Sunday, May 20, 2012

Live Recordings

Live Recordings


An Index of Released & Unreleased Recordings
Prepared and Compiled by Christian Johansson and Bernie Horowitz

Vladimir Horowitz was (and remains) an anomaly in many ways. One manner in which he is different from most popular pianists relates to his recordings: many of Horowitz’s recitals (some of his best) were indeed recorded but have never been released commercially. Additionally, most of his official releases are bland compared to his unedited live performances.

 

A second Horowitz hallmark is scarcity: with most well-known pianists of the twentieth century, it’s no trouble to find and purchase worthwhile recordings. However, for such a prolific pianist, Horowitz made comparatively few recordings, and concertized only infrequently after 1953, giving only 140 (approximately) recitals between then and his death in 1989.

 

For mainly these two reasons, I and many others have attempted to acquire all the unreleased Horowitz recordings we could find.


The Recording Index on this website is an attempt to catalogue all surviving recordings of Horowitz. The index consists of two separate sections - one by composer -- the Alphabetical Section -- and another which lists the recordings in chronological order which is called the Chronological Section (separated into three categories, interviews, studio and live, and then all presented together). I have been more generous with discographical info in the Chronological Section as such would take up a lot of space in the section by composer and thus disturb the flow and readability of the page, but on the other hand the section by composer generally has more detailed info on specific recording dates and number of takes from commercial recording sessions where several takes recorded days - sometimes months - apart were used for the commercial release of a work. This is to reduce the number of notes & references to other sessions in the chronological section to a minimum.

The index as a whole aims to be as complete as possible, but even more importantly 100% accurate & reliable, and to achieve this I have used the following template when creating the index:

-  First of all I have only included recordings I am sure exist as I have a copy myself of the recording, or know someone trustworthy who does. I have not listed any recordings based on rumours alone.

-  Material from commercial recording sessions have been catalogued through the recording logs for the sessions, and through help from people with access to the actual tapes or discs in cases when the information given in the logs has been inadequate.

-  All dates and locations are given as they are known to me through my sources or through the fruits of my research. I have not made any guesses myself, and I have decided to leave assumptions to the reader.

-  Fragments of works from rehearsals, warm-ups, private sessions and similiar have been deemed irrelevant for the discography and have not been included. Notes relating to a few which might be of particular interest to collectors can be found in the Appendix at the end of the page.

All commercially released recordings are written in black and have a reference to the label & catalogue number of the issue in the alphabetical section. When recordings have appeared in more than one commercial issue only one catalogue number has been quoted (there are a few overlaps though as all commercial items included in the index have been listed in completion) - generally to the best, most recent, or most accessible release. All catalogue numbers refer to a CD release unless other is stated.

Material that has never appeared in any commercial release is written in grey, and have an indication in bold text to the type of the recording. There are seven kinds of commercially unreleased recordings, a description of each follows below.

Unreleased Recordings
These are recordings which were professionally recorded by Horowitz's record company at the time, but which have for some reason not been released. In most cases they have remained unreleased because Horowitz was dissatisfied with the recording and did not approve it for commercial release (and he was very picky), or (especially in the early recordings) because the recording engineer was dissatisfied with the technical quality of the recording and did not approve it for release. (Yes, both the artist's and the engineer's approval were required before a recording could be released.) Fortunately most, though not all, of these recordings are preserved in the vaults of the record company responsible for them, and we can only hope as many of them as possible will be released in due time now when they're not controlled as tightly by Horowitz or The Horowitz Estate anymore. The best way of pushing for this is to buy Horowitz's CDs and DVDs to show that there is a public interest in Horowitz's recordings and to provide funds for further releases.

Copying and ripping commercial CDs is *NOT* to support the record companies!!

Private Recordings
Somewhere duing the winter of 1944/1945 Horowitz signed a contract with Carnegie Hall's Recording Service to record his recitals there. The recitals were recorded completely, including encores, and pressed on LPs for Horowitz, who used them to study and analyze his playing. All Horowitz's recitals in Carnegie Hall except one were recorded between March 1945 and March 1951 when RCA took over instead. These are nowadays known as the "Yale Recitals" as Horowitz donated them to Yale University during the 1980s where they are still stored. In the past two years, more selected releases have followed. However, with the exception of March 5, 1951, the complete concerts remain unreleased and are referred to as Private Recordings in this index.

Radio Broadcasts or TV Broadcasts
These are recordings which have been recorded by radio and TV stations and are now preserved in their archives and/or on VHS or audio cassette tapes recorded from the broadcast by amateurs.

