Chapter 8


8. Books, magazine covers, a calendar, newspaper articles, and recital programs

8.1 Books about Horowitz 

There are four main books devoted to Horowitz: G. Plaskin, Horowitz; H. Schonberg, Horowitz: His Life and Music; and D. Dubal, Evenings with Horowitz and Remembering Horowit 

 

8.1.1 Plaskin’s Horowitz

Horowitz by Glenn Plaskin was published in 1983. The book contains many sources in order to prove that its content is correct. The author introduces information about Horowitz in a calm and objective manner from beginning to end, instead of writing something that would please Horowitz. However, readers will get a sense of respect and affection for his performances from the book. The book includes a good discography compiled by Bob McAleer as well as a repertoire list. The Japanese version, which also includes the same discography as the U.S. version, was published in 1984 while the French version listed below doesn’t have a discography and other supplementary materials. I don’t know if this is because the French version was in paperback or because it didn’t originally include a discography. The original English version of the book includes a discography with record numbers released in the U.S. and the U.K., so the French publisher might have excluded it because it thought the data would be useless to readers in France. The German paperback edition listed below contains a discography citing the names of record companies only (without record numbers). The first German edition includes a discography that is different from the U.S. version, citing the numbers and content of the released LPs and CDs sorted by record company. This format is unusual for a discography, so the re-released German paperback edition contains a typical discography format where the list is by composer and piece in chronological order (I guess that the publisher received criticism from some readers). However, the re-released version doesn’t provide any record/CD numbers released in Germany.

Here I have listed the photos in the French version and the German paperback of Horowitz because I have already introduced the photos of the U.S. and Japanese editions and the German hardcover edition.

 

         Tow books

 

8.1.2 Schonberg’s Horowitz: His Life and Music

Harold Schonberg, a famous music critic, wrote a number of books on musical subjects, especially pianists. After the release of Horowitz by Plaskin, it took a long time for Schonberg to finish writing a biography of Horowitz. The fact that he had started writing about Horowitz was publicly known, but people had to wait until the biography was published in 1992. In the book, Schonberg introduces factual anecdotes about Horowitz as a pianist in chronological order, avoiding scandal and gossip. The book contains a discography that lists the session numbers sorted by recital and recording date and provides information about pieces recorded during each session. The latter part of the discography indicates the session numbers listed by composer, piece and year, along with the LP/CD number that contains a particular piece. The discography was compiled by John Samuels. This discography format is very easy to understand. Clearly, readers can find out what Horowitz performed when, and what to buy if they want to listen to a certain piece. Here I have included the photos of the U.S.,  and Polish versions. The original edition that Minagawa bought for me in the U.S. has Schonberg’s autograph and a message.

 

 Book of Schonberg  

 

8.1.3 Dubal’s Evenings with Horowitz and Remembering Horowitz

David Dubal wrote two books about Horowitz: Evenings with Horowitz and Remembering Horowitz.

Evenings with Horowitz was translated into Japanese. The book includes many interesting anecdotes. The English version has a discography that only lists the major pieces published on CD (the Japanese version doesn’t have a discography). This discography is not a comprehensive list of Horowitz’s performances but it interests us because Dubal reviews Horowitz’s performance of each composer. 

In Remembering Horowitz, 125 pianists (ranging from Van Cliburn to Shura Cherkassky) recall Horowitz. It seems that Dubal wrote an introduction for each pianist. Following each introduction, the book offers essays written by such performers (one to two pages per pianist). There is no Japanese pianist among them. The book contains a supplementary CD that includes interviews that Dubal conducted with Horowitz, organized by subject, such as Scarlatti and Scriabin.

 

  Dubal`s 4 books 

 

8.1.4 Other books about Horowitz

 There is a huge number of books about Horowitz, and I have listed only a few of them, including the discography titled More Giants of the Keyboard.*

Also, I have included books where Horowitz appears on the front cover, even though those books include stories about other pianists as well.

 

    Other Horowitz Related Books 12 photos

  

*The discography More Giants of the Keyboard contains data on five performers: Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau, Georges Cziffra, Dinu Lipatti and Artur Rubinstein. John Hunt wrote it with the help of contributors including seven Japanese writers. It was published in 1998. Unfortunately, as regards the data on Horowitz, there are some omissions and errors in relation to the recording dates.

 

8.2 Magazine covers on which Horowitz appeared

Horowitz often appeared on the front cover of magazines all over the world. Of course, those magazines with a cover showing Horowitz also include an article about him, but I have listed the photos of the covers only. Probably there are more magazine covers than I have listed. The Japanese music magazine Mostly ranked pianists in its December 2011 issue and Horowitz topped the list that included all living and deceased pianists.

