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India Press Store - Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic
![Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic]()
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List Price: $29.98
Our Price: $52.99
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Manufacturer: Mgm Entertainment
Starring: Vladimir Horowitz
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301969345
Format: Color
ISBN: 6301969340
Label: Mgm Entertainment
Manufacturer: Mgm Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Mgm Entertainment
Release Date: 1987-05-19
Studio: Mgm Entertainment
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Speechless
Comment: Towards the end of his career as a pianist as well as his life, Horowitz's playing reached such peaks of wisdom and beauty that it defies any attempt at description and ultimately renders the human language completely powerless and unable to fully capture and express its vast world of ideas and feelings. On his last recordings he doesn't emerge as an elderly pianist who was sadly past his prime, but rather as a consummate musician who had reached by then the pinnacle of his art and therefore was capable of getting from his piano the most exquisite and profound statements one's able to listen to in the whole piano discography of the 20th century. He imbues his rendition of the famous Chopin's Polonaise Héroïque with so much emotional power and intellectual depth that he turns it into something like a highly condensed philosophical treatise written in poetry. Just see how his wife nods her head slowly when Jack tells him to play the piece - it's as if she knew in advance that he'd deliver an absolutely transfixing performance. As soon as he strikes the ending chords, he stares at his wife full of joy and amazement and says to Jack: "Like in the old days, Jack...". No, it wasn't like in the old days at all; it was much, much better. Don't miss it by any chance.
Customer Rating:
Summary: He has the music!
Comment: I loved this DVD. It's a documentary, not a concert. Horowitz retired from performing from 1983-85 after suffering from memory lapses and lack of coordination caused by drugs prescribed for the clinical depression that he grappled with his whole life. I think that makes this disk especially moving. Health recovered at no little mental and physical cost, Horowitz again has all the music and finds a deep joy and satisfaction in playing it! Playing for friends in his home was his typical way of tuning up for public performance. And he went on from this to his triumph in Moscow in 1986 and a final concert tour in Europe in 1987. To respond slightly to another reviewer, Horowitz says nothing about the Mozart and that it "was not bad for an old man" after the Schezro. His comment that "I cannot do better" comes after an exquisite rendition of the Rachmaninoff Prelude. Therefore, my take on that comment is different. I don't think he was disatisfied. Quite the contrary, he knew he was one with the music and he was content. In all, this disk gives a wonderful insight into one of the great artists of the 20th century.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Agreement
Comment: I don't wish to submit a full review of this, other than to say that because of who Horowitz was, this is a valuable document.
I did want to agree with A. Ainley's assessment of the playing. The Scherzo was a shock -- this was a piece that Horowitz ate for breakfast in his prime. His playing here is a pale imitation of his great days; feeble was the first word that came to mind as I listened to this. Sviatoslav Richter noted how bad this performance was in the "Richter the Enigma" video. I am guessing that this was more due to lack of practice, rather than the permanent effects of his age, because the subsequent concert in Moscow was much more like the Horowitz we once knew.
This video also illustrates how even a pianist as great as Horowitz (and perhaps as crazy) could delude himself into thinking he could play Mozart. I suspect that his mentor, Rachmaninoff, would have had some words with him about his work in K.330. It's just not playing that can be taken seriously.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Empty and dissapointed
Comment: I must say that I was rather dissapointed after watching this award-winning (and hard to get I might add) film.
I was hoping the film would shed some light onto Horowitz's personal life, and focus in part on his early years, his upbringing and his rise to being one of the greatest pianinsts of the 20th Century. However, the film's theme was quite the opposite. Instead, it falls more so into what can be described as a candid home-video of Horowitz playing and recording in his NYC studio apartment, with but a few, brief intermissions where he talks with his wife and the (album producer?).
What struck me as odd is that the movie doesn't even try to portray him as anything more than a pianist. I could hardly connect with him as a human being. The only subject at hand was piano, and nothing more. It made me curious, did Horiwitz have anything else going for him other than the piano? Did he own a telescope and pursue that as an amateur hobby? Did he have an interest in reptiles? A coin collection? Frankly, I was left with a blank image of him. An image of an empty, piano-playing automoton. Maybe my expectations of the movie were drastically different than what it aimed to achieve, but I fail to see the hype and commotion that surrounds this title.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Average
Comment: Okay, I know this film won all sorts of awards and yes, it is a good film, but it's not great. Firstly, I'm afraid I don't agree with the other reviewers: Horowitz's playing was not up to his usual stratospheric standard. The Scherzo is pretty bad in places, I'm sorry to say, particularly in the recapitulation of the main theme. The Mozart sonata is okay but the last movement is too fast and contains a few clinkers (even Horowitz says disconsolately at the end of it "I cannot do better"). Some of the pieces are (dare I say it) uninteresting, for example the Nouvelette and the Consolation (how many more times do we have to hear that piece? The best Horowitz VHS recording of it is on Horowitz in Vienna). Then the picture quality and camera work are not great and, crucially, the sound quality is terrible. The piano sounds very tinny and harsh, maybe because Horowitz had insisted on having it calibrated that way, maybe because the recording equipment was not up to scratch. This makes the Mozart Sonata sound so awful that I can't listen to it.On the plus side, between each piece Horowitz and his wife talk and discuss music, their life together and the great musicians that he knew. These are the best moments and it is worth having this recording just for that. Be warned: a considerable amount of footage from this tape is used in the Horowitz - A Reminiscence video, so if you have one it's almost not worth buying the other unless you are a real die-hard Horowitz fan. All in all, a wonderful idea for a film spoilt by poor production quality. I find that I watch the other Horowitz videos frequently, but this one only very rarely.
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Editorial Reviews:
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In this celebratory documentary, acclaimed sibling filmmakers Albert and David Maysles (Salesman, Grey Gardens) give us a fascinating chance to see legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz from an intimate perspective. The movie was filmed during a 1985 recording session in the artist's New York studios, a venue that allows the camera marvelous access to examine closely the flurry of Horowitz's fingers across the keyboard and his wonderfully expressive face as it keeps time with the music, registering in turn intensity, rapture, childish delight. All the while Horowitz's wife, Wanda Toscanini, looks on lovingly. Between performances, the two rest on a couch and share reminiscences of Rachmaninoff, Scriabin (who wisely advised the 10-year-old virtuoso to educate himself in all cultural matters, not just music), and Maestro Arturo Toscanini himself. On one wall of the elegantly furnished apartment-style studio hangs a beautiful Japanese screen portraying a soldier and his horse leaping across a chasm, suspended in midair; Horowitz himself seems just as much to float, unbounded by the gravitational tug of age (he was 81 at the time). His playing is as strong as ever, whether deftly maneuvering the glassy trills of Mozart's Sonata in C, K. 330, or powering his way through an energetic reading of Chopin's Scherzo No. 1. All the music is wonderful, of course; no less so is the film's fond portrait of the man who made it. --Bruce Reid
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