Amateur Acetates
From the 1930s and onwards it was actually possible to make private home recordings on a machine which could record a few minutes of sound on discs called acetates. These machines were very rare, did not produce recordings of particularly high quality, and probably cost a fortune in their day, but a young lady in Chicago on very good terms with Horowitz, Rachmaninoff, Kreisler, Cherkassky, Toscanini and a whole horde of other artists had access to one and used to recorded them in small mini-recitals for a set of a invited friends in her living room which she liked to arrange. So far, this lady's acetates are the only known ones with Horowitz.

Pirate Recordings
A pirate recording is a recording made by some innocent looking guy in the audience armed with a microphone, secretly and illegally recording the performance. To the best of my knowledge the first recordings of this kind started to appear in the New York area during the spring of 1965 (the first known pirate with Horowitz was recorded in New Haven on November 13, 1966), and then increased in number up to the early 1970s when tape recorders had become so small and so cheap that just about anyone could afford the equipment needed to tape a concert without any greater risk of being discovered. There are actually also a few video pirate recordings from the 1980s, made by someone who has managed to smuggle in a videocamera in the hall and have been brave enough to film from his seat, probably with a Bible in his free hand praying that no one will look his way.

Pirate Recordings vary from case to case in soundquality, from "quite good" all the way down to "only barely listenable" depending on which type of microphone and taperecorder that was used, the medium the recording was preserved on (always open reel tapes or cassettes in Horowitz's case, but of variable qualities & brands), where the microphone was placed during the recording, and how far from the stage the pirate was sitting. And of course also how many generations away from the mastertape the copy one has is as all of these have been passed around in analogue formats before CD burners were available & affordable to the average person.

A few pirate recordings have been released on CD by Palexa, Music & Arts and Living Stage, but most of them remain unavailable and only exist in private collections of tape collectors and fervent Horowitz enthusiasts.

Bootlegs
A bootleg is defined here as a professional recording that was made without permission from or even knowledge of Horowitz, his agent/manager, or his record company.


_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bell Laboratory Test Recording

February 5 & 6, 1932: Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)    [+]

    - Fritz Reiner/Philadelphia Orchestra


- Note: All in all 19 minutes of music has survived from these two concerts. Living Stage released an excerpt of 1 minute and 43 seconds from this recording in 2003, but the complete 19 minute recording remains unreleased.


Gramophone Company Recording Sessions [EMI]


Radio Broadcast: October 5, 1933: Copenhagen, Denmark (Live)

Debussy:  Serenade for the Doll


Radio Broadcast: October 18, 1934: Copenhagen, Denmark (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23 [Third movement only]
    - Nikolai Malko/Denmark Radio Symphony Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: March 17, 1935: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Brahms:  Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, Op.15
    - Arturo Toscanini/New York Philharmonic Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: February, 20, 1936: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Live)

    - Bruno Walter/Concertgebouw Orchestra



RCA Victor Recording Sessions

Radio Broadcast: August 29, 1939: Lucerne, Switzerland (Live)

Brahms:  Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op.83
    - Arturo Toscanini/Orchestra of the International Music Festival, Lucerne    [++]


Radio Broadcast: March 31, 1940: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
    - John Barbirolli/New York Philharmonic Orchestra


May 6, 1940: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)    [+]

Brahms:  Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op.83
    - Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra

    - RCA's discs of this performance may be lost.


Radio Broadcast: May 6, 1940: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Brahms:  Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op.83
    - Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: April 19, 1941: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
    - Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: May 4, 1941: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Rachmaninoff:  Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30
    - John Barbirolli/New York Philharmonic Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: January 30, 1942: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


April 25, 1943: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
    - Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra


Professional Bootleg: Probably November 25 or 26, 1943: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: March 28, 1945: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

Private Recording: March 4, 1946: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: April 6, 1946: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: April 24, 1946: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: February 3, 1947: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)



Private Recording: March 28, 1947: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: April 28, 1947: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: February 2, 1948: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

  • Haydn:  Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. XVI:52
  • Schubert:  Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 90 No.3 [played in G major]
  • Scriabin:  Vers la flamme, Op.72
  • Scriabin:  Poeme in F-sharp major, Op.32 No.1
  • Scriabin:  Etude in F-sharp major, Op.42 No.4
  • Scriabin:  Etude in D-sharp minor, Op.8 No.12
  • Scriabin:  Etude in D-sharp minor, Op.8 No.12
  • Kabalevsky:  Sonata No.3, Op.46
     
  • Chopin:  Fantasy in F minor, Op.49
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 No.1
  • Chopin:  Impromptu No.1 in A-flat major, Op.29
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in F-sharp major, Op.15 No.2
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53 (Heroic)

