After a self-imposed 12-year exile from public performance, pianist Vladimir Horowitz, at age 62, returned to the stage for a performance at Carnegie Hall on May 9, 1965. It was an important event: This titanic figure of the keyboard had been away for so long that everyone wanted to know, “Did he still have it?”
By the time he turned 40, Horowitz was a legend. Sergei Rachmaninoff called him the greatest pianist of the 20th century. Horowitz had conquered Europe and then America, setting the standard of contemporary virtuosity — he defined it, and for better or worse, that was what people wanted to hear. Horowitz also had an enormous range of tone and incredible charisma.
| Lado A | |
| Bach / Busoni | |
| Organ Toccata in C Major | |
| 1 | Prelude |
| 2 | Intermezzo: Adagio |
| 3 | Fugue |
| Lado B | |
| Schumann | |
| Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 | |
| 1 | Fantastic and with Passion |
| 2 | Moderate, Energetic Throughout |
| 3 | Slow, Sustained and Tender throughout |
| Lado C | |
| Scriabin | |
| 1 | Sonata No. 9 in F Major, Op. 68 |
| 2 | Poem in F-Sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 1 |
| Chopin | |
| 3 | Mazurka in C Sharp minor, Op. 30, No. 4 |
| 4 | Etude in F Major, Op. 10, No.8 |
| Lado D | |
| Chopin | |
| 1 | Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 |
| Debussy | |
| 2 | Serenade for The Doll from “Children’s Corner” |
| Scriabin | |
| 3 | Etude in C-Sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1 |
| Moszkowski | |
| 4 | Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 72, No. 11 |
| Schumann | |
| 5 | Traumerei (Dream) from “Kinderszenen”, Op. 15 |