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5.0 out of 5 starsA Veritable Treasure Trove of great playing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2015
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The review already written covers almost everything I would want to say about this treasure house of music. It is a wonderful collection despite many pieces being repeated, though often the nuances and the interpretations differ. I agree with the reviewer that the sliced versions of some performances that came out on albums in the late 1970s are still worth listening to, though hearing the actual live performances are very interesting. Horowitz in performance rarely held himself back and it is his ability to communicate with his audience that is so engrossing. One aspect of his work that is worth noting is the way that he carefully put his concert programmes together. He had this ability to ensure that any Horowitz programme would bring out the many different facets of his playing.
One aspect that I found suprising was actually how well his playing stands up from the late 1970s and early 1980s - the only "published" concert performance was the wayward 1975 Carnegie Hall concert where his playing, certainly in the Schumann, was very disjointed. The 1975 - 1980 concert performances are remarkably good despite the odd wrong note and very occasional memory lapses - the attack and the turn of phrases are still very beautiful. It is wonderful to have the Rach 3 Concerto with Zubin Mehta on CD, I only have an old video of the performance and it is more moving and controlled than the published Ormandy CD. I approached the 1983 concerts with trepidation - yes the Beethoven sonata and The F major Etude (particularly in the first concert) are very painful to listen to, but the Schumann Carnaval (not a work I know) contains some beautiful playing and the other Chopin pieces pass muster. Thank goodness they took the decision not to publish the Tokyo concert, which I have listened to on YouTube - probably the worst concert he ever gave. Inderstandable perhaps given the drugs he was taking.
It's a shame that they could not have published a disc of some of the pirate recordings of works that are new to his discography - I'd love to have his performance of Liebesleid on disc.
Overall I have given this 5 stars (even with the 1983 concerts) as there is so much to enjoy here!
The box is massive because the book is comprehensive, very good overall presentation. Many of the recitals are the same programme but the musical interpretation is never the same twice, wonderful.
Very refined analog-digital rendering. Since the sound is a bit more intimate then the Carnegy hall concerts, I consider these recordings my private Horowitz concerts.
A large size book is added with interesting articles and the concert programs.