The Last Romantic
Encyclopedia
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.
of New York
. It features many performances of some of the pieces of Horowitz's favorite repertoire, and also 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
, Frederic Chopin
and the mysterious modern composer Alexander Scriabin
. Horowitz's wife, Wanda
, also contributes her share to the discussions; she shows photo albums and reminisces about their past.
from the 2003 release Horowitz Live and Unedited.
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
. The film contains mainly performances of classical works, but also provides an intimate look into Horowitz's private life.
Description
The Last Romantic is a "charming" documentary filmed at Vladimir Horowitz's townhouse on the Upper East SideUpper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It features many performances of some of the pieces of Horowitz's favorite repertoire, and also 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
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Frederic Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
and the mysterious modern composer Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
. Horowitz's wife, Wanda
Wanda Toscanini
Wanda Giorgina Toscanini Horowitz was the daughter of the conductor Arturo Toscanini and the wife of pianist Vladimir Horowitz....
, also contributes her share to the discussions; she shows photo albums and reminisces about their past.
Performances
These are the pieces performed in the film (In order of performance):- Chorale Prelude BWV599 Nun komm, der Heiden HeilandGreat Eighteen Chorale PreludesThe Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668, are a set of chorale preludes for organ prepared by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig in his final decade 1740-1750, from earlier works composed in Weimar, where he was court organist...
(BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
arr. BusoniFerruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
) - Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K330Piano Sonata No. 10 (Mozart)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K 330 is among one of the three works in the cycle of piano sonatas K.330-332. The sonata was composed in 1783, when Mozart was twenty-seven years old...
(MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
) - Impromptu in A-flat major, D899 No. 4Impromptus (Schubert)Franz Schubert's Impromptus are a series of eight pieces for solo piano composed in 1827. They were published in two sets of four impromptus each: the first set was published in the composer's lifetime as Op. 90, and the second set was published posthumously as Op. posth. 142. They are now...
(SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
) - Mazurka No. 13 in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4 (ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
) - Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20Scherzo No. 1 (Chopin)The Scherzo No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 is a composition for solo piano written by Frédéric Chopin in 1831-2 and dedicated to Thomas Albrecht. The tempo marking is marked with "Presto con fuoco". The piece is very dark, dramatic, and lively....
(Chopin) - Consolation, S. 172 No. 3 in D flat major (LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
) - Prelude Op. 32 No. 12 in G-sharp minorPreludes, Op. 32 (Rachmaninoff)Thirteen Preludes , Op. 32, is a set of thirteen preludes for solo piano, composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1910.-Works in this opus:Opus 32 contains 13 preludes:*No. 1 in C major *No. 2 in B flat minor...
(RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
) - Novelette in F major, Op. 21 No. 1Novelletten Op. 21 (Schumann)The Novelletten, Op. 21, is a set of 8 pieces for solo piano, written by Robert Schumann in 1838.-Background:The Novelletten were composed during February 1838, a period of great struggle for the composer...
(SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
) - Étude Op. 2 No. 1 in C-sharp minorÉtude Op. 2 No. 1 (Scriabin)Étude Op. 2 No. 1 is a technical Étude for piano in C-sharp minor which was written by the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin in 1887.-Background:...
(ScriabinAlexander ScriabinAlexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
) - Polonaise No. 6 in A-flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' (Chopin)
Outtakes
Three additional performances were released as a bonus DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
from the 2003 release Horowitz Live and Unedited.
- Etude in G-flat major, Op. 10 No. 5 (Chopin)
- Etude in F major, Op. 72 No. 6 (MoszkowskiMoritz MoszkowskiMoritz Moszkowski was a German Jewish composer, pianist, and teacher of Polish descent. Ignacy Paderewski said, "After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano"...
) - Au bord d'une sourceAu bord d'une sourceAu bord d'une source is a virtuoso piano showpiece by Franz Liszt; it is the 4th piece of the first suite of Années de Pèlerinage .There are three separate versions of Au bord d'une source...
(Liszt)
External links
- Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic at Allmovie