Videos Of Young Horowitz

Both of these videos have no sound. In 1928/1929 It's kind of hard to see what he's doing here, but some octaves and arpeggios are clear. 1926: This video shows a great angle, complete with slow motion footage. Some interesting things to note: He didn't use flat fingers at the time, and has fine posture.

For those of you who don't know, the first clip is the Chopin Op 10 #8 etude in F major; the second is the Chopin Op 25 #10 octave etude in B minor. I am impressed by the plasticity of his touch; his fingers are so flexible and they seem to make even the piano keys turn into something malleable rather than hard. Notice also in the F major the tremendous breaks in the line; between each group of notes there isn't even a hint of any effort to join them. However because it is played at high speed, it sounds legato. Notice as well that his fingers slide on the key, they don't just hit the key. Notice as well that this tremendous inner moveability makes his hands appear flexible as well - you can really see it in the slow mo. Thanks for posting these clips, the second one especially is very educational!