    Encores:
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata, K.380
  • Moszkowski:  Etude in F major, Op.72 No.6
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Liszt/Horowitz:  Wedding March & Variations (after Mendelssohn)

 



Private Recording: April 2, 1948: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording(?)*: April 8 or 9, 1948: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Radio Broadcast: April 11, 1948: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23
    - Bruno Walter/New York Philharmonic Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: October 23, 1948: NBC Studio 8-H (Radio City), New York City, New York (Live)

Brahms:  Piano Concerto No.2 in B-flat major, Op.83
    - Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony Orchestra


Private Recording: January 17, 1949: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: February 21, 1949: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)



Private Recording: March 21, 1949: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Radio Broadcast: August 2, 1949: Hollywood Bowl, California (Live)


Private Recording: January 23, 1950: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: March 20, 1950: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: April 24, 1950: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

Radio Broadcast: August 31, 1950: Hollywood Bowl, California (Live)

Rachmaninoff:  Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30
    - Sergei Koussevitzky/Hollywood Bowl Orchestra


Radio Broadcast: December 9, 1950: Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah (Live)

Tchaikovsky:  Piano Concerto No.1 in B-flat minor, Op.23 [fragmented recording]
    - Maurice Abravanel/Utah Symphony Orchestra


March 5, 1951: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Private Recording: March 5, 1951: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


April 23, 1951: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Radio Broadcast: April 23, 1951: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


January 12, 1953: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

- There are some question marks about the origin of this recording. It is listed in RCA's recording logs and should therefore have been taped by them, but last someone looked for it it wasn't in their archives. Furthermore Harold C. Schonberg claimed that Horowitz's producer at the time, John ("Jack") Pfeiffer, first heard this recording through a tape that was in circulation at the time among collectors and immediately wanted to release THAT under RCA (but couldn't as Szell was under contract with Columbia). Surely his team at RCA couldn't have recorded this without his knowledge.
Another rumour is that it was Columbia who taped the concert, but they claim they don't know anything about that, and rightly so if they did as they in that case recorded it without the knowledge of RCA which Horowitz had an exclusive contract with at the time of the recording.

Due to the excellent sound of the recording I strongly doubt it was recorded privately on reel tape from a radio broadcast, but even apart from Schonberg's Pfeiffer story above there are shreds of evidence supporting that it is a possiblity. The Orchestra, the NY Philharmonic, was under contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that season and had right to broadcast their concerts, and they probably wouldn't have liked to miss an occassion where the perhaps world's most celebrated soloist at the time appeared with them, and to privately record from the radio was not impossible at all even as early as 1953. If they did record & preserve the performance another possibility is that someone working at CBC smuggled out a tape of their uncompressed archive tape, and that's what reached circulation, appeared on private LP pressings, and eventually on CD through small pirate labels. If this is so however, the archive tape is not in their vaults anymore as it seems. *sigh*

YET another possibility is that this is in fact one of the first pirate recordings made. In the early 1940s Carnegie Hall opened a recording service for the artists playing there (which Horowitz used between 1945 and 1951, producing the so called "Yale Recitals") and - I don't say this is what happened, but it is a possibility - it's not unlikely that a private person with a wallet large enough could persuade them to turn on the microphones without both Horowitz's & RCA's knowledge and then press a one ex LP of the performance. I have not heard of any bootlegging of this kind from as early as 1953, but it is known to have happened frequently in numerous halls from the 70s and onwards (to take just one example with Horowitz, Minneapolis 1976) and there's really no reason as I see it why it couldn't have happened during the 1950s as well.

Well in a nutshell then, it's a damn troublesome recording for a discographer who naturally have to know everything about every recording. =)
The facts are presented above, if I may now make an "educated guess" of my own based on what we know I would say that this recording was taped by RCA and leaked out to a number of collectors either through the recording engineer or Jack Pfeiffer himself, who in that case probably made up the story he told Schonberg to cover his blunder of having put it in circulation among "outsiders". If this is the case, the reason why the tape of the concert wasn't found in their archives when Jon Samuels prepared his discography probably has a simple explanation too. RCA totally organised and inventored their vaults in 1996-1997, but before that they had been in a terrible disarray ever since the 1940s. When preparing the set "The Horowitz Collection" for instance they often had to work from copies as the masters couldn't be found, and in some cases they even used, or had to use, alternate takes as the approved take either was mislabeled or misplaced. It is therefore not unlikely at all that the recording WAS there, but not where it was supposed to be. 