      Magazine Covers 18 photos 

 

8.3 Calendar and photo book of Horowitz

 The 1989 calendar that I have listed mainly contains the photos that Steinway took during Horowitz’s recital in Hamburg in 1986. The calendar’s title is Horowitz in Hamburg. In 1986, Horowitz was awarded the “Grosses Bundesverdienstkreuz” by the Lord Mayor of Hamburg, and the calendar includes some photos taken at a party in celebration of the award winner.

 

     Calendar and Photo Album 4 photos

  

A photo book of famous composers and performers was published in 1929. It contains photos of Horowitz as well as those of Liszt and Wagner. Judging from the fact that Horowitz was only 26 years old at the time, I can assume that he was already a very popular pianist.

  

8.4 Newspaper articles and a magazine ad about Horowitz

 Below I have listed newspaper articles and a magazine advertisement about Horowitz that were published in foreign countries. The first two items are an advertisement that promoted his debut concert in New York in 1928 and the radio program of the concert. Following them, there are two New York Times articles, one that reported on the release of tickets for his “comeback” recital on April 27, 1965, and one dated May 10 that detailed the recital. In addition to other articles, I have also added a review article published in The New York Times on May 8, 1978. The article was about the recital that I attended. The magazine advertisement from TIME is the one that promoted his new LP released by Columbia Records. He entered into a contract with the record company after an almost 10-year absence from the concert stage.

 

    4 Newspaper articles and magazine ad  

  

8.5 Recital programs 

 I have mainly listed the program covers of some recitals that Hiroshi Saito and I attended. The tickets that I have kept are also included.

 

   Recital programs and tickets  

  

8.6 Posters, ads and photos

 Below I have listed posters and photos from LP/CD liner notes, recital programs, newspapers and others.

  

8.6.1 Posters and ads

 Here I have included a concert advertisement in a newspaper published in Berlin, a poster published in Hamburg, and a poster for the Carnegie Hall recital. These were made from 1925 to the 1930s.

 The first item is an advertisement published in a newspaper in Berlin that promoted his debut recital held in December 1925 (the photo is from the CD of the Berlin recital released by Sony). The subsequent one is an advertisement for the concert that Horowitz and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra led by Furtwängler performed (Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was played on October 25, 1926, but no recording is available, unfortunately). With Furtwängler, Horowitz performed the same program at his concerts in Leipzig (October 21, 1926) and Berlin (October 24 & 25, 1926). The program included Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet overture. I got copies of these ads from Saito while he was in the U.S. around 1988. Through these ads, I learned that the spelling of “Wladimir Horowitz” was used at the time (even in 1932), instead of “Vladimir Horowitz.” However, the remaining poster indicates that “Vladimir Horowitz” was used when he made his American debut in 1928. Recently, the spelling “Vladimir Horowitz” has been common in German as well.

 

1926-32 Ads in Berlin + 1 Photo

1935 Ottawa Citizen


The HOROWITZ STEINWAY CD 503

Posters

 

8.6.2 Recital posters

Here I have listed posters for his recitals held in Hamburg, Berlin and Carnegie Hall. The poster announcing a recital in Hamburg in January 1926 indicates that he had long hair, but from another poster, I can tell that he had had a haircut by November of the same year. There is also a poster for his debut concert in the U.S. in 1928. However, the poster I would like to highlight is that for two recitals celebrating the 25th anniversary of his American debut. The poster shows that the recitals were scheduled for February 25 and March 23, 1953. This means that a second recital was also planned to celebrate his 25th anniversary in the U.S., in addition to the first one that is well-known through 45s, LPs and CDs. It’s easy to believe that such anniversary recitals were scheduled because many recitals and concerto concerts were held to celebrate the 50th anniversary as well. However, the second recital on March 23 didn’t happen. All the schedules after the February 25 recital were canceled, and his withdrawal from concert life began. The last item is a poster for his recital at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Conservatoryfo. This single poster on the wall of the hall made a great contribution to the success of the recital because the hall was filled with audience members thanks to the poster.

 

    Posters 

 

8.6.3 Photos of Horowitz

Photos of Horowitz can be found on the jackets and in the liner notes of many LPs and CDs. I have introduced a lot of photos already, so I have listed others here. These photos are from CDs of recitals recorded in Berlin and Hamburg in 1986, and from a LP released by Time-Life Records. The liner note of the LP contains a lot of great photos that I have not seen elsewhere; they are available only from Time-Life.

