Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
A tribute to Horowitz
Horowitz plays Chopin Ballade 1
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A home-made film featuring young Horowitz - the submitter's notes are very interesting, and I won't them do justice by embedding only the video here. Please check the original youtube site, if you are interested. No sound but the personal touch makes it a rewarding experience indeed!
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A really unique video - Horowitz in Carnegie Hall playing probably your two favourite Traumerei pieces... Enjoy :)
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VLADIMIR HOROWITZ
A TELEVISION CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1968
Pt.6/7 Scriabin Etude in D#m Op.8-12 & Schumann Traumerei Op.15-7
A TELEVISION CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1968
Pt.6/7 Scriabin Etude in D#m Op.8-12 & Schumann Traumerei Op.15-7
And if you loved it as much as I do, you can download whole video here. 340 MB worth their weight in gold!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RGP3TI2D
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Another one from the Carnegie concert:
A TELEVISION CONCERT AT CARNEGIE HALL 1968
Pt.7/7 Horowitz Variations on a theme from Bizet's Opera Carmen
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And yet another:
Horowitz Schumann Arabesque Op.18
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Horowitz Scriabin "Vers la Flamme" (Toward the Flame)
Watch the beginning! :)
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Vladimir Horowitz rehearsing Chopin Polonaise ("Heroic") - Moscow, 1986
Chopin Polonaise
I remember this concert; a friend from the university managed to get us inside because "a cousin of a neighbour who lived next-door to a guy who knew someone closely related to one of the technicians on the show who owed him a favour" helped. The best po-mo way to describe the experience was being hit by a sledgehammer repeatedly and enjoying every second of it. Unfortunately, we couldn't find tickets to the concert proper. Those were the days... Btw, the sound is a bit off the mark; for a better sound quality version pls visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZGi49Bnghs
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Let's lighten it a bit, OK? :)
Horowitz Schubert Moment Musical No. 3 in minor
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Horowitz Scarlatti Sonata L33
Moscow, 1986 again
Moscow, 1986 again
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Horowitz Scriabin Etude Op. 8 No. 12
Hauntingly beautiful... Lifted this off the comments area:
I rememeber reading somewhere that when Scriabin was sick and dying, young Horowitz came and played some of Scriabin's pieces for him and Scriabin loved it! Scriabin told Horowitz that he (Horowitz) played his own pieces better than he himself did!
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Horowitz Chopin Waltz op.34-2
Though the reviews on youtube are somewhat negative about this performance, it struck a chord (pun intended!) within, and so I am including it. If you prefer, you may skip it - but hey it is my blog, and I post what I like, ok? :)
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Rachmaninoff - Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor, Op.36
1st mvmt - Allegro Agitato
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Vladimir Horowitz live in London performing for the Royal Family. Part 1 of 3 (2 & 3 follow immediately below)
Part 2 - embedding disabled by request - so pls follow this link for part 2.
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Part 3
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Horowitz Liszt / Schubert Soirees de Vienne: Valse-Caprice No.6 in Vienna (1987)
Divine, indeed!Horowitz Liszt Consolation No.3 in D flat major (Vienna)
Horowitz Schubert Moment Musical No. 3 in minor
Moszkowski Etincelles Op.36 N.6
Horowitz Schubert Moment Musical No. 3 in minor
Moszkowski Etincelles Op.36 N.6
Sunday, April 1, 2007
By way of introduction
ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down ajar from one of the shelves as she passed: it was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE" but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.
"Well!" thought Alice to herself "After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (which was very likely true.)
Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. "I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think-" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school-room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) "-- yes that's about the right distance -- but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?" (Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall fight through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The antipathies, I think-" (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) "-but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand? Or Australia?" (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke- fancy, curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere."
Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?" And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy son of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and was saying to her, very earnestly, "Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?" when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down ajar from one of the shelves as she passed: it was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE" but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.
"Well!" thought Alice to herself "After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (which was very likely true.)
Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. "I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think-" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school-room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) "-- yes that's about the right distance -- but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?" (Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall fight through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The antipathies, I think-" (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) "-but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand? Or Australia?" (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke- fancy, curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere."
Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?" And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy son of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and was saying to her, very earnestly, "Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?" when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
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