Quotes by Vladimir Horowitz - Page 1

My face is my passport.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Faces
Passports
Face
Passport
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Perfection itself is imperfection.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Imperfection
Not Being Perfect
Perfection
Itself
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The piano is an orchestra with 88...... things, you know
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Knows
Orchestra
Piano
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Imitation is a caricature. Any imitation. Find out for yourself.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Imitation
Caricature
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I loved singing. But can you imagine my voice in an opera house?
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Opera
Opera House
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I was a terrible student. For me, to take a book home was a trial.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Trial
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I am a general. My soldiers are the keys and I have to command them.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Leadership
Command
General
Soldiers
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Your mind must control, but you must have heart . . . . Give your feeling free.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Feelings
Giving
Heart
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The score is not a bible, and I am never afraid to dare. The music is behind those dots.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Bible
Dare
Dots
Score
Afraid
Behind
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My future is in my past and my past is my present. I must now make the present my future.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Future
My Future
My Past
Past
Now
Make
Must
Present
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There are three kinds of pianists: Jewish pianists, homosexual pianists, and bad pianists.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Homosexual
Kind
Three
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Without false modesty, I feel that, when I'm on the stage, I'm the king, the boss of the situation.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Boss
False Modesty
Modesty
False
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If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Dynamics
Mistake
Notes
Play
Me Will Never
Specific
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Everyone goes to the forest; some go for a walk to be inspired, and others go to cut down the trees.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Nature
Cutting
Tree
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I have no style, because I change each time . . . each day I play differently. Today I play differently than yesterday.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Play
Style
Yesterday
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False notes [on the piano] are human. Why does everything have to be perfect? You know, perfection itself is imperfection.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Doe
Perfect
Piano
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I may play the same program from one recital to the next, but I will play it differently, and because it is always different, it is always new.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
New Will Always
Recital
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You have to open the music, so to speak, and see what's behind the notes because the notes are the same whether it is the music of Bach or someone else.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Notes
Bach
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As far as practicing is concerned, I usually try to do one to two hours a day. It isn't good to practice too much, or your playing becomes too mechanical.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Concerned
Hours
Practice
Too Much
Good Your Day
As Far As
Becomes
Far
Good Day Your
Mechanical
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I tried playing for the public, and I selected music that I thought would be pleasing to them. Times are different now. Today, I play the music I want, and I just try to do my best.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Selected
Pleasing
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Scriabin slept with Chopin under his pillow, and I slept with Wagner under mine. I could not concentrate on memorizing Bach fugues, but I had all of 'Gotterdammerung' in my fingers.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Fingers
Memorizing
Pillow
Wagner
Bach
Chopin
Concentrate
Could
Mine
Slept
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Played percussively, the piano is a bore. If I go to a concert and someone plays like that I have two choices: go home or go to sleep. The goal is to make the piano sing, sing, sing.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Home
Piano
Sleep
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The most important thing is to make a percussive instrument a singing instrument. Teachers should stress this aspect in their instruction, but it seems that very few of them actually do.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Aspect
Instruction
Seems
Singing
Stress
Actually
Teachers
Few
Important Thing
Most Important Thing
The Most Important
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Always there should be a little mistake here and there - I am for it. The people who don't do mistakes are cold like ice. It takes risk to make a mistake. If you don't take risk, you are boring.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Boring
Cold
Ice
Mistake
Risk
Takes
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It is important for the musician to learn as much about the composer as possible and to study the music he has written. Then, even a short piece by Brahms or Chopin can be played with much more understanding.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Composer
Musician
Study
Understanding
Played
Chopin
Short
Piece
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Scriabin, as you know, is a mystic composer. His music is supersensuous, superromantic, and supermysterious. Everything is super; it is all a little overboard. Anyway, my parents were pleased that I played for him.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Composer
Mystic
Overboard
Anyway
Music Parents Know
Pleased
Super
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I studied with Felix Blumenfeld, who had studied piano with Anton Rubinstein and composition with Tchaikovsky. Felix, my professor, was the right hand of Anton Rubinstein. Blumenfeld knew his playing by heart, from every angle.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Angle
Composition
Studied
Hand
Professor
Right Hand
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Life is very busy now. I find that in today's cities, the public is very tired after working the whole day. When concerts start at eight o'clock, the wife pushes the husband to go to the concert, where some promptly fall asleep!
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Busy
Cities
Eight
Fall
Husband
Tired
Asleep
Concert
Promptly
Pushes
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I must tell you I take terrible risks. Because my playing is very clear, when I make a mistake you hear it. If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake. Never be afraid to dare.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Life
Success
Clear
Dare
Dynamics
Mistake
Notes
Terrible
Afraid
Hear
Specific
Tell
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Piano playing consists of common sense, heart and technical resources. All three should be equally developed. Without common sense you are a fiasco, without technique an amateur, without heart a machine. The profession does have its hazards.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Common Sense
Heart
Piano
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To be able to produce many varieties of sound, now that is what I call technique, and that is what I try to do. I don't adhere to any methods, because I simply don't believe in them. I think each pianist must ultimately carve his own way, technically and stylistically.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Pianist
Technique
Adhere
Carve
Technically
Methods
Stylistically
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Behind the notes, something different is told, and that's what the interpreter must find out. He may sit down and play one passage one way and then perhaps exaggerate the next, but, in any event, he must do something with the music. The worst thing is not to do anything.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Interpreter
Notes
Event
Exaggerate
Passage
Worst Thing
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For me, the intellect is always the guide but not the goal of the performance. Three things have to be coordinated, and not one must stick out. Not too much intellect because it can become scholastic. Not too much heart because it can become schmaltz. Not too much technique because you become a mechanic.
Vladimir Horowitz / Pianist
Heart
Intellect
Mechanic
Technique
Three
Too Much
Heart Always Me
Too
Coordinated
Heart Me Always
Guide
Must
Performance
Stick
Scholastic
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Vladimir Horowitz Quotes - Page 1

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