38) |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Nocturnes, Movement: No. 9 in B, Op. 32/1 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
(27) Etudes, Movement: F minor, Op. 25/2 |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Fantaisie-impromptu |
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano |
Kinderszenen, Movement: Träumerei |
Robert Schumann, Composer
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Piano Robert Schumann, Composer |
Author: Jeremy Nicholas
What is common to everything is Horszowski’s rich and luminous tone. The opening Casals Prelude is a joy to the ear. It was courageous to programme Chopin’s B minor Sonata. While the heart-melting second subject of the first movement and the Largo are superbly handled, the sluggish pulse of the first movement (with no exposition repeat), the horribly approximate outer sections of the Scherzo that no amount of over-pedalling can disguise, and a distinctly effortful Finale do not make for repeated listening. The Bach-Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A minor (wrongly titled on disc and booklet) is noble and dignified – a fine account altogether – followed by an error-strewn Mozart sonata. The two short Villa-Lobos encores are laboured when they should be insouciant, but the Mazurkas and the surprisingly agile Bee’s Wedding are enchantingly rendered.
The Wigmore Hall Live disc presents Horszowski’s last recital in England, given just three weeks before his 99th birthday. Four months later he made his final appearance (in Philadelphia), ending a career of 91 years. Extraordinary to think that here we are listening to someone playing as recently as 1991 who studied with Theodor Leschetizky, a man born in 1830! Horszowski was never one of Leschetizky’s barn-storming pupils (Friedman, for instance, or Moiseiwitsch), responding more readily to cerebral music-making than bravura display. His programme reflects this and also cannily accommodates his advancing years. Here again is that wonderfully luminous piano tone. His pupil Murray Perahia noted that “in [Horszowski’s] playing, everything seems supple and effortless, as if a piano were as easy as uttering speech”. Just so – try the first movement of the Mozart sonata. The slow movements of this and the Tempest seem, consciously or not, like valedictions, while Schumann’s Arabeske is played with a tender simplicity that entrances. Of the Chopin group, the B major Nocturne is an outstanding example of Horszowski’s long-breathed cantabile, and if the Fantaisie-Impromptu suffers from an unfortunate lapse towards the end, it can clearly benefit sometimes from a slower tempo than usual.
Produced by Misha Donat, who also contributes a really first-class booklet, this excellent third piano recital on the Wigmore Hall Live label is a BBC recording. If only the presentation of BBC Legends discs was of the same high standard.
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