THE CHOPIN COLLECTION

More piano music: a unique and indispensable collection of Vladimir Horowitz playing Chopin. The new Sony Classical box gathers together solo Chopin recordings that the piano wizard set down for RCA and CBS/Sony between 1928, when he was 25, and 1989, the year he died. “His Gramophone obituary observed: “Horowitz’s sound seemed to grow and blossom with all the fullness of great singing or string playing long after it should logically have ceased. These qualities combined with a facility and rhythmic aplomb that caused other would-be pyrotechnicians to pale into insignificance … If Rubinstein showed a classic and patrician sense of contour in Chopin, Horowitz looked on the wild side, avidly seeking a ‘romantic agony’ of the most vibrant passion and color. In such music Horowitz’s audacity and, indeed, outrageousness knew no bounds, and the communicative force of his playing drove his audiences near to hysteria.” Hear for yourself in this new 7-CD set, the most comprehensive collection of Horowitz’s Chopin ever released.

REVIEW:

Vladimir Horowitz recorded Chopin’s music prolifically if selectively over the course of his career. This seven-CD collection encompasses all of the live and studio Chopin performances for RCA Victor, Columbia Masterworks, and Sony Classical that Horowitz authorized for release, along with posthumously issued material available in the Sony/BMG Horowitz Complete Album Collection, save for the bonus 1951 Carnegie Hall and 1967 Brooklyn College recitals. It does NOT include further Chopin material issued within Sony/BMG’s big boxes devoted to complete, unedited Horowitz concerts, rehearsals, and recording sessions. Still, we’ve got a lot of Horowitz’s Chopin here.

Since the pianist recorded many works more than once, collectors can compare and contrast how the legendary pianist’s interpretations evolved over time. I’ll give just a few examples. From Horowitz’s 1928 recording debut comes a fetchingly straightforward C-sharp minor Mazurka Op. 30 No. 4. By 1949, Horowitz is nervously toying with detail and inner voices. When he revives the Mazurka for his 1965 Historic Return to Carnegie Hall, the music becomes mellower, more spacious and unified (sound clips). One also can compare Horowitz’s highly-strung 1951 Polonaise-Fantasie to the 1966 Carnegie Hall rendition’s superior breadth and fullness of body. The 1982 Royal Festival Hall Polonaise-Fantasie, by contrast, reeks with mannered italicizations and discontinuity.

Interestingly, Horowitz shed the edgy, unsettled aura of his 1951, 1953, and 1963 B minor Scherzo recordings for the fluid and direct performance that graced his November 16, 1975 Carnegie Hall Concert (in all four versions, by the way, Horowitz recasts Chopin’s ascending unison scales as interlocking octaves). Yet some of Horowitz’s most galvanic performances involve works for which he sanctioned just one recorded edition, such as the Polonaise in F-sharp Op. 44, the Introduction and Rondo Op. 16, and the Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante Op. 22. Full discographic information is provided, but no program notes. You won’t find a better Horowitz/Chopin bargain anywhere.

– ClassicsToday (Jed Distler)