Musicians - Vladimir Horowitz

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	Musicians - Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovych Horowitz (Russian: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц, Ukrainian: Володимир Самійлович Горовиць) (OS 18 September, NS October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a classical pianist of Jewish origin. His use of colors, technique and the excitement of his playing are thought by many to be unrivalled, and his performances of works as diverse as those of Domenico Scarlatti and Alexander Scriabin were equally legendary. Detractors claim that his output is uniformly mannered (termed Horowitzian), and often too much so to be true to the composer's intentions. Even so, he has a huge and passionate following and is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century.

Life and career

Horowitz himself said that he was born in Kiev, Ukraine, but some sources have given Berdichev as a birthplace. His cousin Natasha Saitzoff, in a 1991 interview, stated that all four children were born in Kiev; Horowitz's wife, Wanda Toscanini, however, gave credence to the Berdichev possibility. He was born in 1903, but in order to make Vladimir appear too young for military service so as not to risk damaging his hands, his father took a year off his son's age by claiming he was born in 1904 (This fictitious birth year is still found in some reference sources, but authoritative sources now list - and Horowitz himself confirmed - his correct year of birth as 1903). Horowitz had piano lessons from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a competent pianist. In 1912 he entered the Kiev Conservatory, where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. He left the conservatory in 1919 and played the Piano Concerto No. 3 of Rachmaninoff at his graduation. His first solo recital followed in 1920.

His star rose rapidly – he soon began to tour Russia where he was often paid with bread, butter and chocolate (Plaskin, Horowitz, 1983, P. 52) rather than money due to the country's economic hardships. During the 1922-1923 season, he performed 23 concerts of eleven different programs in Leningrad alone (Plaskin, Horowitz, P 56,). In 1926 Horowitz made his first appearance outside his home country, in Berlin. He later played in Paris, London and New York City, and it was in the United States that he eventually settled in 1940. He became a United States citizen in 1944.

Career in the US

In 1932 he played for the first time with the conductor Arturo Toscanini in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (the Emperor concerto). The two went on to appear together many times, both on stage and on record. In 1933, Horowitz married Wanda Toscanini, the conductor's daughter.

Despite receiving rapturous receptions at his recitals, Horowitz became increasingly unsure of his abilities as a pianist. Several times he withdrew from public performances (1936-1938, 1953-1965, 1969-1974, 1983-1985), and it is said that on several occasions, Horowitz had to be pushed onto the stage (Plaskin, Horowitz, p. 353). After 1965 he gave solo recitals only rarely (various sources).

Horowitz made many recordings, starting in 1928 upon his arrival in the United States and ending four days before his death in 1989. His early recordings were made for HMV, the most notable of which is his 1930 recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra, the first recording of that piece. In the 1940s and 1950s, Horowitz recorded for RCA Victor. During this period, he made his first recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, under Toscanini. After 1953, when Horowitz went into retirement, he made a number of acclaimed recordings at home, including discs of Alexander Scriabin and Muzio Clementi.

In 1962, Horowitz began recording for Columbia Records, and it is these recordings which are among the best known. The most famous among them is his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall and his 1968 performance from his television special, Horowitz on Television, featuring Scriabin's Etude Op. 8 No. 12 and Horowitz's own Variations on a Theme from Bizet's Carmen, the most famous of his piano transcriptions along with the Stars and Stripes Forever. From 1965 until 1982, many of Horowitz's recordings were done live.

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Musicians - Vladimir Horowitz

Life and career

Career in the US

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