Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Vladimir Horowitz - the Great Comeback Box - 15CD Set
1,038 views
Skip to first unread message
Hank Drake
Jun 14, 2019, 2:11:33 PM6/14/19
to
Just announced on German Amazon. This includes all of Horowitz's Carnegie Hall rehearsals and at least one studio session recorded from January - April 1965. Most of this is newly released, except for Chopin's Nouvelle Etude in A-flat major and Debussy Etude which were released in the early 1990s. And, of course, the material that was used to patch the original "Historic Return" issue. Release schedule for August.
https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
paul.f...@gmail.com
Jun 14, 2019, 3:04:13 PM6/14/19
to
> https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
This is very good news!
Details here: https://www.sonyclassical.es/post/185566821246/vladimir-horowitz
This is very good news!
Details here: https://www.sonyclassical.es/post/185566821246/vladimir-horowitz
graham
Jun 14, 2019, 3:19:50 PM6/14/19
to
Hank Drake
Jun 14, 2019, 3:31:07 PM6/14/19
to
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 3:19:50 PM UTC-4, graham wrote:
> All those duplications yet only ONE Träumerei!
Usually we get too many Träumerei to shake a stick at. :)
> All those duplications yet only ONE Träumerei!
Hank
collector78
Jun 14, 2019, 7:47:00 PM6/14/19
to
are there any plans to release more 40's and 50's stuff though?
piano4tay
Jun 15, 2019, 2:25:51 AM6/15/19
to
Interesting. I notice that according to the notes, Horowitz's 1953 retirement was triggered by a row with Szell concerning their Tschaik 1 collaboration that January. That's an interesting claim I don't think I've heard before...
AMN
AMN
Hank Drake
Jun 15, 2019, 7:28:54 AM6/15/19
to
On Saturday, June 15, 2019 at 2:25:51 AM UTC-4, piano4tay wrote:
> Interesting. I notice that according to the notes, Horowitz's 1953 retirement was triggered by a row with Szell concerning their Tschaik 1 collaboration that January. That's an interesting claim I don't think I've heard before...
>
> AMN
Yes, I also read that in Bernard Horowitz's blurb. I've seen ZERO evidence to support that and am very skeptical of his claim.
> Interesting. I notice that according to the notes, Horowitz's 1953 retirement was triggered by a row with Szell concerning their Tschaik 1 collaboration that January. That's an interesting claim I don't think I've heard before...
>
> AMN
First, it makes no sense chronologically. The concert with Szell took place on January 12. Following that, Horowitz traveled to Washington DC where he gave a recital at Constitution Hall. Then he returned to NYC for his Silver Jubilee Recital on February 25 - almost six weeks after the Szell concert. Then Horowitz traveled to Minneapolis, where he cancelled a recital scheduled for early March and returned to NYC by plane (his first plane ride).
So, are we to believe Szell said something to Horowitz and he had a nervous breakdown seven weeks later? After 20 years of having Toscanini as a father in law?
Hank
JohnA
Jun 15, 2019, 8:29:46 PM6/15/19
to
piano4tay
Jun 16, 2019, 8:48:26 AM6/16/19
to
I'd agree; there may well have been some row with Szell, but there were plenty of other stressors in Horowitz's life that must have had a cumulative effect on his decision to take a break from touring, which he never intended or expected to be for so long. He'd only got together with Wanda again two years prior ((after a separation during which she'd had an affaire with his youthful pupil Byron Janis), and living out of a suitcase touring the country largely by train was no joke. I've always wondered how the death of his class mate and fellow Blumenfeld pupil Simon Barere affected him about this time (April 1951). Already hypochondriacal, seeing a fellow student and colleague drop dead on stage at his home turf of Carnegie Hall would have had some impact, I imagine.. Kappell's death on October 1953 can't have encouraged him to have faith in air travel either.....
