Sony/BMG’s second Vladimir Horowitz Original Jacket edition draws on the piano legend’s RCA Victor recordings, dating from the late 1920s up through his 1982 London concerts, and covers a wide repertoire range in the process. His studio Tchaikovsky First and Brahms Second concertos under Toscanini’s stringent direction have long provoked controversy and awe, while the pianist’s pioneering versions of the Prokofiev Seventh and Barber sonatas deserve their iconic reputation.
You can compare the younger Horowitz’s relatively direct Liszt Valse Oubliée No. 1 and Chopin C-sharp minor Mazurka Op. 30 No. 4 to their more subjective mid-century remakes. If his early 1980s Chopin is as mannered and pulled about as the 1978 Rachmaninov Third Concerto Golden Jubilee release (coupled here with the the same composer’s Second sonata), Horowitz still revealed his genius for making loose-knit, larger-scaled works such as Schumann’s Concerto Without Orchestra and the Scriabin Fifth sonata sound cohesive and inevitable.
His 1950s Chopin hits and misses. I’ve never warmed to the static, fussed-over B-flat minor sonata (Horowitz takes the first-movement repeat he wisely omitted in his superior stereo Columbia Masterworks remake), nor to the studio B minor Scherzo’s picky details and lack of flow, yet the Barcarolle is a classic, as are the technically and musically inspired Scriabin and Clementi recitals from the same period.
When I first pondered hearing Horowitz live, a non-fan friend advised me “just go for the encores.” I understood what he meant, for Horowitz lavished these gems with great care and craft. Today’s young hotshots may be able to play the notes of Horowitz’s once inscrutable Carmen Fantasy, Stars and Stripes Forever, and Mendelssohn Wedding March, or copy his effective textual emendations in Liszt’s Sixth and Fifteenth Hungarian Rhapsodies and Moszkowski studies–yet they don’t match the master’s rhythmic drive, sophisticated articulation, and flawless timing.
So far as production values go, this release falls far short of the high standards of previous issues in the Original Jacket Collection series. Astute Horowitz collectors will notice that none of the 10 vintage Horowitz LP cover facsimiles presented here corresponds to its original vinyl contents. In fact, each disc clones a specific release in RCA’s comprehensive yet haphazardly programmed Horowitz Gold Seal series, right down to the actual transfers. The two Chopin CDs prove particularly confusing in this regard.
Furthermore, the booklet’s discographical information is incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. For example, many of the “unavailable” venue and producer credits listed are readily “available” Horowitz discographies, chapter and verse. Such editorial slackness underlines the need for a truly complete, systematic, and thoroughly remastered Horowitz RCA survey that matches the integrity of the label’s complete Kapell and Rubinstein editions.