February 25, 1953: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


May 9, 1965: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


April 17, 1966: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)*

  • Encores:
  • Mendelssohn:  Song without Words Op.67 No.5
  • Liszt: Valse Oubliee No.1
  • Rachmaninoff:  Etude-Tableau in D major, Op.39 No.9


November 13, 1966: Woolsey Hall (Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 13, 1966: Woolsey Hall (Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut (Live)


November 27, 1966: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 27, 1966: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


December 10, 1966: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: December 10, 1966: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


October 22, 1967: Colden Center (Queens College), New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 22, 1967: Colden Center (Queens College), New York City, New York (Live)


November 12, 1967: Whitman Auditorium (Brooklyn College), New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 12, 1967: Whitman Auditorium (Brooklyn College), New York City, New York (Live)


November 26, 1967: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 26, 1967: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


December 10, 1967: Constitution Hall, Washington D.C. (Live)

  • Beethoven: Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101
  • Chopin:  Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op.44
     
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in A major, K.101
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in F-sharp major, K.319
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in G major, K.260
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in F minor, K.466
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in G major, K.55
  • Schumann:  Arabeske, Op.18
  • Rachmaninoff:  Etude-Tableau in E-flat major, Op.33 No.6
  • Rachmaninoff:  Etude-Tableau in C major, Op.33 No.2
  • Rachmaninoff:  Etude-Tableau in D major, Op.39 No.9

    Encores:
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Mendelssohn: Etude Op.104b No.3
  • Chopin:  Mazurka in F minor, Op.7 No.3
  • Horowitz:  Carmen Variations

 


 

Audio: January 2, 3 and/or February 1, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Video: January 2 and/or February 1, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


April 7, 1968: Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts (Live)

  • Chopin: Funeral March from Sonata No.2, Op.36
  • Beethoven:  Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101
  • Chopin:  Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op.44
     
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in E major, K.380
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in G major, K.260
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in F minor, K.466
  • Scarlatti:  Sonata in G major, K.55
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Chopin:  Waltz in A minor, Op.34 No.2
  • Chopin:  Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op.64 No.2
  • Schumann: Traumerei Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski: Etude Op.72 No.6


  - Horowitz opened this recital with the funeral march to honour Martin Luther King who had just been shot.



May 12, 1968: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 12, 1968: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)    


Pirate Recording: May 12 or 19, 1968: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)    


Pirate Recording: May 19, 1968: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)    


November 3, 1968: Woolsey Hall (Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut (Live)    

  • Haydn:  Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:48
  • Schumann:  Kreisleriana, Op.16
     
  • Rachmaninoff:  Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op.32 No.12
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical No.3 in B minor, Op.16 No.3
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Chopin: Waltz Op.64 No.2
  • Liszt:  Au bord d'une source
  • Schumann: Traumerei Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski:  Etude in F major, Op.72 No.6


November 17, 1968: Brooklyn College, New York City, New York (Live)    

  • Haydn:  Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:48
  • Schumann:  Kreisleriana, Op.16
     
  • Rachmaninoff:  Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op.32 No.12
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical No.3 in B minor, Op.16 No.3
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Chopin: Waltz Op.64 No.2
  • Liszt:  Au bord d'une source
  • Schumann: Traumerei Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski:  Etude in F major, Op.72 No.6

 


November 24, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 24, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)    [++]


December 1, 1968: Acadamy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)


Pirate Recording: December 1, 1968: Acadamy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)    [++]


December 15, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

  • Haydn:  Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:48
  • Schumann:  Kreisleriana, Op.16
     
  • Rachmaninoff:  Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op.32 No.12
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical No.3 in B minor, Op.16 No.3
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Chopin:  Waltz in A minor, Op.34 No.2
  • Liszt:  Au bord d'une source
  • Moszkovski:  Etude in F major, Op.72 No.6

 


Pirate Recording: December 15, 1968: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)    [++]


Pirate Recording: October 26, 1969: Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts (Live)    [+]




[No Record Company]


Pirate Recording: May 12, 1974: Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: June 2, 1974: Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. (Live)

 

There has been an enormous amount of confusion regarding the pirate recordings of May 12 and June 2, 1974. Like many Horowitz collectors, I had one, single recording of which I received many copies from people telling me it was either Cleveland or Washington. Finally, I encountered a collector who claimed to have BOTH. He was able to clear up the problem: the two concerts have identical programs, including the encores. More importantly, the Washington recital was and is posted all over youtube and other sites espoused to be the Cleveland recital. Very few collectors have the actual Cleveland recital.

