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Ludwig van Beethoven's manuscript sketch for Piano Sonata No. 28, Movement IV, Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit (Allegro), in his own handwriting. The piece was completed in 1816.

A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Scarlatti, Scriabin), two movements (Beethoven, Haydn), five (Brahms' Third Piano Sonata) or even more movements. The first movement is generally composed in sonata form.

The Baroque keyboard sonata[link]

In the Baroque era, the use of the term "sonata" generally referred to either the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) or sonata da camera (chamber sonata), both of which were sonatas for various instruments (usually one or more violins plus basso continuo). The keyboard sonata was relatively neglected by most composers.

The sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti (of which there are over 500) were the hallmark of the Baroque keyboard sonata, though they were for the most part unpublished during Scarlatti's lifetime. The majority of these sonatas are in one-movement binary form, both sections being in the same tempo and utilizing the same thematic material. These sonatas are prized for both their technical difficulty and their musical and formal ingenuity. The influence of Spanish folk music is evident in Scarlatti's sonatas.

Other composers of keyboard sonatas (which were primarily written in two or three movements) include Marcello, Giustini, Durante and Platti.

Piano sonatas in the Classical era[link]

Although various composers in the 17th century had written keyboard pieces which they entitled "Sonata", it was only in the classical era, when the piano displaced the earlier harpsichord and sonata form rose to prominence as a principle of musical composition, that the term "piano sonata" acquired a definite meaning and a characteristic form.

All the well-known Classical era composers, especially Joseph Haydn, Muzio Clementi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, wrote many piano sonatas. Muzio Clementi wrote more than 110 piano sonatas. He is well known as "The Father of the Pianoforte". Clementi's Opus 2 was the first real piano sonata composed. The much younger Franz Schubert also wrote many.

The 32 sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, including the well-known Pathétique Sonata and the Moonlight Sonata, are often considered the pinnacle of piano sonata composition.

Piano sonatas in the Romantic era[link]

As the Romantic era progressed after Beethoven and Schubert, piano sonatas continued to be composed, but in lesser numbers as the form took on a somewhat academic tinge and competed with shorter genres more compatible with Romantic compositional style. Franz Liszt's comprehensive "three-movements-in-one" Sonata in B minor draws on the concept of thematic transformation first introduced by Schubert in his Wanderer Fantasie of 1822 and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 (Hammerklavier). Piano sonatas have been written throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and up to the present day.

Noted piano sonatas[link]

Classical[link]

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  • Württemberg Sonata No. 1 in A minor, H. 30, Wq. 49/1
  • 'Prussian' Sonata No. 4 in C minor, Wq. 48/4

• Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 2 No. 1
  • Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 "Pathétique"
  • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight"
  • Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 "Pastoral"
  • Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 "Tempest"

• Haydn, Franz Joseph
  • Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob. XVI:52

• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

	Mozart`s Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major, Movement II, Andante cantabile Performed by Johannes V. Schmidt
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• • Piano Sonata in B-flat major (K. 281/189f)
  • Piano Sonata in C major (K. 330)
  • Piano Sonata in A major (K. 331/300i)
  • Piano Sonata in B-flat major (K. 333/315c)
  • Piano Sonata in C minor (K. 457)
  • Piano Sonata in C major (K. 545)
  • Piano Sonata in B-flat major (K. 570)

Romantic[link]

	Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movement I Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movement II Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, Movements III and IV Performed by Daniel Veesey. From Musopen.com.
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• Alkan, Charles-Valentin
  • Grande sonate 'Les quatre âges'

• Beethoven, Ludwig Van
  • Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op.53 "Waldstein"
  • Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Op.57 "Appassionata"
  • Piano Sonata No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a "Les Adieux"
  • Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101
  • Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, Op.106 "Hammerklavier"
  • Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op.111

• Chopin, Frédéric
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35, "Funeral March"
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op.58

• Dukas, Paul
  • Piano Sonata in E flat minor

• Grieg, Edvard
  • Piano Sonata in E minor, Op.7

• Liszt, Franz
  • Sonata after a Reading of Dante (Fantasia Quasi Sonata)
  • Sonata in B minor

• MacDowell, Edward
  • Sonata Tragica, Op.45
  • Sonata Eroica, Op.50
  • Third Sonata, Op.57
  • Fourth Sonata, Op.59

• Mendelssohn, Felix
  • Piano Sonata in E major, Op.6
  • Piano Sonata in G minor, Op.105
  • Piano Sonata in B-flat major, Op.106

• Rachmaninoff, Sergei
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op.28
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op.36

• Schubert, Franz, (See List of Schubert's works)
  • Piano Sonata No. 19 in C Minor, D.958
  • Piano Sonata No. 20 in A Major, D.959
  • Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major, D.960

