(that's how it goes tonight)
V. HOROWITZ, exercises, recording, public performance
Dubal "H., do you think it is necessary to do scale and arpeggio exercises?"
Horowitz "Well, Rachmaninov used to... dedicate two hours a day to them"
D "And you also have this habit?"
H "Not anymore"
D "You don't really need it much"
H "No, I need it but I am lazy. I have more important things to do and I cannot play more than two hours a day"
D "You only play two hours a day"
H "No more."
D "And it is not exactly necessary for you to play more"
H "It is, but I don't feel like tiring myself out"
D "Do you think there are too many young pianists who do too much exercise and think too little?"
H "No, they think a lot, but they think poorly. Everyone thinks, since they have a brain; it is necessary to think to remember the music, etc. I don't think they are stupid. No pianist is stupid. They do exercise upon exercise, you can hear them repeating passages... sometimes they come out well and sometimes not, but one must take risks, and one must have something to say. It doesn't matter if you forget a passage, that [communicating something] is the most important thing. Playing all the notes might come in a recording, because the tiny imperfections heard through the microphone cannot be heard from a stage. In recordings, every smallest detail can be heard"
D "What do you think of the recording process? You have always made recordings. Do you believe it is an important way to transmit music?"
H "It's important for the knowledge of music; sometimes if I don't know a piece but I have the recording, I can listen to it, maybe even played badly but it doesn't matter, in any case I know the music. So recordings are important for the public. Now I fear I will say something anti-commercial. When you go somewhere and see a wonderful landscape, a sunset that you have never seen before, and then you buy a postcard and take it home to remember where you have been: this is what happens at a concert. For those who were at the concert, the recording is important; but for those who weren't there, the recording is only worth half. I am happy with some of the historic recordings I made playing with the orchestra; it doesn't matter if I played well or badly, anyway they are a memory, like a postcard. Probably in the 40s and 50s, thanks to technological innovations that allowed one to see the performer, recordings became even more truthful. The listener must be able to see who is playing"
D "Can it be an audience capable of exciting you or depressing you?"
H "For me, success is silence, not applause"
D "After the performance, you mean?"
H "No, during. If they are silent, it means they are captivated"
D "And no coughing"
H "No coughing, and I am talking about being captivated by emotional impact, not spiritual. Because the spirit concerns some people, while emotion belongs to the masses. If you had 3000 people, there would be 500 who would be spiritually moved, and the other 2500 only emotionally because they don't understand anything about music and come to the concert only because it is a social event.".