The problem likely occurred because of the few omissions of Christian Johansson’s defunct Horowitz website; the Washington program was not listed, nor was the pirate recording. Contrarily, Cleveland was listed (in both sections). Somebody, somewhere matched the unidentified recital (because of the program and year) to Cleveland using Johansson’s website, and their initial mistake has now tortured countless Horowitz enthusiasts attempting to find the Washington recital, unaware that they had it all along.

The most distinguishable difference between the two pirates is not musical at all: in the Washington recording, there is some audience chatter at the beginning of the Polonaise-Fantasie. This is not the case in the Cleveland recital.


Pirate Recording: October 27, 1974: Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 3, 1974: Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 17, 1974: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, New York (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: March 30, 1975: Jones Hall, Houston, Texas (Live)



Pirate Recording: April 20, 1975: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)   

 

Pirate Recording: April 27, 1975: Carnegie Hall, New York (Live)   



Pirate Recording: May 18, 1975: Mershon Auditorium (Ohio State University), Columbus, Ohio (Live)





RCA Victor Recording Sessions

Pirate Recording: October 26, 1975: Indiana University Auditorium, Bloomington, Indiana (Live)

*Infuriatingly, the endings of both the Schumann Sonata and Chopin Scherzo are missing from this recording, which was made in-house!


Pirate Recording: November 2, 1975: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


November 16, 1975: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)    [+]


Pirate Recording: November 16, 1975: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 23, 1975: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: January 24, 1976: Seattle, Washington (Live)   


 

Pirate Recording: February 1, 1976: Portland, Oregon (Live)   

 

February 14 & 15, 1976: Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California and February 22, 28, & 29, 1976: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)


Pirate Recording: February 15, 1976: Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California (Live)


Pirate Recording: February 22, 1976: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)


Pirate Recording: February 29, 1976: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)


Professional Bootleg: April 4, 1976: Minneapolis, Minnesota (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 11, 1976: Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan), Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: April 25, 1976: Montreal, Canada (Live)

(Palexa owns this recording and has not released it)

 


Pirate Recording: May 9, 1976: Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada (Live)


Columbia Recording Session [Sony]

May 18, 1976: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


RCA Victor Recording Sessions

Pirate Recording: October 31, 1976: Severance Hall, Cleveland, Ohio (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 14, 1976: Boston, Massachusetts (Live)


November 21, 1976: Powell Hall, St. Louis, Missouri (Live)

         
          Encores:


Pirate Recording: November 28, 1976: Jones Hall, Houston, Texas (Live)

 


Pirate Recording: March 13, 1977: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California (Live)    


Pirate Recording: April 10, 1977: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 24, 1977: Buffalo, New York (Live)

  • Clementi:  Sonata in C major, Op.33 No.3
  • Chopin:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.35
     
  • Liszt:  Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical in B minor, Op.16 No.3
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical in E-flat minor, Op.16 No.2
  • Chopin:  Waltz in A minor, Op.34 No.2
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53

    Encores:
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski:  Etincelles, Op.36 No.6

 

 

Pirate Recording: May 8, 1977: East Lansing, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 9, 1977: Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan), Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 10, 1977: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 16, 1977: Toronto, Canada (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 6, 1977: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)

  • Mozart:  Sonata in C major, K.330
  • Liszt:  Sonata in B minor
     
  • Fauré:  Nocturne in B minor, Op.119
  • Fauré:  Impromptu in F-sharp minor, Op.102
  • Scriabin:  Prelude for the left hand alone, Op.9 No.1
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical in E-flat minor, Op.16 No.2
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 No.1
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53

    Encores:
  • Chopin:  Mazurka in A minor, Op.17 No.4
  • Rachmaninoff:  Polka de W.R.
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Horowitz:  Carmen Variations


Pirate Recording: November 13, 1977: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)
  • Mozart:  Sonata in C major, K.330
  • Liszt:  Sonata in B minor
     
  • Fauré:  Nocturne in B minor, Op.119
  • Fauré:  Impromptu in F-sharp minor, Op.102
  • Scriabin:  Prelude for the left hand alone, Op.9 No.1
  • Rachmaninoff:  Moment Musical in E-flat minor, Op.16 No.2
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 No.1
  • Chopin:  Polonaise in A-flat major, Op.53

    Encores:
  • Chopin:  Waltz in A minor, Op.34 No.2
  • Horowitz:  Carmen Variations

 


Pirate Recording: January 6, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

January 8, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: January 8, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: February 5, 1978: Los Angeles, California (Live)


Pirate Recording: February 12, 1978: San Francisco Opera House, California (Live)


February 25, 1978: The White House, Washington D.C. (Rehearsal)

*This pirate recording is actually a full hour, but I have only been able to locate anything aside from these three pieces. A reliable source claims that the evasive remainder is mostly talking.


Audio & Video: February 26, 1978: The White House, Washington D.C. (Live)


Pirate Recording: March 12, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: March 19, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: March 26, 1978: Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)   


Pirate Recording: April 2, 1978: Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. (Live)

  • Encores:
  • Scriabin:  Prelude for the left hand alone, Op.9 No.1
  • Moszkowski:  Etincelles, Op.36 No.6
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Horowitz:  Variations on a theme from Bizet's opera Carmen

 

 

Pirate Recording: April 16, 1978: Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 30, 1978: Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan), Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 7, 1978: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


September 24, 1978: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Radio Broadcast: September 24, 1978: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 8, 1978: Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan), Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 19, 1978: Boston, Massachusetts (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: March 19, 1979: Atlanta, Georgia (Live)

*I know for a fact that this recital was pirated by at least one person, but I have not yet been able to locate a copy.


April 7, 8 & 15, 1979: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois and April 22, 1979: Constitution Hall, Washington D.C. (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 8, 1979: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 15, 1979: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 22, 1979: Constitution Hall, Washington D.C (Live)

*Unfortunately, the ending of the Chopin Polonaise is cut off after approx. 2:40


Pirate Recording: May 6, 1979: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 13, 1979: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 20, 1979: Minneapolis, Minnesota (Live)

 


Pirate Recording: November 4, 1979: Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 25, 1979: Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)

  • Schumann:  Drei Fantasiestücke, Op.111
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in D-flat major, Op.23 No.3 (Nächtliches Gelage)
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in F major, Op.23 No.4 (Rundgesang mit Solostimmen)*
  • Chopin: Ballade No.1
     
  • Chopin:  Nocturne in E minor, Op.72 No.1
  • Chopin:  Waltz in A minor, Op.34 No.2
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36 

    Encores:
  • Liszt:  Consolation No.3 in D-flat major
  • Rachmaninoff: Polka de W.R.

 

 

Pirate Recording: February 24, 1980: San Francisco, California (Live)


Pirate Recording: March 9, 1980: Tempe, Arizona (Live)

  • Schumann:  Drei Fantasiestücke, Op.111
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in D-flat major, Op.23 No.3 (Nächtliches Gelage)
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in F major, Op.23 No.4 (Rundgesang mit Solostimmen)
  • Chopin:  Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60
  • Chopin:  Etude in C-sharp minor, Op.25 No.7
  • Chopin:  Etude in G-flat major, Op.10 No.5 (Black Key)
  • Chopin: Mazurka Op.17 No.4
  • Mendelssohn: Scherzo a Capriccio in F-sharp Minor
     
  • Liszt:  Consolation No.3 in in D-flat major
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski: Etincelles, Op.36 No.6

 

 

Pirate Recording: March 30, 1980: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)

          Encores:

 

April 13, 1980: Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts and May 2, 4 & 11, 1980: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: April 13, 1980: Symphony Hall, Massachusetts (Live)

  • Clementi:  Adagio Sostenuto in F major, No.14 from Book 1 of Gradus ad Parnassum
  • Clementi:  Rondo from the Sonata in E-flat major, Op.12 No.2
  • Schumann:  Drei Fantasiestücke, Op.111
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in D-flat major, Op.23 No.3 (Nächtliches Gelage)
  • Schumann:  Nachtstück in F major, Op.23 No.4 (Rundgesang mit Solostimmen)
  • Mendelssohn:  Scherzo a Capriccio in F-sharp minor
  • Chopin:  Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op.60
  • Chopin:  Etude in C-sharp minor, Op.25 No.7
  • Chopin:  Etude in G-flat major, Op.10 No.5 (Black Key)
     
  • Liszt:  Consolation No.3 in D-flat major
  • Rachmaninoff/Horowitz:  Sonata No.2 in B-flat minor, Op.36

    Encores:
  • Chopin:  Mazurka in A minor, Op.17 No.4
  • Rachmaninoff:  Polka de W.R.

