Genre: classical
Year: remastered 2003
This cd box set includes all of the recordings that Horowitz did for Deutsche Grammophon in the ’80s, including his concert in Moscow. While the context of his return in Moscow may be very touching, the studio recordings are simply beautiful.
Listening closer to this boxed set, one may conclude that the sound quality is near perfection. The Steinway piano sounds warm, yet crispy and sharp. Horowitz has plenty of power, and if you don’t have a good sound system, you might even experience a disturbing ‘overload’ coming from the speakers due to the overwhelming ‘wall of sound’ that Horowitz is able to create during intense parts.
Also the more gentle and tender parts are exciting, enhanced by the top-notch digital signal processing tools that have been used for the remastered verions. Liszt’s Standchen and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 are only two of a myriad of highlights contained on this boxed set. Having these high quality digital recordings of Horowitz is a blessing that one shouldn’t miss.
Further musical works that are included: the famous Moscow Concert, Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Scarlatti, and Scriabin. Horowitz seems at his best here when playing music requiring reflection and poetry.
If you don’t yet have the CD of Horowitz’s legendary return to the Moscow Concert (see the video), or any of Horowitz’s other late digital recordings, then this boxed set is a great way to hear them at a very modest cost.