AMN
AMN
Hank Drake
Jun 16, 2019, 8:57:45 AM6/16/19
to
On Sunday, June 16, 2019 at 8:48:26 AM UTC-4, piano4tay wrote:
> I'd agree; there may well have been some row with Szell, but there were plenty of other stressors in Horowitz's life that must have had a cumulative effect on his decision to take a break from touring, which he never intended or expected to be for so long. He'd only got together with Wanda again two years prior ((after a separation during which she'd had an affaire with his youthful pupil Byron Janis), and living out of a suitcase touring the country largely by train was no joke. I've always wondered how the death of his class mate and fellow Blumenfeld pupil Simon Barere affected him about this time (April 1951). Already hypochondriacal, seeing a fellow student and colleague drop dead on stage at his home turf of Carnegie Hall would have had some impact, I imagine.. Kappell's death on October 1953 can't have encouraged him to have faith in air travel either.....
>
> AMN
Horowitz was terribly upset by Kapell's death. Here's the transcript of the September 15, 1953 letter from Kapell to Horowitz, from Adelaide, Australia. Horowitz received this letter several days after Kapell's death. It's currently housed at the Yale archives.
> I'd agree; there may well have been some row with Szell, but there were plenty of other stressors in Horowitz's life that must have had a cumulative effect on his decision to take a break from touring, which he never intended or expected to be for so long. He'd only got together with Wanda again two years prior ((after a separation during which she'd had an affaire with his youthful pupil Byron Janis), and living out of a suitcase touring the country largely by train was no joke. I've always wondered how the death of his class mate and fellow Blumenfeld pupil Simon Barere affected him about this time (April 1951). Already hypochondriacal, seeing a fellow student and colleague drop dead on stage at his home turf of Carnegie Hall would have had some impact, I imagine.. Kappell's death on October 1953 can't have encouraged him to have faith in air travel either.....
>
> AMN
Dear and great Horowitz,
This is a fan letter. I only want to tell you that I have been playing for myself some "Songs Without Words" of Mendelssohn, and I am thinking of you. And how moving and beautiful your playing is and always has been, and how important you are to me, deep in my musician's heart. Your tone, and I can hear it at this moment, is one of the most heavenly things in the world. It has influenced me in what I think of as tonal beauty. The sadness of "Dumka", the innocent grace of the little Scarlatti sonatas, the love-music you make of Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, these are among the things I shall never forget as long as I live. And if every recording company offered to let me record the "Pictures [at an Exhibition]" of Mussorgsky (which they won't!), I would never do it because your record of it is like having Tolstoy's books in our library.
Don't be upset at this letter. It is from my heart, and I hope you will be well and strong til you are 80 years old, so you can give us this so wonderful, and so sad message of yours. Don't ever be upset by anything. You are a great genius, and you are desperately needed in this world.
I heard you have been ill. Get well, and play your dolorous songs for us for the rest of your life.
Your devoted,
Willy Kapell
AB
Jun 16, 2019, 2:05:32 PM6/16/19
to
On Friday, 14 June 2019 19:47:00 UTC-4, collector78 wrote:
> are there any plans to release more 40's and 50's stuff though?
right......
> are there any plans to release more 40's and 50's stuff though?
AB
piano4tay
Jun 17, 2019, 2:26:42 AM6/17/19
to
I knew of the letter, but not its contents. Very poignant, in the circumstances. From it, it sounds as though they had never met, though apparently Kapell lived across the street from Horowitz and had approached him for coaching, which Horowitz declined : 'I had nothing to teach him'.
AMN
AMN
RiRiIII
Jun 17, 2019, 6:23:09 AM6/17/19
to
On Saturday, June 15, 2019 at 9:25:51 AM UTC+3, piano4tay wrote:
> Interesting. I notice that according to the notes, Horowitz's 1953 retirement was triggered by a row with Szell concerning their Tschaik 1 collaboration that January. That's an interesting claim I don't think I've heard before...
>
> AMN
BTW, it was Mitropoulos who would conduct this Tchaikovsky 1st but he was indisposed for health reasons at the time of the concert.
> Interesting. I notice that according to the notes, Horowitz's 1953 retirement was triggered by a row with Szell concerning their Tschaik 1 collaboration that January. That's an interesting claim I don't think I've heard before...
