Horowitz - rachmaninoff piano concerto 3 complete

https://youtu.be/qAaZpfakRUM?t=170    Horowitz rachmaninoff piano concerto 3 complete  

'흰 그늘'로서의 말년의 양식(1): 블라디미르 호로비츠(Vladimir Horowitz,1903 ~1989)

노쇠와 노화를 ‘업’으로 삼아 다양한 늙음의 모습들을 만나다보니, 예전에 관심을 가졌던 ‘말년의 양식’에 대해 다시금 눈과 귀가 활짝 열립니다. 그 중 한사람이 바로 불멸의 피아니스트 Horowitz이고요.

 

음악 앞에서만은 ‘미라’에서 거장으로 다시금 부활하곤 했다던 파블로 카잘스에 관한 말년의 일화들처럼, 말년의 호로비츠 역시 제대로 숨 쉬거나 걷기도 힘든 노인으로부터 아기/청년/力士의 모습으로 믿을 수 없는 변신을 하곤 했습니다, 피아노 앞에만큼은 말이지요. 저는 이 ‘변신’의 원인과 가능성에 대해서 찬찬히 살펴나가보고 싶은 마음입니다.

 

늙을 수밖에 없는 것이 자연의 이치이자 인간의 숙명이지만, 어떤 인간들은 노쇠와 노화의 그늘 아래서 눈부시게 빛납니다. 그 ‘흰 그늘’ 속에서, 아직 오지 않은, 아니면, 이미 왔으나 우리가 제대로 붙들지 못한, (성숙이 아닌) 늙어감의 미덕을 갱신해 낼 수만 있다면 얼마나 좋을까요.

*****

Below passage is mainly edited from Wikipedia

 

[Adolescence]

 

Despite his early success as a pianist, Horowitz maintained that he wanted to be a composer and undertook a career as a pianist only to help his family, who had lost their possessions in the Russian Revolution.

 

In this debut performance(1928), Horowitz demonstrated a marked ability to excite his audience, an ability he maintained for his entire career.

 

Despite rapturous receptions at recitals, Horowitz became increasingly unsure of his abilities as a pianist. on several occasions, the pianist had to be pushed onto the stage. Several times, he withdrew from public performances – during 1936 to 1938, 1953 to 1965, 1969 to 1974, and 1983 to 1985.

 

[Pedagogy, 1937-1962]

 

"Many young people say they have been pupils of Horowitz, but there were only three. Janis, Turini, who I brought to the stage, and Graffman. If someone else claims it, it's not true. I had some who played for me for four months. once a week. I stopped work with them, because they did not progress." According to biographer Glenn Plaskin, "The fact that Horowitz disavowed most of his students and blurred the facts regarding their periods of study says something about the erratic nature of his personality during that period".

 

[Sexual Orientation and Psychiatric Charater]

 

In 1933, in a civil ceremony, Horowitz married Toscanini's daughter Wanda. As Wanda knew no Russian and Horowitz knew very little Italian, their primary language became French. Despite his marriage, there were persistent rumors of Horowitz's homosexuality.

 

Dubal observed that Horowitz sublimated a strong instinctual sexuality into a powerful erotic undercurrent which was communicated in his piano playing. Horowitz, who denied being homosexual, once joked, "There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists.“

 

In the 1940s, Horowitz began seeing a psychiatrist. According to sources, this was an attempt to alter his sexual orientation. In the 1960s and again in the 1970s, the pianist underwent electroshock treatment for depression.

 

[Liberty]

 

Transcriptions aside, Horowitz was not opposed to altering the text of compositions to improve what he considered "unpianistic" writing or structural clumsiness. Horowitz altered short passages in certain works, such as substituting interlocking octaves for chromatic scales in Chopin's Scherzo in B minor. This was in marked contrast to many pianists of the post–19th-century era, who considered the composer's text sacrosanct. Living composers whose works Horowitz played (among them Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Poulenc) invariably praised Horowitz's performances of their work – even when he did take liberties with their scores.

 

[Performance Style]

 

For all the aural excitement of his playing, Horowitz rarely raised his hands higher than the piano's fallboard. His body was immobile, and his face seldom reflected anything other than intense concentration.

 

 

[Death, 1989]

 

His final recording, for Sony Classical (formerly Columbia), was completed four days before his death and consisted of repertoire he had never previously recorded.

 

Not long before Horowitz died, he called [his manager] Gelb and told him he was like family now and he didn’t have to call him "Mr. Horowitz", he could call him "Maestro." _ The New York Times

 

Chopin Fantasie-Impromptu Op.66. Recorded only 4 days before his death: