Do you think so though? He worked a lot more with colour and nuance during the 1960s, which I associate with refinement.
Or maybe you think of refined in a more purely pianistic, mechanical sense?
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No, I just hear this epic smoothness, kind of an “understatement”…
Relaxed, elegant, composed - even something like the Chopin Mazurkas he did in the 20’s and 30’s…
Certainly a “smaller” range of attacks, but far less percussion…
I adore all of his best recs, but the 20’s and 30’s stuff is my favorite… I wish there was more.
Even those 1932 stereo Tchaik conc excerpts… just glorious.
Like leecher, I love the early pre-American period of da Ho most, especially the recordings 1928-1936: Schumann’s Presto passionato, Chopin Mazurkas, Bach-Busoni, Debussy, Poulenc pieces, all wonderful.
Then his Scriabin, almost all of it. The Sonatas nos 9 (live) and 10, unbelievable.
And some of his Chopin - for me no. 1 is the Polonaise Opus 44 live:
But for example his very last recording contains some gems, too: the Haydn E flat Sonata, Liszt Weinen Klagen, Sorgen Zagen - unforgettable.
Yes, oh there are so many great recordings from all his years…
I even love his Brahms 1 and 2 performances… they are special in their own way.
Plus, the 1935 Brahns one is an absolute insane speed record 
And so is da 1941 Rach 3 n da 40’s Brahms 2 recs.
Dere are too many great recs to list…
Even dat Medtner fairy tale from 1969 - pure magic
My favorite is the Brahms PC2 with Walter in the Yale archive. I have never heard it, but it’s my favorite recording of his anyways. 
Joking aside, I am with CJ and many others regarding those 60s recitals, but each and every Yale collection recital from the 40s-50s is special. Almost too much unleashed power in a single recital. Then there is the 70s Liszt sonata recording (St Louis) that came out in the live collection, which is mostly different from the regular original release (which was significantly patched from rehearsals I think). Somebody once described these performances as the workings of a mad scientist and this one really captures it, like a mad scientist who experiments so much he blows up the lab. That’s what Horowitz does here at the climax. Great stuff.
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I first saw and heard Horowitz in the ‘Last Romantic’ documentary. After that I got his Schumann on Columbia Masterworks, his Scriabin sonatas and the 1932 recs. My favourite Ho is probably the 1932 Liszt Sonata, though my side Ho is the 1941 Rach 3. I don’t listen to his Schumann so much anymore (I prefer prime-era Argerich) but do still like his Scarlatti and 1960s Debussy.
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Yup, agreed on all highlighted recs above (except his Liszt sonatas, but I know I’m in minority there). My LEAST favourite period with him is 1974-1983, but even then he did the Schumann Humoresque, Clementi f#, etc.
Really glad to see the Medtner tale singled out too, which is possibly my favourite LP era studio rec with him. The terrible thing is that he sightread several more of them at the same session!
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I remember when I first saw your discography and was astounded at how much potential stuff might be in the vaults even in raw form. Things like additional noodled Medtner, a bunch of Chopin etudes at the final recording session, Beethoven Op.2/2, etc. Do you know anything about them, like levels of completeness, etc.? I’m guessing information was gleaned from recording logs? But have you ever been in contact with anyone who would know for sure?
Recording logs are a poor source of info for these things since, just because something was recorded doesn’t mean it was preserved. What I put on the site was recordings I knew actually existed, which was either since they had entered circulation one way or another or since a friend or fellow pianophile had copies. In 90% of the cases with VH this friend & fellow pianophile was Caine Alder, who knew both Horowitz himself - “as well as anybody could” to use his words - and his producers Jack Pfeiffer and Tom Frost. Through them (etc) Caine had raw material from a lot of what RCA and CBS did over the years, but of course supplied to him under severe restrictions since it was potential future money makers for both companies. Information of what Caine actually had first came from one of my best friends at the time who visited Caine in the 1990s, heard a ton of it, and wrote down dates, locations etc “while Caine was in the kitchen making coffee :]”. This of course supplemented with info from Caine himself, who supplied corrections and was invariably open for questions I had, but who of course wasn’t too keen on making a complete inventory of his entire collection just for my sake (he did have a list, but it wasn’t very detailed).
Caine passed away in 2012 - a formidable human being I might add, he really was something quite out of the ordinary - but towards the end of his life he did pass around compilation discs for friends which often had unpublished material on them, and I now have some complete tapes from his collection myself through his family. Needless to say it’s not something I can share however, and it’s either way harshly neither the Medtner session or the Sony tape (both of which my friend heard at Caine’s however, and reported back about in great detail).
This… idk, this rec is SO good.
Subtle, elegant… an understatement - but exquisite in every way…
Def in my top 10 fave Horowitz recs.
Sadly the live Rach 3 from da same broadcast was not recorded…
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Err, turns out I DO have the Sony tapes! It’s many, many hours of material to go through, but if there’s anything particular you’re wondering about them I might be able to answer after all.
Holy shit!
I just had the same reaction 
Mannn, please post da Tea fo Two!
Randomly, how do you transfer stuff from cassettes ?
Dey haff da cassette decks wiz USB output tru
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No, tapes is my name for them since that’s what the masters are (and I know I use it generically for NCRs too, remnant from the 90s). My actual copies are CD-Rs.
I randomly can’t transfer cassettes anymore however, which annoys the hell out of me. All my own cassettes are transferred or re-acquired since many years back, but I’ve had to turn down (or at least put on hold) several really interesting offers in recent years since neither me or the other guy has had any way of transferring the tapes (which here have really been tapes).
Oh, but earlier I connected a DAT or my Hi-MD to the cassette deck, which I could then connect digitally to the PC and from there burn CD-Rs. You can connect the cassette deck analoguely directly to the sound card as well, but it’s a bad idea. Computers aren’t built for these things.
Best comment there:
“A not over 30 years old Horowitz plays this with the endearment of a grandfather who truly loves and understands little children - their innocent, insouciant playfulness. Of course, thanks to Debussy’s insights, too. Horowitz coyly stretches out his rubato at times which is very effective.” 
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@xsdc - I have with da Ho what you have with da 
So all unknown recorded material is very much worth hearing at least once, IMO! 