Vladimir Horowitz - Clara Wieck & Kreisleriana

Artist : Vladimir Horowitz

Album : Schumann - Kreisleriana & Clara Wieck (year?)

Genre : Classical Piano

Rating : ***** ½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
I crossed paths with this album when a friend asked me to convert it to CD. The only place I've found it so far already in CD-format is as part of a 10-CD bundle called the "Original Jacket Collection". The picture above is the LP cover.

What's To Like...
Vladimir Horowitz is a legend. I wonder sometimes how much of his music is in the process of being lost, simply because it remains only available on vinyl.

The two pieces here - "Variations on a Theme by Clara Wieck" and "Kreisleriana" are both by Robert Schumann, a Romantic composer from the early 1800's. The former was written in 1833; the latter in 1838. Schumann was quite the "rebel", breaking away from classical composing to write some very dreamy and moody stuff.

Kreisleriana is especially well-composed and well-played. And it's 75% of the LP. The eight movements seem to run the gamut from super-slow (dreamy) to super-fast (energetic). And Horowitz is up to the task.

Clara Wieck is slower (and shorter), but is still a melody which will stay in your head long after the music has stopped.

What's Not To Like...
The only instrument here is a piano. No orchestra. If this isn't your thing, then this album is gonna drag.

Personally, I'm still developing a taste for classical piano. If I have to listen to just a pianist sans orchestra, then I need to be impressed with fast and fancy tickling of the ivories. That doesn't happen all that often here. Take the Clara Wieck piece. Although it has a catchy motif, most of it just putzes along. And at the end you get a chord, followed by a couple seconds of dramatic silence; then the same chord, but softer; followed by another couple seconds of dramatic silence; then the same chord again. Booorrrriinnggggg.

Finally, there's the issue of volume. Both Schumann's and Horowitz's style have been described in part as "double fortissimos followed by sudden delicate pianissimos". Translated into English, that means parts are going to have you fearing that your eardrums have burst, followed immediately by the next passage being so low in volume, you think those burst eardrums have rendered you deaf. This may be okay in a concert hall, but it's annoying as heck on a car stereo.

Talent Works, Genius Creates (R.S.)
I've listened to a couple of Horowitz LP's; none have yet impressed me. That may well be due to the pieces I've heard, rather than Horowitz himself.

This LP is still a pleasure ot listen to. Catchy music and flawless execution. But too much of it is slow-tempo, and I keep wishing for an orchestra to burst in and pick up the pace.