- Actors: Vladimir Horowitz, Wanda Toscanini Horowitz, Albert Maysles, David Maysles
- Directors: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
- Producers: Peter Gelb, Susan Frömke
- Format: Classical, NTSC, Import
- Language: English
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
- Release Date: July 25 2000
- Run Time: 88 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004TJS1
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
In this celebratory documentary, acclaimed sibling filmmakers Albert and David Maysles (Salesman, Grey Gardens) give us a fascinating chance to see legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz from an intimate perspective. The movie was filmed during a 1985 recording session in the artist's New York studios, a venue that allows the camera marvelous access to examine closely the flurry of Horowitz's fingers across the keyboard and his wonderfully expressive face as it keeps time with the music, registering in turn intensity, rapture, childish delight. All the while Horowitz's wife, Wanda Toscanini, looks on lovingly. Between performances, the two rest on a couch and share reminiscences of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin (who wisely advised the 10-year-old virtuoso to educate himself in all cultural matters, not just music), and Maestro Arturo Toscanini himself. On one wall of the elegantly furnished apartment-style studio hangs a beautiful Japanese screen portraying a soldier and his horse leaping across a chasm, suspended in midair; Horowitz himself seems just as much to float, unbounded by the gravitational tug of age (he was 81 at the time). His playing is as strong as ever, whether deftly maneuvering the glassy trills of Mozart's Sonata in C, K. 330, or powering his way through an energetic reading of Chopin's Scherzo No. 1. All the music is wonderful, of course; no less so is the film's fond portrait of the man who made it. --Bruce Reid
Additional Features
The program:
- Chorale in G minor (Bach-Busoni)
- Sonata in C, K. 330 (Mozart)
- Impromptu in A flat, Op. 90, No. 4 (Schubert)
- Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17, No. 4 (Chopin)
- Scherzo No. 1 in B minor (Chopin)
- Consolation in D flat, No. 3 (Liszt)
- Prelude in G-Sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 12 (Rachmaninoff)
- Novelette, Op. 21 in F major (Schumann)
- Etude in C-Sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1 (Scriabin)
- Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53 (Chopin)
- Etude in F major (Moszkowski)
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Collectable,
By Jian Zhuang (Granite Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Romantic (DVD)
Like DVD "Horowitz in Moscow", this is another wonderful Horowitz DVD. I have the CD by Deutsche Grammophon for all the same music in this DVD, but this DVD has a lot more than just piano music. It showed a lot of personnalities of this, perhaps, the greatest pianist of all time and it is a piece of vanished history. His facial expressions, interviews and comments to the composors between the pieces are so funny and make him so lovable an old gentleman. Close and different camera angles certainly help you view his unique and unduplicatable playing style. I have to admit that some of pieces with physical passages in this DVD may not match Horowitz's earlier recordings especially the Moszkowski's Etude in F Major which is in the CD but only as a background music for this DVD's production recognition. All the recordings are still excellent and very tastful. If I am asked to recommend DVDs for any piano lovers, I will place this DVD on one of the top list without any hesitation.
5.0 out of 5 stars
An intimate meeting with Vladimir Horowitz,
By
This review is from: Last Romantic (DVD)
This DVD gives us the possibility of approaching the artist and his world as much as possible. We are taken to his home studio with his supporting wife , and get to know Horowitz as a warm person. Horowitz knows very well all the technical aspects of playing the piano. He has done his homework, and while he plays he is concentrated on the projection of what he feels the Composer want us to feel. When Horowitz plays he projects us musical piece as a whole, every note has a meaning in the development and the structure and the movement of the work. His range of expression is very wide, Horowitz as he says, has an angel and a devil inside him. He has an ability of understanding a piece of music and expressing it in his playing that takes us as deep as possible. Horowitz as he says, don't look for inhuman perfection, and that is ok to play in public rehearsal one wrong note. In my opinion Horowitz is interested, as all great artists, in communication, creating something that will last for a long time.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Horowitz Up-Close and Personal,
By Hank Drake (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Last Romantic (DVD)
In 1983, Vladimir Horowitz retired from the concert stage following a series of disastrous recitals. Rumors about his health from Alzheimer's disease to cancer swept through the music world, and it was generally felt that he would never play again. As it turned out, Horowitz had been taking anti-depressant medication which impaired his memory and coordination. Once the cause of his problems was revealed, he stopped taking the medication cold-turkey and, after battling the trials of withdrawal, eventually returned to normal. Early in 1985, Horowitz told his manager, Peter Gelb, that he wanted to resume musical activity, but didn't yet feel up to the task of public recitals. The documentary contained on this DVD was Horowitz' way of easing into the rigors of concertizing.This film shows Horowitz trying out pianos in Steinway's famous basement, discussing his life, and performing in his elegantly appointed New York townhouse. Wanda Toscanini Horowitz is ever present, recalling how she lived under the shadow of famous musicians (her father was Artuto Toscanini)and encouraging her husband in his reaquaintance with the piano. Horowitz, 81 years young at the time, plays very well here--although his performance is not quite on the same level it would be one year later at his legendary Moscow recital (also available on DVD). The Bach-Busoni Chorale, Mozart Sonata, and Schumann Novelette reveal the playing of a grand master in sovereign command of his resources. It must be admited however, some of the more bravura pieces do not match his best playing from earlier years. At one point, Wanda scolds him for neglecting to practice the Schumann Novelette. Horowitz reluctantly waddles to the piano, tries a few passages, and it's obvious his memory of the piece is sketchy. After reading the piece from the printed music, he plays the Novelette as if he has known it his entire life! The hand held camera work is often too close and shaky--ala Blair Witch Project--and becomes a distraction at times. In a reversal of the norm, the DVD transfer is visually not quite up to the level of my LaserDisc, but is an improvement over the VHS version. Portions of the image look compressed and grainy. No complaints about the sound. The sonic image is clean and well focused, the dynamic range spectacular. This is a must for all Horowitz fans and those who miss the Golden Age of Pianism.
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