• Schumann, Robert
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op.11 "Grosse Sonate"
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op.22
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op.14 "Concerto without Orchestra"

• Weber, Carl Maria von
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op.24 (J. 138)
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in A flat major, Op.39 (J. 199)
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op.49 (J. 206)
  • Piano Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op.70 (J. 287)

20th century (including modern)[link]

• Barber, Samuel
  • Sonata for Piano, Op.26

• Barraqué, Jean
  • Piano Sonata (1950–52)

• Bartók, Béla
  • Piano Sonata, Sz.80

• Berg, Alban
  • Piano Sonata, Op.1

• Boulez, Pierre
  • Piano Sonata No. 1
  • Piano Sonata No. 2
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 (Unfinished: only two of the five movements have been published.)

• Copland, Aaron
  • Piano Sonata

• Dutilleux, Henri
  • Sonata for Piano, Op.1

• Fairouz, Mohammed
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 "Reflections on Exile"
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 "The Last Resistance"

• Ginastera, Alberto
  • Piano Sonata No. 1, Op.22

• Gould, Glenn
  • Piano Sonata

• Hindemith, Paul
  • Piano Sonata No. 1 in A Major "Der Main"
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in G Major
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in B flat Major

• Ives, Charles
  • Piano Sonata No.2, Concord, Mass., 1840-60

• JanáÄ?ek, LeoÅ¡
  • Piano Sonata "1.X.1905"

• Liebermann, Lowell
  • Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 1
  • Piano Sonata No.2 ("Sonata Notturna") Op.10 (1983)
  • Piano Sonata No.3 Op.82 (2002)

• Medtner, Nikolai
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in D minor "Sonate-Elegie", Op. 11, No. 2
  • Piano Sonata No. 6 in C minor, "Sonata-Skazka," ("Fairy Tale Sonata"), Op. 25, No. 1
  • Piano Sonata No. 10 in A minor "Reminiscenza", Op. 38, No. 1
  • Piano Sonata No. 11 in C minor "Sonata Tragica", Op. 39, No. 5
  • Piano Sonata No. 12 in B-flat minor "Romantica", Op. 53, No. 1

• Ornstein, Leo
  • Piano Sonata No. 4
  • Piano Sonata No. 8

• Prokofiev, Sergei
  • Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op.28 ("From Old Notebooks")
  • Piano Sonata No. 6 in A major, Op. 82 ("War Sonata 1")
  • Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 83 ("War Sonata 2/Stalingrad")
  • Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat major, Op. 84 ("War Sonata 3")

• Rzewski, Frederic
  • Sonata for Solo Piano

• Scriabin, Alexander
  • Piano Sonata No. 5
  • Piano Sonata No. 7 "White Mass"
  • Piano Sonata No. 9 "Black Mass"

• Shostakovich, Dmitri
  • Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 61

• Stravinsky, Igor
  • Sonata for Piano

• Wuorinen, Charles
  • Piano Sonata (1969)
  • Second Piano Sonata (1976)
  • Third Piano Sonata (1986)
  • Fourth Piano Sonata (2007)

See also[link]

Vladimir Horowitz

Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz (Russian: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц, Vladimir Samojlovich Gorovitz)   (October 1 [O.S. September 18] 1903 â€“ November 5, 1989)^[1] was a Russian-born American classical pianist and composer.^[2] His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary.^[3] He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.^[4]

Life and early career[link]

Vladimir Horowitz was born in Kiev^[5] in the Russian Empire (now the capital of Ukraine). There are unsubstantiated claims that Horowitz was born in Berdychiv; however, his birth certificate unequivocally states Kiev as his birthplace.^[6]

Horowitz was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia Bodik, who were assimilated Jews. Samuil was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. Horowitz's grandfather Joachim was a merchant (and an arts-supporter), belonging to the 1st Guild. This status gave exemption from having to reside in the Pale of Settlement. Horowitz was born in 1903, but in order to make him appear too young for military service so as not to risk damaging his hands, his father took a year off his son's age by claiming he was born in 1904. The 1904 date appeared in many reference works during the pianist's lifetime.

Horowitz received piano instruction from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a pianist. In 1912 he entered the Kiev Conservatory, where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, Sergei Tarnowsky, and Felix Blumenfeld. His first solo recital was in Kharkiv in 1920.

