Horowitz - The Historic 1965 Carnegie Hall Return Concert (Bach/Busoni, Schumann, Scriabin, Chopin)

Vladimir Horowitz (1903 - 1989), piano May 9, 1965: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York Program : Entrance on the stage: 00:00 Bach/Busoni: Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C major, BWV 564 : 1. Preludio, quasi improvvisando : 0:20 2. Intermezzo : 6:56 3. Fuga : 12:17 Schumann: Fantasie in C major, : 1. Durchaus phantastisch und liedenschaftlich vorzutragen : 17:46 2. Massig. Durchaus energisch : 30:23 3. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten : 38:26 Scriabin: Sonata No.9, (“The Black Mass“) : 48:49 Scriabin: Poème in F-sharp major, No.1 : 58:42 Chopin: Mazurka in C-sharp minor, No.4 : 1:02:24 Chopin: Etude in F major, No.8 : 1:06:46 Chopin: Ballade No.1 in G minor, : 1:09:30 Encores : Debussy: Serenade for the Doll : 1:18:59 Scriabin: Etude in C-sharp minor, Op.2 No.1 : 1:22:46 Moszkowski: Etude in A-flat major, : 1:26:08 Schumann: Träumerei, No.7 : 1:28:08 Historical reminder : 1953 : Horowitz left the stage with a last concert the February 25, 1953 at Carnegie Hall, New York ( due to nervous collapse, brought on by intense performing schedule and difficulties with colitis but however he continued to record without public. 1965 : Coming back on stage, yes, he thinks about it more and more often but says nothing : « All my friends, all my colleagues came here as if I were dead with condolences. People would come, sit down and tell me « you have to play. You have to play. » Eventually I said to my wife, « I think I can start at Carnegie Hall, not Monte Carlo, no, Carnegie Hall. It would be the simplest thing. I wouldn’t have to take a trip. I would get out of my bed and we would see what would happen. » » [...] A few days later, Volodia asks Julius Blum (the executive director of the Carnegie Hall Corporation) to book a date: May 9, 1965 at 3:30 p.m. [...] March 19 at Steinway Hall, Vladimir gives a press conference. He presents himself as a new man: « When I hear my records of sonatas by Prokofiev, Barber or Kabalevski today, I have the impression that it is someone else who is playing. Today I don’t know how to play them. » [...] When the ticket office opens, 1500 people line up to get tickets. [...] The night of May 8, 1965 : « I usually sleep well but Saturday night I slept little, maybe five hours. It wasn’t panic or nervousness, it was anticipation, yes, anticipation of something very important in my life. I am not unstable, I have a nervous temperament but not unstable. There I had nothing to gain, only to lose, I was already a legend. » [...] On the morning of the concert, the silence is total in the house. Vladimir has thought long and hard about his clothes and it is time to put on what will now be his stage costume: striped pants, gray waistcoat, frac jacket, white shirt and pocket square. « I think of these little details as ankle socks that don’t fit me. Check that the knots of my shoes are well done, that my pants are well closed. Then comes the moment when I put on my clothes, the moment when I put on my uniform and when I am like a racehorse before the start. I start to sweat. I already feel some electricity. I like to be there ten minutes, a quarter of an hour in advance to warm up my fingers. I’m a general. My soldiers are the keys, and I have to command them. » [...] 3:22 p.m.: the limousine appears at the end of the street. He’s there ! the crowd throngs. He descends calmly and smiles at the applause and cheers. [...] The myopic look, Vladimir makes a gesture « Wait, I haven’t played yet ». He sits down and unlike his old habits, he does not fiddle with the seat for a second, he starts straight away. [...] Halfway through the Bach, Wanda (his wife) gets up, discreetly, to join Volodia at the backstage entrance, as he had begged her to. Wanda, moved : « I didn’t think I would see this again one day, I don’t think I would see this again one day. » [...] Horowitz : « What touched my heart was that people understood the music. I felt that the message had reached people’s hearts. » Vladimir will decide that it will be necessary to reassemble the Schumann with the sound of the rehearsal. But the Bach, no, it will be kept as it is. « Yes because it was a document. After twelve years, you go to Carnegie Hall and you play. You may be a little nervous. And it’s normal that something happens, because after that nothing bad happens, you see. » [...] But the audience does not want to leave. We light the room, we turn off the stage, the crush is total around the concert hall. 5:45 p.m.: Vladimir and Wanda want to leave the theater, but how? [...] A few notes about my YouTube video : - All editions I used for this score video are URTEXT except for the fingerings. - Horowitz does the Ossia at 2:04 and 11:22 - Horowitz makes plenty of changes to the scores (cuts, simplifications, adds) that I did not mentioned.