>
> AMN
Hank Drake
Jun 17, 2019, 7:52:42 AM6/17/19
to
On Sunday, June 16, 2019 at 8:48:26 AM UTC-4, piano4tay wrote:
In his essay for 2015's "THE UNRELEASED LIVE RECORDINGS 1966-1983" box, Bernard Horowitz makes a great deal about an incident that took place in 1941 when Szell was invited to conduct the NBC. Szell led two concerts, one of which can be heard has been issued by Pristine Classical (link below). The rehearsals for those concerts were fraught, as Toscanini did not approve of Szell’s rehearsal technique and let Szell know in explosive terms. But the quality of the NBC performance under Szell speaks for itself. Contrast that with Szell’s own behavior two decades later. By then, Toscanini was dead, Szell was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and had raised their standards to the point that Cleveland was considered to have the best orchestra in the United States – perhaps even the world. Leopold Stokowski, as much a living legend as Toscanini had been and a polar opposite to Szell musically, visited for a series of guest concerts. Szell was present at the first rehearsal as the mercurial conductor began altering balances and encouraged the strings to bow freely. The orchestra manager, sitting next to Szell, feared Szell may explode much as Toscanini had done in 1941. Instead, as Stokowski began conducting a Cleveland Orchestra that suddenly sounded like the pre-1936 Philadelphia Orchestra, Szell looked toward the manager and smiled. In Szell’s smile was the implication that “his” orchestra could turn on a dime and serve the musical needs of any conductor.
https://www.pristineclassical.com/collections/artist-george-szell/products/pasc543
Hank
Message has been deleted
collector78
Jun 30, 2019, 4:25:40 PM6/30/19
to
Coming out on August 23rd!
Hank Drake
Aug 7, 2019, 6:28:42 PM8/7/19
to
On Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 4:25:40 PM UTC-4, collector78 wrote:
> Coming out on August 23rd!
Sony has published two teaser tracks, improvisations by Horowitz played at two of the rehearsals:
> Coming out on August 23rd!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPupCRQjB0c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n-vVzG3K_U
John Fowler
Aug 21, 2019, 4:54:16 PM8/21/19
to
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 1:11:33 PM UTC-5, Hank Drake wrote:
> Just announced on German Amazon. This includes all of Horowitz's Carnegie Hall rehearsals and at least one studio session recorded from January - April 1965. Most of this is newly released, except for Chopin's Nouvelle Etude in A-flat major and Debussy Etude which were released in the early 1990s. And, of course, the material that was used to patch the original "Historic Return" issue. Release schedule for August.
>
> https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
Release date is this Friday.
> Just announced on German Amazon. This includes all of Horowitz's Carnegie Hall rehearsals and at least one studio session recorded from January - April 1965. Most of this is newly released, except for Chopin's Nouvelle Etude in A-flat major and Debussy Etude which were released in the early 1990s. And, of course, the material that was used to patch the original "Historic Return" issue. Release schedule for August.
>
> https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
For once, the US Amazon pre-order price is considerably less than UK, German or French Amazon.
$74.80, which is $20 less than European Amazons.
sfr...@nycap.rr.com
Aug 22, 2019, 8:39:41 AM8/22/19
to
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 2:11:33 PM UTC-4, Hank Drake wrote:
> Just announced on German Amazon. This includes all of Horowitz's Carnegie Hall rehearsals and at least one studio session recorded from January - April 1965. Most of this is newly released, except for Chopin's Nouvelle Etude in A-flat major and Debussy Etude which were released in the early 1990s. And, of course, the material that was used to patch the original "Historic Return" issue. Release schedule for August.
>
> https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
Also available here:
> Just announced on German Amazon. This includes all of Horowitz's Carnegie Hall rehearsals and at least one studio session recorded from January - April 1965. Most of this is newly released, except for Chopin's Nouvelle Etude in A-flat major and Debussy Etude which were released in the early 1990s. And, of course, the material that was used to patch the original "Historic Return" issue. Release schedule for August.
>
> https://www.amazon.de/Vladimir-Horowitz-Great-Comeback-Horowitz/dp/B07PGX7KPW
https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=2291279#utm_source=ArkivMusic_NL&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=VHGC-8212019&utm_content=Horowitz-15CD
MIFrost
Mark Obert-Thorn
Aug 22, 2019, 9:28:37 AM8/22/19
to
On Wednesday, August 21, 2019 at 4:54:16 PM UTC-4, John Fowler wrote:
> For once, the US Amazon pre-order price is considerably less than UK, German or French Amazon.
