Although Horowitz’s concept of Chopin, characterised by extremes of dynamics and tempi, divided the critics over the years, as one of them wrote in 1958 of a disc containing the Barcarolle heard here, “If your choice in Chopin interpretation runs to largescale, grandiose treatments, magnificent panoramas of sound, delicacy and yet tremendous virility, obtain this record by all means. The overall effect is breathtaking.”
“No pianist played closer to the edge than Vladimir Horowitz. And here, in this invaluable reissue of performances dating from 1949-57, you are once more made aware of that elemental violence and caprice that could leave his audiences in a state of stupefaction, provoked and seduced by his charismatic force and wicked ways. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008
“Horowitz delivers an unusually expansive but structurally convincing account of the first movement of the Second Sonata. Another highlight is the grandiose performance of he Barcarolle.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2008 ****