Horowitz's fame grew, and he soon began to tour Russia where he was often paid with bread, butter and chocolate rather than money, due to the country's economic hardships caused by the Civil War.^[7] During the 1922–1923 season, he performed 23 concerts of eleven different programs in Petrograd alone.^[7] Despite his early success as a pianist, Horowitz maintained that he wanted to be a composer, and undertook a career as a pianist only to help his family, who had lost their possessions in the Russian Revolution.^[8]

In December 1925, Horowitz crossed the border into the West, ostensibly to study with Artur Schnabel. Privately intending not to return, the pianist had stuffed American dollars and British pound notes into his shoes to finance his initial concerts.^[9]

Career in the West[link]

Horowitz in 1931

On December 18, 1925, Horowitz made his first appearance outside his home country, in Berlin.^[10] He later played in Paris, London and New York City. Horowitz was selected by Soviet authorities to represent Ukraine in the inaugural 1927 International Chopin Piano Competition: however the pianist had decided to stay in the West and thus did not participate.^[11]

Horowitz gave his United States debut on January 12, 1928, in Carnegie Hall. He played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who was also making his U.S. debut. Horowitz later commented that he and Beecham had divergent ideas regarding tempos, and that Beecham was conducting the score "from memory and he didn't know" the piece.^[12] Horowitz's success with the audience was phenomenal. Olin Downes, writing for the New York Times, was critical about the metric tug of war between conductor and soloist, but Downes credited the pianist with both a beautiful singing tone in the second movement and a tremendous technique in the finale, referring to Horowitz's playing as a "tornado unleashed from the steppes".^[13] In this debut performance, Horowitz demonstrated a marked ability to excite his audience, an ability he maintained for his entire career. As Downes commented, "it has been years since a pianist created such a furor with an audience in this city." In his review of Horowitz's solo recital, Downes characterized the pianist's playing as showing "most if not all the traits of a great interpreter."^[14] In 1933, he played for the first time with the conductor Arturo Toscanini in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 Emperor. Horowitz and Toscanini went on to perform together many times, on stage and in recordings. Horowitz settled in the U. S. in 1939, and became an American citizen in 1944.^[15]

Despite rapturous receptions at recitals, Horowitz became increasingly unsure of his abilities as a pianist. On several occasions, the pianist had to be pushed onto the stage.^[7] Several times, he withdrew from public performances - during 1936 to 1938, 1953 to 1965, 1969 to 1974, and 1983 to 1985. He made his television debut in a concert taped at Carnegie Hall on February 1, 1968, and broadcast nationwide by CBS on September 22nd of that year.

Recordings[link]

Horowitz at the time of his first recordings.

In 1926, Horowitz performed on several piano rolls at the Welte-Mignon studios in Freiburg, Germany. His first gramophone recordings were made in the United States in 1928 for RCA Victor. Because of the economic impact of the Great Depression, RCA Victor agreed to allow its recording artists' European-produced recordings to be made by His Master's Voice, RCA's London based affiliate. Horowitz's first European recording, in 1930, was of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere recording of that piece. Through 1936, Horowitz continued to make recordings for HMV of solo piano repertoire, including his famous 1932 account of Liszt's Sonata in B minor. Beginning in 1940, Horowitz's recording activity was again concentrated in the US. That year, he recorded Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, and in 1941, the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, both with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini. In 1959, RCA issued the live 1943 performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Horowitz and Toscanini; it is generally considered superior to the commercial recording, and it was selected for the Grammy Hall of Fame. During Horowitz's second retirement, which began in 1953, he made a series of recordings in his New York townhouse, including LPs of Scriabin and Clementi. Horowitz's first stereo recording, made in 1959, was devoted to Beethoven piano sonatas.

In 1962, Horowitz embarked on a series of acclaimed recordings for Columbia Records. The most famous are his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall and a 1968 recording from his television special, Vladimir Horowitz: a Concert at Carnegie Hall, televised by CBS. Horowitz continued making studio recordings, including a 1969 recording of Schumann's Kreisleriana, which was awarded the Prix Mondial du Disque.

In 1975, Horowitz returned to RCA and made live recordings until 1982. He signed with Deutsche Grammophon in 1985, and made studio and live recordings until 1989, including his only recording of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. Four filmed documents were made during this time, including the telecast of his April 20, 1986 Moscow recital. His final recording, for Sony Classical, was completed four days before his death and consisted of repertoire he had never previously recorded.^[16]

All of Horowitz's recordings have been issued on compact disc, some several times. In the years following Horowitz’s death, CDs were issued containing previously unreleased material. These included selections from Carnegie Hall recitals recorded privately for Horowitz from 1945–1951.^[17]

Students[link]

