Many pianists have performed Scriabin's works over the past 100 years, but Horowitz was a champion of the music of Alexander Scriabin. Horowitz's association with Scriabin began at an early age and started through Horowitz's uncle Alexander. Alexander Gorovitz was a pupil of Scriabin at the Moscow conservatory. Scriabin resigned his position at the conservatory after Alexander Gorovitz (Horowitz) was denied the Gold Medal in what Scriabin considered to be an act of anti-semitism against Alexander by the judges. Alexander Gorovitz and Alexander Scriabin remained close friends, so when Horowitz's uncle asked Scriabin to hear the eleven year old Volodya, Scriabin agreed. Scriabin encouraged Horowitz's mother to be sure that Horowitz was well educated in not just music but all forms of art. Scriabin wanted Horowitz to be not only be a pianist, but a cultured artist.
Horowitz programmed Scriabin's music in some of his most important concerts including his Silver Jubilee concert in February 1953, the "Historic Return" concert in May 1965, and the "Horowitz in Moscow" concert in April 1986. When Horowitz returned to Russia in 1986 for the first time in over sixty years, one of this priorities was to visit the Scriabin Museum. Here, Horowitz met Scriabin's daughter Yelena, played Scriabin's poorly maintained Bechstein concert grand piano, and saw the environment where Scriabin lived and worked. In Harold Schonberg's biography of Horowitz he explains that Horowitz was particularly struck by the fact that Scriabin composed standing up, away from the piano. In the following audio clip we hear Horowitz speaking in Russian and playing tantalizing little snippets of the Scriabin piano sonatas. Finally he plays Scriabin's Etudes in C-sharp minor, op. 2, no. 1 and D-sharp minor, op. 8, no. 12 in their entirety. Anyone who thinks that Horowitz's specially regulated piano was the secret to his sound will be proven wrong by this recording. We can still hear the delicate pianissimos, the clear separation of voices, and the grand fortissimos even on Scriabin's neglected piano.
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