Search - Ferruccio Busoni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin :: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon [Box Set]

Horowitz: A Digital Legacy

MLao | 11/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This set includes all of the recordings Vladimir Horowitz did for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1980s, including his historical concert in Moscow.While the context of his return in Moscow is moving, the studio recordings are simply wonderful. The sound quality is impeccable. The Steinway piano sounds warm but yet crisp and sharp. Horowitz still has plenty of power, and if you don't have a good sound system, you will notice that your speakers will literally fail, due to the overwhelming wall of sound that Horowitz creates in the intense parts.The tender moments are just as exciting, as they are enhanced by the very quiet and clear digital recording process. Liszt's Standchen and Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23 are only two of a myriad of highlights contained on this boxed set. Having these high quality digital recordings of this piano legend is a blessing that you can't afford to miss. And at this price, it's simply irresistible.For those of you with a larger budget, don't forget the complete masterworks recordings (1962-73) of Vladimir Horowitz on Sony Classical."

MUST HAVE THIS IN YOUR COLLECTION OF HOROWITZ

Edwin J. Curle | Washington, DC | 07/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have any Horowitz music in your collection. THEN YOU MUST GET THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS ON DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON. Quality of recording is superb."

Now a Sensational Bargain for Horowitz Fans!

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 01/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For reasons perhaps reflecting what may very well be a coming collapse of classical music pricing and distribution, bargains of an almost too good to be true nature continue to emerge on Amazon. This certainly is one! With the already very reasonable price slashed by half, you can now purchase all six Horowitz discs making up his recordings for DG for a little over twenty-five dollars. It's a buyer's market!



This set includes the famous Moscow Concert, a number of selections of pieces Horowtiz did very well, including Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Scarlatti, and Scriabin, and even includes a Mozart Concerto, with large-scaled backing by Giulini. By this time in his career Horowitz plays more reflectively; the huge passionate outbursts of his salad days, with thunderous dynamics and blazing tempos are not the main attraction. One should absolutely not expect the reincarnation of, say, live concerts with Horowitz and Toscanini! Instead, perhaps channeling late Liszt, Horowitz seems at his best here when playing music requiring reflection and poetry.



Of course, this IS still Horowitz the virtouso - despite his age at the time of these recordings, around eighty - there's still plenty of pyrotechnics, though I find them more careful, and with a few bald spots showing through when he strives for more full sonorites and explosions. Opinions differ on the DG sound - Horowitz apparently never made life easy for the engineers, and there is some variance here, with some of the results not at all the equal of the best modern recordings.



If you don't yet have the Cd of the legendary return to Moscow Concert, or any of Horowitz's other late DGs, this is a great chance to hear them at an extremely modest cost."