My wife, Allison Eldredge, is the Artistic Director of the Killington Music Festival http://www.killingtonmusicfestival.org and she and I were having a discussion about programs they will do there this summer. One program is going to have a Viennese theme and that got me to googling "Soirees de Vienne" - and I found this wonderful video of Horowitz playing. Growing up, he was absolutely my favorite pianist, though as I got older I admitted a few others to my pantheon of pianistic idols. In fact I forgot for a time how indescribably brilliant he was. I wish I'd heard him live - people say the colors he found and the electricity he created in a live performance couldn't quite be captured on recordings. In any case it's hard for me to imagine this piece being played with a better combination of style, ease, and elegance. Hearing Horowitz is liking reading the Lord of the Rings - I can't put it down until it's finished!
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I agree. I have this CD of Horowitz playing some Beethoven piano sonatas (which I think I got when we were living in Comstock). I kind of forgot about it, but I did put it on my bigger iPod (which I never listen to aside from on long flights since I just carry my shuffle around for security reason. My original iPod was mugged while I was actually listening to Radu Lupu playing Schubert. Those punk kids were probably perplexed by my musical taste - or else they've been converted into serious Schubert fans. Haha). Anyway, I will occasionally stumble back upon those Horowitz recordings and be stunnned at how good they are.
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