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themiddle

6 Comments

  • Great performance, and great piece. Something soothing about piano music — the one (and only) great thing about The Pianist was the soundtrack. But of course, there is no reason to always turn to Chopin when in need of piano music.

  • Wow, thanks, Middle. Horowitz was a great Lisztian. He made a highly-acclaimed recording of the B minor Sonata very early in his career, in the 30s; and his very last studio record features a pair of Liszt pieces, the variations on Bach’s ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Sagen’, and Liszt’s transcription of the Liebestod from Wagner’s ‘Tristan.’

    It’s quite moving to hear his public career end with the tranquil, final notes of the Wagner.

    (Having said all that– we have to place him behind a number of 20th C. greats; among Great Pianists, Jewish Division, behind Rubinstein and Ignaz Friedman.)

  • I don’t know. Honestly, he moves me in a way that no other classical pianist does. Then again, I listen for pleasure and am by no means an expert.

    If you go to Youtube and look him up, they have the film The Last Romantic about him, broken up into some sections. There are some amazing moments in there.

  • He had a touchingly childlike, guileless quality, despite his amazing virtuosity.

  • Yes, he does seem like an innocent. His wife is clearly the business brains of the operation. She seems like a very tough cookie and very protective of him.

  • Toscanini’s daughter, right?

    Man, you’d think if you were a world-famous virtuoso, you’d end up with a hottie, but apparently not.