Horowitz taught six students between 1944 and 1962: Byron Janis (1944-1948), Gary Graffman (1953–1955), Coleman Blumfield (1956–1958), Ronald Turini (1957–1963), Alexander Fiorillo (1960–1962) and Ivan Davis (1961–1962).^[18] Janis described his relationship to Horowitz during that period as a surrogate son, and he often traveled with Horowitz and his wife during concert tours. Davis was invited to become one of Horowitz's students after receiving a call from him the day after he won the Franz Liszt Competition.^[19] At the time, Davis had a contract with CBS Records and a national tour planned.^[19] Horowitz claimed that he had only taught three students during that period. "Many young people say they have been pupils of Horowitz, but there were only three. Janis, Turini, who I brought to the stage, and Graffman. If someone else claims it, it's not true. I had some who played for me for four months. Once a week. I stopped work with them, because they did not progress."^[20] According to biographer Glenn Plaskin, "The fact that Horowitz disavowed most of his students and blurred the facts regarding their periods of study says something about the erratic nature of his personality during that period".^[20] Horowitz returned to coaching in the 1980s, working with Murray Perahia, who already had an established career, and Eduardus Halim.

Personal life[link]

In 1933, in a civil ceremony, Horowitz married Toscanini's daughter Wanda. Although Horowitz was Jewish and Wanda Catholic, this was not an issue, as neither was observant. As Wanda knew no Russian and Horowitz knew very little Italian, their primary language became French. They had one child, Sonia Toscanini Horowitz (1934–1975). It has never been determined whether her death, from a drug overdose, was accidental or a suicide.^[1]

Despite his marriage, there were persistent rumors of Horowitz's homosexuality.^[7] Arthur Rubinstein said of Horowitz that "Everyone knew and accepted him as a homosexual."^[21] David Dubal wrote that in his years with Horowitz, there was no evidence that the octogenarian was sexually active, but that "there was no doubt he was powerfully attracted to the male body and was most likely often sexually frustrated throughout his life."^[22] Dubal observed that Horowitz sublimated a strong instinctual sexuality into a powerful erotic undercurrent which was communicated in his piano playing.^[23] Horowitz, who denied being homosexual,^[24] once joked "There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists."^[25]

In the 1940s, Horowitz began seeing a psychiatrist. According to sources, this was an attempt to alter his sexual orientation.^[26][27] In the 1960s and again in the 1970s, the pianist underwent electroshock treatment for depression.^[28]

In 1982, Horowitz began using prescribed anti-depressant medications; there are reports that he was drinking alcohol as well.^[1] Consequently, his playing underwent a perceptible decline during this period.^[1] The pianist’s 1983 performances in the United States and Japan were marred by memory lapses and a loss of physical control. (At the latter, one Japanese critic likened Horowitz to a "precious antique vase that is cracked.") He stopped playing in public for the next two years.

The last years[link]

While Wanda looks on, Horowitz receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan (presenting it to him).

By 1985, Horowitz, no longer taking medication or drinking alcohol, returned to concertizing and recording and was back on form. His first post-retirement appearance was not on stage, but in the documentary film Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic. In many of his later performances, the octogenarian pianist substituted finesse and coloration for bravura, although he was still capable of remarkable technical feats. Many critics, including Harold C. Schonberg and Richard Dyer, felt that his post-1985 performances and recordings were the best of his later years.

In 1986, Horowitz announced that he would return to the Soviet Union for the first time since 1925 to give recitals in Moscow and Leningrad. In the new atmosphere of communication and understanding between the USSR and the USA, these concerts were seen as events of political, as well as musical, significance. Most of the tickets for the Moscow concert were reserved for the Soviet elite and few sold to the general public. This resulted in a number of Moscow Conservatory students crashing the concert,^[29] which was audible to viewers of the internationally televised recital. The Moscow concert, was released on a compact disc entitled Horowitz in Moscow, which reigned at the top of Billboard's Classical music charts for over a year. It was also released on VHS and, eventually, DVD. The concert was also widely seen on a Special Edition of CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, reporting from Moscow.

Following the Russian concerts, Horowitz toured several European cities including Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. In June, Horowitz redeemed himself to the Japanese with a trio of well received performances in Tokyo. Later that year, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States, by President Ronald Reagan.

Horowitz's final tour took place in Europe in the spring of 1987. A video recording of one of his last public recitals, Horowitz in Vienna, was released in 1991. His final recital, in Hamburg, Germany, took place on June 21, 1987. He continued to record for the remainder of his life.

Vladimir Horowitz died on November 5, 1989 in New York of a heart attack, aged 86. He was buried in the Toscanini family tomb in the Cimitero Monumentale, Milan, Italy.

