Horowitz: Legendary RCA Recordings

This seems to be RCA's attempt to create the perfect Horowitz sampler. It's a pretty good try. The Tchaikovsky First Concerto, considered definitive in its day, seems more of a technical than musical accomplishment today, but there's no denying the hyper-excitement generated by Horowitz and Toscanini. The Rachmaninov Third is one of Horowitz's great accomplishments, stunningly played and superbly accompanied by Reiner. The solo disc generally plays to Horowitz's strengths, with marvellous playing of such specialties as Schumann, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and Clementi. (Horowitz was the only major pianist to appreciate Clementi, bless him.) The Chopin items include an unfortunately steely-sounding Polonaise-Fantaisie(along with a beautiful Mazurka), and the Liszt Mephisto Waltz gets pretty frantic at moments. Still, hearing this set will give you a well-rounded picture of Horowitz's art. RCA's producer-engineer Jon Samuels has gotten remarkably fine results with some of these antiquities. --Leslie Gerber