Mieczyslaw Horszowski was 86 when he made these recordings of the preludes and fugues from Book One of
Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, and one can tell immediately that
Horszowski has known and loved the music virtually all his life. Listen to the clarity of his lines, the colors of his harmonies, the lift of his rhythms, and the poetry of his phrasing: these are the unmistakable signs of a pianist who knows and loves what he's doing. One can also tell immediately that
Horszowski is also no longer the virtuoso he once had been. While most of the notes are present and accounted for, one cannot help but notice that the tempos are generally on the slow side, that there are occasional unscheduled ritardandos in particularly congested passages, and that some textures are dangerously close to opaque. So while this set will no doubt please fans of the pianist, those not already acquainted with
Horszowski might try some of his earlier recordings first. And it goes without saying that anyone not already familiar with the preludes and fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier would be better served by one of the numerous other recordings of the music on the piano. Try, for example,
Gould's blindingly virtuosic recording,
Schiff's beguilingly beautiful recording or
Fischer's brilliantly intense recording among many, many others. Vanguard's late stereo sound is clean but dry without much air around the music.