The Last Romantic | |
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Also known as | Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic |
Genre | Biography Documentary Music |
Directed by | David Maysles Albert Maysles |
Starring | Vladimir Horowitz Wanda Toscanini Horowitz |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English [1] [2] |
Production | |
Executive producer | Susan Frömke |
Producer | Peter Gelb |
Production location | New York City |
Cinematography | Albert Maysles |
Editors | Deborah Dickson, Patricia Jaffe |
Running time | 89 minutes |
Production company | Geneon (Pioneer) |
Original release | |
Network | PBS |
Release | November 15, 1985 |
The Last Romantic is a documentary filmed within the home of concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The film contains mainly performances of classical works, but also provides an intimate look into Horowitz's private life.
The Last Romantic is a documentary filmed at Vladimir Horowitz's townhouse on the Upper East Side of New York. It features many performances of some of the pieces of Horowitz's favorite repertoire and sheds light on his thoughts and opinions on music.
During the film Horowitz often jokes and talks about his favorite composers: his friend Sergei Rachmaninoff, Frédéric Chopin, and Alexander Scriabin. Horowitz's wife, Wanda, also contributes her share to the discussions; she shows photo albums and reminisces about their past. [3]
These are the pieces performed in the film (In order of performance):
Three additional performances were released as a bonus DVD from the 2003 release Horowitz Live and Unedited. [4] [5]
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian and American pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, he was known for his virtuoso technique, timbre, and the public excitement engendered by his playing.
Jorge Bolet was a Cuban-born American concert pianist, conductor and teacher. Among his teachers were Leopold Godowsky, and Moriz Rosenthal – the latter a renowned pupil of Franz Liszt.
Karl Tausig was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most distinguished pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Elena Kuschnerova is a Russian-born classical pianist.
Ruth Laredo was an American classical pianist.
D-flat major is a major scale based on D♭, consisting of the pitches D♭, E♭, F, G♭, A♭, B♭ and C. Its key signature has five flats.
F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F♯, consisting of the pitches F♯, G♯, A, B, C♯, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major.
C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C♯, with the pitches C♯, D♯, E, F♯, G♯, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps.
B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B♭, consisting of the pitches B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G♭, and A♭. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sharp minor, which would contain seven sharps, is not normally used.
Andrei Gavrilov is a Russian-Swiss pianist.
Sergio Fiorentino was a 20th-century Italian classical pianist whose sporadic performing career spanned five decades. There is quite a bit of footage of his playing that survives, in addition to audio recordings. Recently, a complete concert recorded on video in 1994 has surfaced.
Peter Roy Katin was a British classical pianist and teacher.
Ten Preludes, Op. 23, is a set of ten preludes for solo piano, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1901 and 1903. This set includes the famous Prelude in G minor.
The Russian and American classical virtuoso pianist Vladimir Horowitz was a recording artist for over 60 years; beginning in 1926 on a piano roll system for Welte-Mignon, then with audio recordings, starting in 1928 for the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA Victor. Horowitz continued to record for a variety of record labels throughout his life. Between 1962 and 1973 he recorded for Columbia Masterworks In 1975, Horowitz returned to RCA, with which he recorded a series of live recitals. For the last years of his life, between 1985 and 1989, Horowitz recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Horowitz's final recording, with Sony Classical, was completed in November 1989, four days before his death. This final recording consisted of repertoire that he had never previously recorded. His discography contains numerous albums and compilations of works by a variety of composers. Horowitz has also appeared in several video items, most of these were produced in the later years of his life.
Vesselin Stanev is a Bulgarian pianist.
Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote a number of preludes, all for solo piano. His most important works in this genre are the 24 preludes that cover all 24 major and minor keys. These were, however, written and published at different times, not as a unified set. Of all the composers who wrote sets of 24 pieces in all the keys, Rachmaninoff seems to be the only one who did not originally set out with such a goal in mind. There is not an order to the tonalities of the preludes, like that seen in Bach or Chopin's preludes Rachmaninoff also wrote three other individual preludes.
Alexander Scriabin's 24 Preludes, Op. 11 is a set of preludes composed in the course of eight years between 1888–96, being also one of Scriabin's first published works with M.P. Belaieff in 1897, in Leipzig, Germany, together with his 12 Études, Op. 8 (1894–95).
Barbara Nissman is an American pianist. She is especially known for her interpretations and performances of the works of Alberto Ginastera and Sergei Prokofiev which feature prominently in her repertoire. She is also a writer and a producer of a new DVD series, and a guest clinician presenting concerts, master classes and lectures world-wide.