The Secret to Playing like Horowitz: A Look Into Classical Improvisation
Vladimir Horowitz. Wikimedia Commons
“I play the way I feel at that moment. The head – the intellect – is only the controlling factor of music making. It is not a guide. The guide is your feelings.” – Horowitz
It’s a rather unsuspecting record from 1965, Vladimir Horowitz is rehearsing for his first concert in 12 years. Two years prior, with encouragement from his wife, he had booked out an empty Carnegie Hall, brought his piano, and, noticing a freshness to his playing, he planned his return to the stage. Now, as he warms up, Horowitz begins to improvise; his first improvisation that remains on record. What we are left with is the tantalising essence of the so called “last romantic.”
Improvisation might seem an unusual way to begin your practice, a particular rarity among classical musicians today; however, it hasn’t always been this way. In fact, many of our most celebrated musicians were renowned improvisers of their time. For instance, in May 1747, when Bach was called to visit Frederick the Great, he improvised a six-voice fugue (so jealous!), later sending Frederick a fugue on his own royal theme titled “a musical offering.” Mozart and Beethoven were similarly renowned, and, in the early romantic period, Liszt was famed for his ability to extensively improvise upon themes suggested by audiences as he toured Europe. Towards the end of the romantic period classical improvisation became less public, however, composers such as Debussy were known to be fantastic improvisers in private. One account from Claude and Lily Debussy’s close friend Mary Garden describes his improvisations as having “a quality of its own about it, remote, other-worldly, always saying something on the verge of words.”
Improvisation however is not just a fun or satisfying skill, Improviser and composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel, student of Mozart, Salieri, and Haydn, recommended “free improvisation in general and every respectable form to all those for whom [music] is not merely a matter of entertainment and practical ability, but rather principally one of inspiration and meaning in their art.” Similarly, as applied by Horowitz, improvisation becomes not only a skill in itself but rather a form of practice that enables us to access a freer more improvisatory musicality, even when not strictly improvising. After all, Horowitz himself never publicly performed improvisations, yet he was often praised for the freedom of expression within his playing.
STOP! if you’re not yet convinced, hold on, because the benefits of improvisation may go beyond just the music you play…
In 1953, 12 years prior to the 1965 concert, Horowitz disappeared from the public eye. As he refrained from public performances, rumours began to take hold: Horowitz had been institutionalized. Horowitz was frightened of the piano. Horowitz had gone mad! While this wasn’t true (Horowitz was in fact still making recordings during this period), he did suffer from intense performance anxiety and bouts of depression. While it would be a huge leap to conclude that improvisation was the solution to his anxiety, the emergence of his improvisations as he returned to the public in 1965 is no coincidence as recent studies in classical performance suggest that in an “improvisatory state of mind […] tasks are performed more successfully, with less effort and anxiety.”
Alright, enough yap, I’ll let the music do the talking. How about listening to Horowitz’s improvisation or to Gabriela Montero improvising on the Harry Potter theme? Or Yuja Wang jazzing up Mozart’s “Alla Turka”? Or (shock horror!) why not listen to some Jazz, after all Horowitz was a huge fan of Art Tatum!