Repertoire, technique and performance style[link]

Horowitz is best known for his performances of the Romantic piano repertoire. Many ^[30] consider Horowitz's first recording of the Liszt Sonata in 1932 to be the definitive reading of that piece, after over 75 years and over 100 performances committed to disc by other pianists.^[31] Other pieces with which he was closely associated were Scriabin's Étude in D-sharp minor, Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, and many Rachmaninoff miniatures, including Polka de W.R.. Horowitz was acclaimed for his recordings of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, and his performance before Rachmaninoff awed the composer, who proclaimed "he swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring." Horowitz was known for his performances of quieter, more intimate works including Schumann's Kinderszenen, Scarlatti sonatas, and several Mozart and Haydn sonatas.

During World War II, Horowitz championed contemporary Russian music, giving the American premieres of Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 and 8 (the so-called "War Sonatas") and Kabalevsky's Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3. Horowitz also premiered the Piano Sonata and Excursions of Samuel Barber.

He was known for his transcriptions of several of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies. The Second Rhapsody was recorded in 1953, during Horowitz's 25th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and he stated that it was the most difficult of his transcriptions.^[1] Horowitz's other transcriptions of note include his composition Variations on a Theme from Carmen and Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa. The latter became a favorite with audiences, who would anticipate its performance as an encore. Transcriptions aside, Horowitz was not opposed to altering the text of compositions to improve what he considered “unpianistic� writing or structural clumsiness. In 1940, with the composer’s consent, Horowitz created his own performance edition of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Sonata from the 1913 original and 1931 revised versions, which pianists including Ruth Laredo and Hélène Grimaud^[32] subsequently used. He substantially rewrote Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition to make the work more effective on the grounds that Mussorgsky was not a pianist and did not understand the possibilities of the instrument. Horowitz altered short passages in certain works, such as substituting interlocking octaves for chromatic scales in Chopin’s Scherzo in B minor. This was in marked contrast to many pianists of the post–19th-century era, who considered the composer’s text sacrosanct. Living composers whose works Horowitz played (among them Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, and Poulenc) invariably praised Horowitz's performances of their work - even when he did take liberties with their scores.

Horowitz's interpretations were well received by concert audiences, but not by some critics. Virgil Thomson was famous for his consistent criticism of Horowitz as a "master of distortion and exaggeration" in his reviews appearing in the New York Herald Tribune. Horowitz claimed to take Thomson's remarks as complimentary, stating that Michelangelo and El Greco were also "masters of distortion."^[33] In the 1980 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Michael Steinberg wrote that Horowitz "illustrates that an astounding instrumental gift carries no guarantee about musical understanding." New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg countered that reviewers such as Thomson and Steinberg were unfamiliar with 19th-century performance practices that informed Horowitz's musical approach. In addition, many pianists, amongst them Shura Cherkassky, Earl Wild, Lazar Berman, John Browning, Van Cliburn, Maurizio Pollini, Murray Perahia, Yefim Bronfman, and Horacio Gutiérrez held Horowitz in high regard and expressed their admiration for him. ^[34][35]

Horowitz's performing style frequently involved vast dynamic contrasts, with overwhelming double-fortissimos followed by sudden delicate pianissimos. He was able to produce an extraordinary volume of sound from the piano, without producing a harsh tone. Horowitz could elicit an exceptionally wide range of tonal color from the piano, and his taut, precise attack was noticeable even in his renditions of technically undemanding pieces such as the Chopin Mazurkas. He is known for his octave technique; he could play precise passages in octaves extraordinarily fast. When asked by the pianist Tedd Joselson how he practiced octaves, Horowitz gave a demonstration and Joselson reported, "He practiced them exactly as we were all taught to do."^[1] Music critic and biographer Harvey Sachs submitted that Horowitz may have been "the beneficiary - and perhaps also the victim - of an extraordinary central nervous system and an equally great sensitivity to tone color."^[36] Oscar Levant, in his book, "The Memoirs of an Amnesiac," wrote that Horowitz's octaves were "brilliant, accurate and etched out like bullets." He asked Horowitz, "whether he shipped them ahead or carried them with him on tour."

Horowitz's hand position was unusual in that the palm was often below the level of the key surface. He frequently played chords with straight fingers, and the little finger of his right hand was often curled up until it needed to play a note; to Harold C. Schonberg, “it was like a strike of a cobra.�^[1] For all the aural excitement of his playing, Horowitz rarely raised his hands higher than the piano's fallboard. His body was immobile, and his face seldom reflected anything other than intense concentration.

Horowitz preferred performing on Sunday afternoons, as he felt the audience would be more well-rested and attentive than during a weekday evening.

