Horowitz Plays Mozart (1987)

Recorded near the end of his life, Vladmir Horowitz puts in a remarkable, yet different, performance of a Mozart piano concerto and a sonata. Horowitz, as well as the conductor Giulini, made their reputations as interpreters of music from the romantic era, so there is a definite romantic slant to these recordings. Not to say that is bad, it's just different. Not at all what would have been heard in Mozart's time. I actually enjoy this recording and am amazed at Horowitz's technique as he was in his eighties when these works were recorded.

Stereo Review, February 1988, p.178

Tracks: CD contains Piano Concerto #23 in A, KV. 488 and Piano Sonata #13 in B-flat, KV. 333. I guess I prefer the concerto to the sonata because I think it is a better piece of music, but they're both very enjoyable.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: During the spring semester of 1989, I was working part time with the San Antonio Symphony and taking graduate music classes at UT-San Antonio two nights a week. One of the courses was titled Music History: Classical Era. During one of the class meetings, the professor sat down at the piano and started playing to illustrate a point he was making. He played an excerpt from the piano concerto recorded here. I was so excited to recognize the piece because I had a very limited knowledge of piano repertoire. Made an A in the course, natch.