> $74.80, which is $20 less than European Amazons.
I cancelled my Amazon order awhile back because pre-order price at ImportCDs was even cheaper -- $69.42. It's now on its way:
> For once, the US Amazon pre-order price is considerably less than UK, German or French Amazon.
> $74.80, which is $20 less than European Amazons.
https://www.importcds.com/vladimir-horowitz-the-great-comeback/190759353325
Mark O-T
collector78
Aug 30, 2019, 7:01:45 PM8/30/19
to
Any reviews yet?
Hank Drake
Aug 30, 2019, 7:50:38 PM8/30/19
to
On Friday, August 30, 2019 at 7:01:45 PM UTC-4, collector78 wrote:
> Any reviews yet?
Here's the review I submitted to Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1IKI6J0QPKV6C
One thing I didn't mention in the review: the piano's tuning and voicing vary from date to date - in particular the April 14th rehearsal where it's quite out of tune. Material from April 14 was used for several of the "patches" in the edited version of the "Historical Return" album - the tuning made the splices stick out like sore thumbs.
Hank
> Any reviews yet?
Here's the review I submitted to Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1IKI6J0QPKV6C
One thing I didn't mention in the review: the piano's tuning and voicing vary from date to date - in particular the April 14th rehearsal where it's quite out of tune. Material from April 14 was used for several of the "patches" in the edited version of the "Historical Return" album - the tuning made the splices stick out like sore thumbs.
Hank
piano4tay
Aug 31, 2019, 1:31:41 AM8/31/19
to
Hank, has there been any re-mastering done on the complete 1965/66 recitals, reissued yet again here? I suppose not, given that these appeared only recently in the complete Carnegie set?
Also, assuming we now have released all the takes from these recording sessions, do you think there's any scope for 'improved' alternative splicing, such as you mention would have been possible with the Schumann Fantasy, if Horowitz had willed it? Having had the 'warts and all' versions, a pitch- and note-corrected 'fan' edition, as we might expect nowadays, might be nice, and I'm sure there are people out there willing and able to do it....
But as you say in your notes, it's hard to fathom why Sony should have invested so much effort into this marginally interesting release while there's more important material from Yale still to be worked on, unless that's what's in the Golden Jubilee Edition supposedly coming out in October....
AMN
Also, assuming we now have released all the takes from these recording sessions, do you think there's any scope for 'improved' alternative splicing, such as you mention would have been possible with the Schumann Fantasy, if Horowitz had willed it? Having had the 'warts and all' versions, a pitch- and note-corrected 'fan' edition, as we might expect nowadays, might be nice, and I'm sure there are people out there willing and able to do it....
But as you say in your notes, it's hard to fathom why Sony should have invested so much effort into this marginally interesting release while there's more important material from Yale still to be worked on, unless that's what's in the Golden Jubilee Edition supposedly coming out in October....
AMN
Hank Drake
Aug 31, 2019, 8:33:24 AM8/31/19
to
A "note perfect" edition is an interesting prospect, and if I had the tools and skill I'd probably put one together for my own use. As it is, I've made a playlist with the best tracks for each composition and ported it over to the thumb drive I take in my car (which, like most newer cars, lacks a CD player).
I did receive some interesting news from Allan Steckler, who is in charge of the Horowitz and Toscanini Estates: All of Horowitz's known original compositions, which are in manuscript form at Yale, are to be published this fall. I have yet to see further information including work list and publisher.
Hank
collector78
Sep 2, 2019, 8:47:20 AM9/2/19
to
Yes, it is strange that those glorious 1945-1950 Yale materials have not been issued in one comprehensive box yet!
RANDY WOLFGANG
Sep 2, 2019, 10:20:01 PM9/2/19
to
piano4tay
Sep 3, 2019, 1:05:15 AM9/3/19
to
Yes, Hank's reviews are always something I enjoy and look forward to.
AMN
AMN
0 new messages