Vladimir Horowitz’s final public recital, recorded in Hamburg when he was 83, has lain almost untouched in the archives of North German Radio for twenty-one years. The concert consists of a selection of works by Mozart, Liszt, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann. Apparent from his programme choice, and also acknowledged by his biographer Harold Schonberg, Horowitz was “wise enough to realise that he could no longer be the thundering virtuoso…instead there was gentleness, an infinite variety of sound and flexibility of rhythm”. This gentleness is far from detrimental to the performance – he has chosen works that relish his delicacy and it shines through in all the works played here. Almost half of the concert has been filled with Mozart – a Rondo in D and Sonata in B-flat – a composer to whom Horowitz turned relatively late in life (presumably as an acceptance of his diminished strength). The sonata is simply a joy to listen to (and at 24’32, is no small undertaking); each long run of scale-like passage work is as clear as one could ever hope for. The rapturous applause at the end of the sonata is nothing but well-deserving. Pace and mood are shifted by Soirées de Vienne: Valse-Caprice no. 6 by Liszt (after Schubert) which follows the Mozart. There is a relaxed, rubatic feel to this work. Schumann’s Kinderszenen provides us with yet another side of Horowitz’s playing. There is a melancholic contemplation present throughout – the effect is beautiful to listen to. The disc also includes two encores – Schubert’s Moment musical in F minor and Etincelles by Moszkowski. As with the rest of the concert, one can only come away with vast admiration for such a legendary pianist.

Ruth Squire