Awards and recognitions[link]

Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with or without orchestra)

• 1968 Horowitz in Concert: Haydn, Schumann, Scriabin, Debussy, Mozart, Chopin (Columbia 45572)
• 1969 Horowitz on Television: Chopin, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Horowitz (Columbia 7106)
• 1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)

• 1979 Golden Jubilee Concert, Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (RCA CLR1 2633)
• 1989 Horowitz Plays Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 (Deutsche Grammophon 423287)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without orchestra)

• 1963 Columbia Records Presents Vladimir Horowitz
• 1964 The Sound of Horowitz
• 1965 Vladimir Horowitz plays Beethoven, Debussy, Chopin
• 1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - An Historic Return
• 1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas) (Columbia M-30464)
• 1973 Horowitz Plays Chopin (Columbia M-30643)
• 1974 Horowitz Plays Scriabin (Columbia M-31620)
• 1977 The Horowitz Concerts 1975/76 (RCA ARL1-1766)
• 1979 The Horowitz Concerts 1977/78 (RCA ARL1-2548)
• 1980 The Horowitz Concerts 1978/79 (RCA ARL1-3433)
• 1982 The Horowitz Concerts 1979/80 (RCA ARL1-3775)
• 1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)
• 1991 The Last Recording (Sony SK 45818)
• 1993 Horowitz Discovered Treasures: Chopin, Liszt, Scarlatti, Scriabin, Clementi (Sony 48093)

Grammy Award for Best Classical Album:

• 1963 Columbia Records Presents Vladimir Horowitz
• 1966 Horowitz at Carnegie Hall: An Historic Return
• 1972 Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff (Etudes-Tableaux Piano Music; Sonatas)
• 1978 Concert of the Century with Leonard Bernstein (conductor), the New York Philharmonic, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Isaac Stern, Lyndon Woodside
• 1987 Horowitz: The Studio Recordings, New York 1985 (Deutsche Grammophon 419217)
• 1988 Horowitz in Moscow (Deutsche Grammophon 419499)

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1990

Prix Mondial du Disque

• 1970 Kreisleriana

Miscellaneous awards

• 1972 - Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music (London)^[37]
• 1982 - Wolf Foundation Prize for Music
• 1985 - Legion of Honor from the French Government
• 1985 - Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
• 1986 - United States Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 1988 - National Bow Tie League List of 10 Best Bow Tie Wearers of 1988^[38]
• 2012 - Gramophone Hall of Fame entrant^[39]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vladimir Horowitz

	Book: Vladimir Horowitz
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• The Vladimir Horowitz Website (Fansite)
• The Horowitz Papers at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University
• Vladimir Horowitz at Deutsche Grammophon
• Vladimir Horowitz at Encyclopædia Britannica
• Vladimir Horowitz at Allmusic
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Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also recorded.^[1] He is considered to have been one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century.^[2]

Early life[link]

Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895.^[1] He grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of church music at the University of Erlangen. Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at the age of nine after receiving lessons from his father at a younger age. Whilst there he studied composition with Robert Kahn and piano with Karl Heinrich Barth^[1] (with whom Arthur Rubinstein also studied). In 1914 Kempff moved on to study at the Viktoria gymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin to finish his training.^[1]

As a pianist[link]

In 1917, Kempff made his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini.^[1] Kempff toured very widely in Europe and much of the rest of the world. Between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times in Japan (a small Japanese island was named Kenpu-san in his honor)^{[citation needed]}. Kempff made his first London appearance in 1951 and in New York in 1964. He gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981, and then retired for health reasons (Parkinson's Disease). He died in Positano, Italy at the age of 95, five years after his wife, whom he had married in 1926. They are survived by seven children.^[1]

Wilhelm Kempff recorded over a period of some sixty years. His recorded legacy includes works of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin and particularly, of Beethoven.^[1]

He was among the first to record the complete sonatas of Franz Schubert, long before these works became popular. He also recorded two sets of the complete Beethoven sonatas (and one early, almost complete set on shellac 1926-1945), one in mono (1951–1956) and the other in stereo (1964–1965). He recorded the complete Beethoven piano concertos twice as well, both with the Berlin Philharmonic; the first from the early 1950s in mono with Paul van Kempen, and the later in stereo from the early 1960s with Ferdinand Leitner. Kempff also recorded chamber music with Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Paul Grummer, and Henryk Szeryng, among others.

The pianist Alfred Brendel has written that Kempff "played on impulse... it depended on whether the right breeze, as with an aeolian harp, was blowing. You then would take something home that you never heard elsewhere." (in Brendel's book, The Veil of Order). He regards Kempff as the "most rhythmical" of his colleagues. Brendel helped choose the selections for Phillip's "Great Pianists of the 20th Century" issue of Kempff recordings, and wrote in the notes that Kempff "achieves things that are beyond him" in his "unsurpassable" recording of Liszt's first Legende, "St. Francis Preaching to the Birds."