 

 


Pirate Recording: May 4, 1980: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 11, 1980: Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 9, 1980: Hill Auditorium (University of Michigan), Ann Arbor, Michigan (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 16, 1980: Eastman Theatre, Rochester, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 30, 1980: Woolsey Hall (Yale University), New Haven, Connecticut (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: October 18, 1981: Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, Minnesota


October 25, 1981: Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis* & November 1, 1981: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 1, 1981: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 15, 1981: Boston, Massachusetts (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: February 28, 1982: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)

  

Encores:

 

 


May 18, 20 & 22, 1982: Royal Festival Hall, London, England (Live)


Radio Broadcast (Unedited): May 22, 1982: Royal Festival Hall, London, England (Live)


Video: May 22, 1982: Royal Festival Hall, London, England (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 29, 1982: Royal Festival Hall, London, England (Live)


Pirate Recording: March 20, 1983: Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 16, 1983: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 24, 1983: Boston, Massachusetts (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 15, 1983: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, New York (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 22, 1983: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)

*My copy of this pirate does not contain the Rachmaninoff encore

 

Pirate Recording: May 26, 1983: Ambassador College, Pasadena, California (Live)

 


Video: June 11, 1983: NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Live)


Pirate Recording: June 16, 1983: NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan (Live)




Deutsche Grammophon Recording Sessions

Pirate Recording: October 7, 1985: Carnegie Hall, New York City (rehearsal)

*This pirate definitely exists, but I have not managed to locate it.

 

Pirate Recording: October 26, 1985: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: November 2, 1985: Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris, France (Live)


Professional Bootleg: November 17, 1985: La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy (Live)


Video: November 17, 1985: La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy (Live, "RAI UNO")

  • Schumann:  Träumerei, Op.15 No.7
  • Moszkowski: Etude in F major, Op.72, No.6

 


Professional Bootleg: November 24, 1985: La Scala Opera House, Milan, Italy (Live)


Pirate Recording: December 15, 1985: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

Professional Bootleg: April 18, 1986: Rehearsal, Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow Conservatory), Moscow, Russia (Live)


Audio & Video: April 18 & 20, 1986: Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow Conservatory), Moscow, Russia (Live)


Radio Broadcast (Unedited): April 20, 1986: Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow Conservatory), Moscow, Russia (Live)


Pirate Recording: April 27, 1986: Winter Palace, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 11, 1986: Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany (Live)


Radio Broadcast: May 18, 1986: Philharmonie Hall, Berlin, Germany (Live)    [+]

 

Pirate Recording: May 24, 1986: Philharmonie Hall, Berlin, Germany (Live)

- only the second half was recorded


Pirate Recording: June 21, 1986: Hitomi Memorial Auditorium (Showa Women's University), Tokyo, Japan (Live)


Radio Broadcast: June 28, 1986: Hitomi Memorial Auditorium (Showa Women's University), Tokyo, Japan (Live)


Pirate Recording: July 6, 1986: Hitomi Memorial Auditorium (Showa Women's University), Tokyo, Japan (Live)


Pirate Video Recording: July 6, 1986: Hitomi Memorial Auditorium (Showa Women's University), Tokyo, Japan (Live)


October 5, 1986: The White House, Washington D.C. (Live)


Professional Video Tape: October 5, 1986: The White House, Washington D.C. (Live)


Pirate Recording: October 19, 1986: Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts (Live)

 


Pirate Recording: October 25, 1986: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Rehearsal)


Radio Broadcast: October 26, 1986: Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois (Live)


Pirate Recording: November 16, 1986: Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: November 22, 1986: The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: December 14, 1986: The Metropolitan Opera House, New York City (Live)

 


Pirate Recording: May 24, 1987: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Live)


Video: May 31, 1987: Musikverein, Vienna, Austria (Live)


Pirate Recording: May 31, 1987: Musikverein, Vienna, Austria (Live)

 

Pirate Recording: June 7, 1987: Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany (Live)

*Christian Johansson noted the existence of this pirate but was not able to locate a copy.


Radio Broadcast: June 21, 1987: Musikhalle, Hamburg, Germany (Live)    [+]

* Only the last four or five minutes from the finale have been released, the complete sonata remains unreleased.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Appendix

Notes for collectors on non-commercial items

 

I can confirm the existence of the following recordings, which are currently not in my collection:


It is almost certain that additional pirate recordings exist that I have yet to encounter. Most collectors find it unlikely that even one Horowitz concert between 1974-1987 was not recorded at all. Indeed, there are numerous concerts during this period (see "concertography") for which I am not aware of any recordings.

 

If you should have any of these in your collection, please contact bernie10025@yahoo.com

To contact Christian Johansson, who originally compiled all this data, write to: 

 

 

On top of the videos included in the index above with Horowitz there are also various videoclips from the 1980s which were taped by enthusiasts from the local news and various similiar shows which has new material. All I have come accross only contain brief excerpts however, and that's the reason I decided not to include them in the recordingindex. There is said to have been a newsbroadcast on TV in the states in the late 1970s which contained the complete Black-Key Etude by Chopin though, but it does not seem to have been taped and I have not been able to find out whether a copy was preserved in the TV station's archive.
    Below is a list of these newsbroadcasts and similiar which I have come accross. Not very important for the discography, but perhaps of interest for the serious collector, fervent enthusiast, or scholar.

