Vladimir Horowitz- Interview with John Pfeiffer and Richard Mohr - USA, 1980

Vladimir Horowitz, the Art of Belcanto and Legato piano playing.
00:00 Introduction
01:04 Tchaikovsky's operas (Mazeppa and Eugene Onegin)
01:20 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's operas [Le Coq d'or (The Golden Cockerel) and Sadko]
01:37 Horowitz plays a short fragment from Sadko, underlining its impressionistic, Debussy-like features
02:20 Horowitz plays his own piano suite on Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d'or themes
04:15 Rachmaninov's opera Aleko and first symphony
04:50 Borodin's opera (Prince Igor) and Glinka's (A Life for the Tsar, Ruslan and Lyudmila); very brief comments on some Russian operas and mention of other composers (Cui, Balakirev)
06:30 Horowitz's memories of the first opera he heard live (E. Onegin, in 1914-1915)
07:30 Horowitz's teacher (Blumenfeld) met/heard/worked with Shalyapin in Paris. More about Blumenfeld and Anton Rubinstein as Horowitz's 'pianistic grandpa'.
08:37 Nadezhda Obukhova, Russian mezzo-soprano (here things start to get really interesting: Horowitz talks to his interlocutors about the link between Belcanto, the old school of singing and its main protagonists, and the possibility of turning a percussive instrument such as the piano into a singing one).
09:40 Olimpia Boronat, Italian coloratura soprano. Mattia Battistini and Titta Ruffo (Italian baritones), Alessandro Bonci (Italian tenor), Amelia (''Amelita'') Galli-Curci (Italian coloratura soprano) and anecdote about why she retired, Luisa Tetrazzini (Italian coloratura soprano).
10:52 Giovanni Battista Rubini, Galliano Masini, and Francesco Tamagno (Italian tenors). Rubini, Liszt and the (in)famous episode involving the Tsar (while giving a recital at the Russian Court, Liszt became so annoyed by the Tsar talking during his performance that he stopped playing. When asked, he said it was 'because we must all be silent when your majesty speaks').
12:10 Horowitz claims to own the watch that the Tsar donated to Rubini after his performance of Puritani (plus 24 golden cards). Fabergé eggs.
13:11 The dead art of true Belcanto singing. Horowitz learned a lot by accompanying opera singers. Horowitz's love for Battistini and where/how did he come up with his idea of ​​turning the piano into a human voice.
14:25 Horowitz explains how to get a great legato on the piano (very different from what is taught by most 'teachers' in conservatories nowadays).
15:26 Horowitz plays and sings. Practical examples.
19:00 Very important (and regularly ignored) advice for performers and musicians in general.
21:00 Battistini's recordings.
21:25 Giuseppe De Luca's (Italian baritone) way of singing Rigoletto.
22:03 People of today who do not understand the greatness of the art of ancient singers claiming that they exaggerated many things in their performances. Rubini's funny remark about Mozart and Bellini. The lost art of embellishments and cadenzas; the instinct for improvisation of ancient singers.
23:20 The importance of the Cantabile (singing tone) on the piano according to the composers themselves. Landowska's approach to the harpsichord. Jascha Heifetz's approach to Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras.
25:10 Pianists and singers of today are further from the truth than the artists of the past. The nefarious role of airplanes according to Horowitz. More observations on Battistini.
26:33 Important observation on the vicious circle imposed by the daily routine of the profession.
27:08 Horowitz's habits of giving concerts.
27:40 The problem of acoustics and the importance of listening to oneself (a quality that is now very difficult to find).
28:10 Closing remarks.
Interview given by Horowitz. Mad Vlad talks and plays. Horowitz's 'air-conditioned studio', Connecticut, USA. (Exact date unknown?), Summer 1980. No copyright infringement intended.