 

 Photos of Horowitz 

 

8.6.4 Concert programs

Below I have listed two concert programs that are rare. The first program is for a concert in Paris on May 4, 1932. The program included two concertos conducted by Pierre Monteux: Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In addition to the two concertos, Horowitz performed Liszt’s three piano pieces as a part of the original program, rather than encore pieces. This seems just like a concert dedicated to Horowitz, who was only 29 years old at the time. 

The second one is a program for his recital held in Houston on November 19, 1946. The recital wasn’t widely known for a long time. The program has his autograph on the cover (See 8.6.5).

I have also included two programs for the recital celebrating the 25th anniversary of his American debut on February 25, 1953, and for his historic return recital on May 9, 1965, which was the first recital after his withdrawal for 12 years.

A charity concert for the 85th anniversary of Carnegie Hall was held on May 18, 1976. A program for this concert is also included below. The released CDs and LPs of the concert contain Rachmaninov’s Cello Sonata Op. 19 (the third movement) performed by Horowitz and Rostropovich. This piece was not part of the program, which means that they didn’t plan to perform it. The story behind this is that Arroyo, a soprano singer, canceled her appearance on the day of the concert due to sudden illness, so Horowitz and Rostropovich decided to perform this piece. I might be criticized if I say this, but we are lucky she was ill because we have a chance to listen to Horowitz’s performance with a cellist. Shortly after Horowitz left Russia, he often performed with violinist Nathan Milstein and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. Although there were many opportunities to play a duet with a cello (Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 1 was performed in Hamburg in 1927), no performances with Piatigorsky and with other cellists were recorded. As I’ve already mentioned in the section on LPs, only his performance with Milstein (Brahms’s Violin Sonata No. 3) was recorded. However, there are some photos to prove that he performed with the violinist and cellist.

 

1931 and 1933

1940-49

1953

1965

1976,1978

1986 and 1987

  Paris, Toscanini, Berlin, Carnegie Hall, Wien,Houston, CH 85Th Aniv.  

 

 Photos of concert programs are sometimes included in the liner notes of LPs and CDs. Here I have listed the Berlin recital (May 24, 1986) program that he handwrote. The photo of the handwritten program is included in the liner note of the CD of the recording of his Berlin recital held on May 18, 1986. The CD was released by Sony Classical. It seems that he wrote it at the hotel in Berlin because he used a piece of paper with the name of a hotel in Berlin. The program indicates when to take a break as well as a set list. Interestingly, he calculated the total performance time on his own, including the length of time for the first half and the latter half of the recital. According to the program, he planned to spend 38–40 minutes on the first half and 32–34 minutes for the latter half, totaling 73–75 minutes. I wonder if he believed that the duration of a recital should be more than 70 minutes without encore pieces.

 

     Program written by Horowitz

  

8.6.5 Record, program and document with Horowitz’s autograph

 In an earlier section, I included a photo of a 78 record with Horowitz’s autograph written in December 1945. Below I have listed his autographs obtained after this time. The first one  are  tow programs with his autograph for his recital held in Houston on November 19, 1949 and in Trenton on November 22,1944. These tow recital hadn’t been widely known until the program was found.

 

  1949.11.19 Houston Recital with Signeture and 1944.11.22 Trenton Recital

 

            Horowitz gave his first public recital in 12 years on May 9, 1965. After the recital, a couple visited him backstage at the hall and celebrated his comeback by offering him a single rose. Later, he wrote a letter that showed his appreciation to the couple. I have listed the letter below. 

 

    Letters 1965.6,24 and 1967.1.18

 

            The next autograph is what Horowitz and Wanda wrote on a LP of the Golden Jubilee recital in 1978. The word “Last” was written on the LP, which makes me wonder what it means. The LPs were released in 1978 as “a recital on a record” in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his American debut. This means that it’s not a live recording of his recital but a collection of recordings made before 1978. I guess that Columbia Records asked them to autograph the LPs for promotional purposes. Probably, they got tired of autographing LPs repeatedly, so he wrote “Last” meaning they wanted to stop. Do I have too much imagination?

 

      Autographed LP by Horowitz & Wanda

 

Horowitz made his second visit to Japan in 1986. Ms. Kato, the head of the Horowitz fan club in Japan, made a large photo panel (width: 200cm, height: 164cm) of Horowitz in light of his return. I didn’t ask her where she used it, but the panel has the autographs of Horowitz and Wanda. Below I have only listed the close-up picture of their autographs. I came into possession of the panel after she passed away.

 

       To Ms Kato


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