Kempff (right) with Ernest Ansermet (left) in 1965

When pianist Artur Schnabel undertook his pioneering complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas in the 1930s, he told EMI that if he didn't complete the cycle, they should have Kempff complete the remainder - even though the two pianists took noticeably different approaches to the composer (for example, Schnabel preferred extremely fast or slow tempos, while Kempff preferred moderate ones). Later, when Kempff was in Finland, the composer Jean Sibelius asked him to play the slow movement of Beethoven's 29th Sonata, the Hammerklavier; after Kempff finished, Sibelius told him, "You did not play that as a pianist but rather as a human being."^[3]

Technique[link]

As a performer he stressed lyricism, charm, and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality. He avoided extreme tempos and display for its own sake. He left recordings of most of his repertory, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert. He performed to an advanced age, often concertizing past his eightieth birthday. He appeared in 1979 with the Berlin Philharmonic, marking an association with them that spanned over sixty years.

As a teacher[link]

From 1924 to 1929, Kempff took over the direction of the Stuttgart College of Music as a successor of Max Pauer. In 1931, he was co-founder of the summer courses at Marmorpalais Potsdam. In 1957, Kempff founded Fondazione Orfeo (today: Kempff Kulturstiftung) in the south-Italian city Positano and held his first Beethoven interpretation masterclass at Casa Orfeo, which Kempff had built especially for this reason. He continued teaching there once a year until 1982. After his death in 1991, Gerhard Oppitz taught the courses from 1992-1994 until John O'Conor continued till today. Oppitz and O’Conor had both been outstanding participants of Kempff's masterclasses and were personally closely connected with Wilhelm Kempff.

Other noted pianists to have studied with Kempff include Jörg Demus, Norman Shetler, Mitsuko Uchida, Peter Schmalfuss, Idil Biret and Carmen Piazzini.

Composition[link]

A lesser-known activity of Kempff was composing. He composed for almost every genre and used his own cadenzas for Beethoven's Piano Concertos 1-4. His student Idil Biret has recorded a CD of his piano works. His second symphony premiered in 1929 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus by Wilhelm Furtwängler. He also prepared a number of Bach transcriptions, including the Siciliano from the Flute Sonata in E major, that have been recorded by Kempff and others.

[edit] Recordings

• Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 12, 19, and 20 (DG LP 138 935; released 1965; recipient of Grand Prix du Disque)
• Schubert: The Piano Sonatas (complete), (DG 463 766-2 (seven compact disks))recordings made in 1965, '67, '68, '70.

Autobiography[link]

Kempff, Wilhelm. Unter dem Zimbelstern: Jugenderinnerungen eines Pianisten ["Under the Cymbal Star: The Development of a Musician" (1951)]. Laaber: Laaber Verlag, 1978.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wilhelm Kempff

• Obituary for Wilhelm Kempff, by B. John Zavrel
• A discussion of Kempff's work, with a special emphasis on Beethoven, by Christopher Breunig, in Jeunesses Musicales
• Wilhelm Kempff discography by Frank Forman
• Video recordings of Kempff performances, youtube.com
• Wilhelm Kempff playing the 3rd movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Alfred Brendel, 2010

Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.

Biography[link]

Brendel was born in Wiesenberg, Czechoslovakia, now LouÄ?ná nad Desnou, Czech Republic, to a non-musical family. They moved to Zagreb when Brendel was six, and later to Graz, where they lived during World War II, towards the end of which the 14-year old Brendel was sent to Yugoslavia to dig trenches. However, he developed frostbite and was taken to hospital. Brendel began piano lessons when he was six with Sofija Deželić, and at 14 he studied piano with Ludovica von Kaan and composition in the Graz Conservatory for the next two years, but otherwise had little formal music education.

After the war, Brendel composed music, as well as continuing to play the piano and to paint. However, he never had more formal piano lessons and although he attended masterclasses with Edwin Fischer and Eduard Steuermann, he was largely self-taught.

Brendel gave his first public recital in Graz at the age of 17.^[1] He called it "The Fugue In Piano Literature", and as well as fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt, it included some of Brendel's own compositions. However, he gave up composing shortly after this to concentrate on the piano. In 1949 he won 4th prize in the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy and moved to Vienna the following year. At the age of 21, he made his first record, Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5. He went on to make a string of other records, including three complete sets of the Ludwig van Beethoven piano sonatas (one on Vox Records and two on Philips Records). He was the first performer to record the complete solo piano works of Beethoven.^[2] He has also recorded works by Liszt, Brahms (including Brahms' concertos), Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Unlike most classical pianists, Brendel has recorded very little by Frédéric Chopin other than the polonaises. An important collection of Alfred Brendel is the complete Mozart piano concertos recorded with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which is included in the Phillips 180 CD complete Mozart Edition.

