Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 3; Piano Sonata No. 2 (Vladimir Horowitz)

Information

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov

• Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36

Vladimir Horowitz, piano

New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Eugene Ormandy, conductor

Date: 1978; 1980

Label: RCA Red Seal

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Review

How did this one make it to RCA’s High Performance series? Certainly not because of its High Fidelity: the recording has a thin and washed-out sound that one would never associate with Carnegie Hall. Sony Classical’s 1958 recording of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony (with Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic) reproduces that famed venue far more faithfully. (RCA did better by Ormandy for his magnificent recording of the Rachmaninov Third with Vladimir Ashkenazy.) The performance? Well, okay–if you read the series title as “Hyper-formance”. There’s no questioning Horowitz’s boundless energy and enthusiasm as he tears into his beloved mentor’s biggest concerto. The problem is, on this occasion at least (the January 8, 1978, concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of Horowitz’s American debut) the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. I’m referring to flesh of the fingers, for Horowitz misses many a note, and I mean many. There’s hardly a rapid passage that he plays without blemish. It’s like listening to your old piano-playing uncle try to liven up the family party like he used to 30 years ago.

Horowitz begins just fine–the master’s touch is evident even in the simple melody that begins the work. It’s when things heat up that the meltdown begins. Particularly jarring moments are the piano’s big entrance in the slow movement (the faulty high notes sounding like fingernails on a blackboard), and the whirlwind passages of the finale, which come across like an unintended comedy. And yet, with all the gaffes, there is a commanding quality to this artist’s playing that compels you to listen. True, Martha Argerich had a few finger slips in her traversal of this same finale, taken at a demonically fast tempo. Yet, for all her speed and astonishing dexterity, I’ve always found that performance on Philips to be more of a daredevil act than a musical recreation. Horowitz’s very tone conveys a deep love and understanding of this music that few have, and this recording makes us wish he had taped the concerto at the same time as the appended 1980 performance of Rachmaninov’s Sonata No. 2. Here the grand old man is once again fully in charge of his faculties. Though this is not the raw, angry interpretation of his earlier recording on Sony (some of the first movement’s most brutal accents have been deliberately tamed), it remains a powerful reading with a clear trajectory throughout. The superior sound for this solo session gives us a much better idea of the kind of glorious noise this man could produce.

-- Victor Carr Jr

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Arensky and Taneyev. Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also composed a number of works for orchestra alone, including three symphonies, the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and four symphonic poems.

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Vladimir Horowitz (October 1 [O.S. September 18] 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing. Born in Kiev, Russian Empire, he studied at the Kiev Conservatory with Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. He emigrated to Germany in 1925 and settled in the U.S. in 1939. Horowitz is best known for his performances of the Romantic piano repertoire, especially the Liszt Sonata and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3.

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