Horowitz

Summary

Dominique Pagani discusses Vladimir Horowitz mainly as a figure of piano interpretation. He calls him "the very metonymy of the virtuoso pianist"1 and counts him among the performers who bring out the possibilities of the instrument2. In the session devoted to interpretation, he describes him as a "demonic" performer: Horowitz shows off the instrument while keeping an extreme rigour towards the score3. In the same session, he mentions a meeting at the home of the Princesse de Polignac4. He also links him to a historical question: the emigration of Russian musicians, who took their training with them5, and the fact that Russians became the reference performers of non-Russian music6. Later, he contrasts him with Lipatti and presents him as a demonstrative pianist7. This contrast qualifies the praise of his virtuosity.

1. 1#14 Mozart once more7 Feb 2021 · 41:19
2. 2#1 Schubert and the master singers3 Dec 2020 · 13:18
3. 3#17 Interpretation25 Mar 2021 · 1:19:48
4. 4#17 Interpretation25 Mar 2021 · 1:02:35
5. 5#2 From Lévi-Strauss to Nerval, on music3 Dec 2020 · 39:19
6. 6The music of history26 Apr 2015 · 1:33:38
7. 7Sickness, misfortune, evil20 Sept 2024 · 1:36:15

Summary produced automatically from 7 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.