Brendel recorded extensively for the Vox label, providing them his first of three sets of the complete Beethoven sonatas. He did not secure a major recording contract until the 1970s, nor did he play much outside Austria. His breakthrough came after a recital of Beethoven at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the day after which three major record labels called his agent. Around this time he moved to Hampstead, London, where he still resides.^[1] Since the 1970s, Brendel has recorded for Philips Classics Records.^[3]

Brendel has been married twice. His first marriage, from 1960 to 1972, was to Iris Heymann-Gonzala, and they had a daughter, Doris. In 1975, Brendel married Irene Semler, and the couple have three children; a son, Adrian, who is a cellist, and two daughters, Katharina and Sophie.^[4]

In April 2007, Brendel was one of the initial signatories of the "Appeal for the Establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations".^[5]

In 2009, Brendel was featured in the award-winning German-Austrian documentary Pianomania, about a Steinway & Sons piano tuner, which was directed by Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film premiered theatrically in North America, where it was met with positive reviews by The New York Times^[6], as well as in Asia and throughout Europe, and is a part of the Goethe-Institut catalogue.

Work[link]

Brendel is regarded as one of the most thoughtful interpreters of classical Germanic works by such composers as Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart. He plays relatively few 20th century works, but is closely associated with Arnold Schoenberg's Piano Concerto. Toward the end of his concert career he stopped playing many of the most physically demanding pieces in the repertoire, such as the Hammerklavier Sonata of Beethoven, owing to problems with arthritis.

Critical reaction to Brendel's playing has been mixed. While he has been lauded by Michael Steinberg as "the new Schnabel", critic Harold C. Schonberg noted that some critics and specialists accused the pianist of "pedanticism".^[7] Brendel's playing is sometimes described as being "cerebral",^[8] and he has said that he believes the primary job of the pianist is to respect the composer's wishes without showing off himself, or adding his own spin on the music:

"I am responsible to the composer, and particularly to the piece".^[4]

As well as his former mentor and teacher, Edwin Fischer, he cites Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Kempff, and the conductors Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwängler as particular influences.

In recent years, Brendel has worked with younger pianists such as Paul Lewis, Mark Gasser, Roberto Carnevale, Andrew von Oeyen, Till Fellner and, most recently, Kit Armstrong.^[9] He has also performed in concert and recorded with his son Adrian.^[10]

In November 2007, Brendel announced that he would retire from the concert platform after his concert of 18 December 2008 in Vienna, which featured him as soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat; the orchestra (the Vienna Philharmonic) was conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.^[2] His final concert in New York was at Carnegie Hall on 20 February 2008, with works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. Since his debut at the Carnegie Hall on 21 January 1973 he has appeared there 81 times, and in 1983 he became only the second pianist to perform the complete cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas at the Hall.

Brendel has been Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music since 1972.^[11]

Publications[link]

Brendel is also a published poet and author.^[12] His books include:

• Musical Thoughts and Afterthoughts (Essays) (1976)
• Music Sounded Out (1990)
• One Finger Too Many (Poetry) (1998)
• Alfred Brendel on Music (collected essays) (2001)
• Me, of All People: Alfred Brendel in Conversation with Martin Meyer (2002) (UK edition: The Veil of Order)
• Cursing Bagels (Poetry) (2004)

Awards[link]

• Honorary Knight of the Order of the British Empire (KBE; 1989)
• Honorary Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford
• Sonning Award (2002; Denmark)
• Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (2004)
• Praemium Imperiale (2009)^[13]
• Voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame (2012)^[14]

Recordings[link]

• Alfred Brendel - Unpublished Live and Radio Performances 1968-2001
• Great Pianists of the 20th Century - Alfred Brendel III

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alfred Brendel

• Alfred Brendel official website

Interviews

• Alfred Brendel interview by Bruce Duffie

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alfred Brendel

André Laplante, OC (born Rimouski November 12, 1949) is a Canadian pianist. He received a 2004 Juno Award for the 2003 recording Concertos: Music of Jacques Hétu. He is considered to be a Franz Liszt specialist and is much associated with the music of Maurice Ravel.^[1]

Laplante was awarded 3rd prizes at the inaugural edition of the Sydney Competition and the XV Long-Thibaud Competition.^[1] He shared second place with French pianist Pascal Devoyon at the 1978 International Tchaikovsky Competition.^[2] He made his debut at Carnegie Hall on October 21, 1978.^[2]

He has received two Felix Awards for his recordings. At the award ceremonies of 2004, Laplante received a Juno Award in the category Classical Album of the Year – Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment for the recording Concertos: Music of Jacques Hétu.^[3][4] He was awarded the Order of Canada on October 29, 2004 and invested to the Order on June 10, 2005.^[5][6]

References[link]

Citations

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