Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0028947779681 Format: Live Label: Deutsche Grammophon Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon Release Date: July 08, 2008 Sales Rank: 21841 Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Album DescriptionFirst-ever release in any format of this momentous musical event! In 1987, Vladimir Horowitz, the last of the keyboard titans of the 20th century, made a triumphant European tour, giving what turned out to be his final series of performances before an adoring public. The very last of these concerts, on June 21 in Hamburg, was recorded by the North German Radio. Apart from a single encore, no part of this valedictory concert has ever been issued before. This recording constitutes a unique souvenir of Horowitz's final public appearance, where the sense of occasion and immediacy is palpable. Horowitz included three signature works on his final program: Schumann's enchanting Scenes from Childhood (source of one of his favorite encores, the immortal Träumerei), Chopin's monumental ''Heroic'' Polonaise, and one of his most glittering encores, Moszkowski's Étincelles. Over a career lasting nearly seven decades, Horowitz's recordings have sold over three million units and won 25 Grammy® Awards (six for his Deutsche Grammophon titles)
What Others Say
An Important Memento
Vladimir Horowitz is one of the greatest pianists to ever live. For pianists who embrace things pianistic in the repertoire, he is immortal. For those whose credo is different, he often is still a huge force to be reckoned with. Therefore, listening to his last public performance is an act practically required of a musician who finds it important to follow this fascinating career and life completely to the end. Horowitz's musical ideas, his inspirations, and the tone he brings from the piano are present, full-force, in this recital, and much of his playing is less mannered and more to-the-point than his other renditions of these same works. In addition to that, he is more tired, weaker, stiffer, and less accurate than other late performances ... Read More
Excellent recording!
The last performance of Horowitz in Hamburg is great!
Thank you!
WL
Not to be missed
A wonderful coda to a wonderful life. Given his sense of humour, Horowitz would have found hysterical the fact that Amazon is advertising it alongside a recording by the let's just say musically and technically disadvantaged Lang Lang.
A Fond Farewell
For those familiar with Vladimir Horowitz's televised recital from Vienna a few weeks prior to this one, both the repertoire and the manner of performance will be similar. There are a few differences in details, which mainly spring from the differences between Vienna's Golden Hall and Hamburg's Music Hall, which is "drier" acoustically.
By 1987, Horowitz had stripped his playing of much of the artifice which marred the performances he gave while in his 70s. Gone were the bizarre rubati and general obliteration of structure, and in their place was an unforced spontaneity and balance between tension and relaxation. A case in point is Schumann's Scenes from Childhood, which Horowitz recorded several times. Horowitz's two studio renderings, ... Read More