 

 

VH#75. Video (TV Broadcast: CBS Morning News): November 1985 – covering his recording of The Last Romantic film

 

 

VH#78. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): December 1985 – about his Carnegie Hall recital on December 15, 1985

 

 

VH#73. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): April 19(?), 1986 – about Horowitz’s Moscow recital on April 20

 

 

VH#112. Video (TV Broadcast: CBS Evening News: Susan Spencer, newsreader): April 20, 1986

 

 

VH#113. Video (TV Broadcast: ABC News, Washington: Sam Donaldsson, newsreader): April 21(?), 1986

 

 

VH#114. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): Shortly after October 5, 1986

 

 

VH#115. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): Shortly after October 5, 1986

 

 

VH#117. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): Shortly after October 5, 1986

 

 

VH#118. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): Shortly after October 5, 1986

 

 

VH#119. Video (TV Broadcast: CNN "Daybreak": Bryan Nelson, newsreader): Shortly after October 5, 1986

 

 

VH#116. Video (TV Broadcast: CNN News Footage): October 6, 1986

 

 

VH#120. Video (TV Broadcast: CBS Evening News: Charles Osgood, reporter): December 15, 1986

 

 

VH#122. Video (TV Broadcast: NBC News): Shortly after December 15, 1986

 

 

VH#121. Video (TV Broadcast: NBC News: Richard Valeriani (sp?), reporter): December 16, 1986

 

 

VH#123. Video (TV Broadcast: CBS Morning News, New York): December 16, 1986

 

 

VH#74. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): December 1986: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)

 

 

VH#76. Video (TV Broadcast: News Footage): 1987(?): Best Classical Album Award

 

 

Whether the source material used to compile these broadcasts has survived or not I don't know, but if it has there are some rather tantalizing videos locked up at TV archives around the world. These would include among other things complete recitals from Chicago 1977, Milan 1985, Carnegie Hall 1986, White House 1986, Amsterdam 1987 and others, rehearsals from Carnegie Hall 1985 & Moscow 1986, as well as many, many hours of videofootage made in Horowitz's home on December 26 1977 for the 60 Minutes show.

 

According to Christian Johansson, the following unreleased recordings have leaked from RCA's in the last decade, reaching a few collectors (but not me). They are:

Christian notes:

"The dates for these are however highly questionable, with the exception of Mussorgsky. This in particular as RCA's logs show no record of having recorded most of these works during the given year. The Mussorgsky must be from 1947, but whether it is the unreleased May 15 recording or alternate takes (or for that matter, issued takes) of the commercial release still needs to be looked up."

 

There are live recordings from the early 1950s of the 2nd movement from Bach's F minor Concerto as well as his Chorale Prelude "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen" (BWV 734) in circulation that have been attributed to Horowitz. The actual pianist is yet to be identified, but it is sadly not Horowitz playing.

 

Two unedited recording sessions where Horowitz plays extracts from Chopin's Op.10 No.4 Etude and the 3rd movement from Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata have leaked out and are in general circulation among collectors. They both stem from the early 1970s, but no one seem to know exactly from which session. An educated guess however would be that the Beethoven one is taken from December 20, 1972 and Chopin either from February 8 or February 15 1973 - both recorded for CBS in their 30th Street Studio in New York City.

Two versions of the Beethoven session circulates however - one of them has some 2 minutes more material than the other.

 

On October 9, 1977 Horowitz gave a recital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and many people have a pirate recording of this recital marked either "October 10, 1977" or "October 3, 1977". Both these are in fact two different recordings of the same concert - a concert that was held neither on October 3 or October 10, but on October 9. Update your lists everyone!

 

Although many rehearsals, warm-ups and other practise sessions have been recorded with Horowitz over the years both professionally and by amateurs, only two have reached general circulation among collectors as far as I know - the February 25 1978 rehearsal for the White House recital the following day, and the semi-public April 18 1986 rehearsal at the Moscow Conservatory.

 

The pirate recording of Horowitz's first Paris recital in 1985 is at times found labeled as being from "October 20, 1985". This date is wrong. Horowitz had only been in Paris for two days then and were enjoying the city all he could at the time. His first recital in Paris wasn't scheduled until October 26, and THAT is the correct date for the "October 20, 1985" pirate.

 


Christian Johansson thanks Caine Alder & Robert McAlear for their corrections & additions to the unreleased commercial recording sessions. Thanks to Christian himself for allowing for the use of his extensive research.

 

Copyright © 2003 Christian Johansson

Copyright © 2010 Bernie Horowitz