Vladimir Horowitz 1977 Liszt: Sonata In B Minor

Vladimir Horowitz 1977
Liszt: Sonata In B Minor

[keithlaliberte]

My favorite recording of this. A lifetime of passion and power in 30 minutes. The colors...

[frederickbulsara]

I've listened to this piece 50 times and every time the half an hour flies by like it's 5 minutes

[TFStarlight]

13:17, HOLY MOLY that bass note is so rich in tone

[쇼팽쇼팽]

This 1977 List Sonata by Horowitz is the best performance in history. There may be performances that are more technical than this, but I'm sure there will be no performances that have expressed such a dramatic and exciting performance as this one.

[YZ-TS]

The greatest recording of this piece by milestones imo, as much for its lyricism, passion, and interpretation as for its well-placed episodic "violence" throughout. A monumental feat by any standard.

[Angelo-zi]

11:50 Nice how each time he plays the chord succession, he emphasizes a different voice of the chord

[parkerpayne]

Liszt and Horowitz...perfect. His interpretation of Vallee d'Obermann is also amazing.

[lunchmind]

Thank you Horowitz and thank you and happy Birthday to you, Franz Liszt.

[aaaaa]

Liszt and Horowitz are perfectly matched to each other :D

[scofab]

One of my favorite performances ever. Genius.

[Davidfooterman]

Liszt was a far greater composer than he is often given credit for. The last couple of minutes of the b minor are amazing, starting with the repetition of the central melodic theme in the left hand followed by the dreamy acknowledgement of it by the right hand and then the resolution of the whole story by both hands at the end: it’s compositional genius; it was too easy to underestimate Liszt, the flamboyant pianist, as a composer. I continue to hear young musicians making this mistake when they talk about Liszt; the problem was he had a very great contemporary in the form of Chopin; this alone could be enough to make Hungary and Poland into mortal enemies for all time!

[craymiranda]

The way he calmed everything down in 15:57 as opposed to the typical grand resolution... such a great interpretation that you don't usually hear but still makes so much sense. That's something that's very technically difficult to achieve as well as the transition was as smooth as someone lowering the volume on the whole performance.

[carloseliasmondinibelletti]

Salve Listz! Salve Horowitz! Marca do ficou está execução! No tempo e no espaço... Guardado para sempre! Vale ouvir ....hoje e sempre! Não tem Fim!

[troensspring]

21:57-22:37. Passages like that have never be equaled. When I was a young pianist I listened to moments like that probably 1000 times.

[Davidfooterman]

There is one chord in the B minor where Horowitz adds a note that works pretty well. I don’t think he did it deliberately out of arrogance; I think he just heard it in his head and it came right out in the fourth finger of his right hand! I noticed it again today after having not listened to this performance for quite a few years.

[Viflo]

Man those cantabile parts.. Old Horowitz made me cry, absolutely stunning!!! And the clarity! Very uncommon in Horowitz to have such a clear melody from the beginning to the very end, since he prefered force based playing a bit more than bel canto in a manner of speaking. This performance has made my performace a lot better since Horowitz digs up melodies that are so well hidden in some places that not a single other pianist brings them up, instead they smash through the whole thing! Positively surprised!!!

[afrofinka]

Like a thunderstorm destroying everything on its way.

[sotocarlosf]

Increible demostración de poder, emoción y variedad tonal. Versión dramática y salvaje. Horowitz está aquí inspirado y sabe manejar la emoción con electricidad y magnetismo. También hay momentos de gran lirismo y delicadeza. Uso inteligente del pedal, sabe extraer sonidos extraordinarios del piano. Quizá la major version de esta obra monumental.

[jayscherrer]

Beautiful, reminds me of listening to the summer rain under a Skylight at night.

[Davidfooterman]

Horowitz plays the B minor so much more teanslucently than anyone else. You hear all the marvelous passing notes that Liszt placed within the sound; it’s like looking at a building and seeing the workmanship in the bricklaying as well as the imposing design of the building as a whole. As always with Liszt, there is so much obsession with covering all the notes adequately that the lyricism is lost. Here you have Horowitz, one of the greatest virtuosos of all time, taking the B minor at a slightly slower pace, at which you can hear every note, and at which Horowitz can give you every note unequivocally. I remember as a young child hearing Richter, one of the greatest virtuosos of all time, play the Liszt B minor at this slightly slower, more revealing pace, BUT, in the true spirit of the Liszt romantic era he would play selected portions of the most difficult parts of the piece at a faster tempo just to show us what he was made of. This is exactly what Liszt would have done; he was a very emotional and exhibitionist pianist/composer of the romantic era, who would dress up parts of his sonata with portions of great difficulty with the express purpose of proving the virtuosity with which he and other leading pianists of the time could play it. Chopin did it occasionally, especially in some of his studies, but Liszt did it all the time!