9. HorowitzHorowitz In Moscow
This is the most classical of your choices.
It’s not possible to be more classical [laughs]. I was listening to this record on a car drive via the radio and I heard a good story. It had been 40 years since he had been in Russia and then he returned as a much older man to perform this. It’s not too virtuoso, so you really get the feeling that an old man is arriving home. Sometimes, I need to clean my ears and have some contrast in my listening. I’m not always in the mood, but this is a very good record to take me away from modern and electronic music. You have to listen to the full record to really enjoy it and it takes its time to build. He may have been a very skilful piano player but on this, it wasn’t about the tricks of a world-class piano player; it tells a story.
I always need a contrast in the music I listen to and I think we should celebrate the richness of the music we have more. For example, at a festival, I have no issue seeing an electronic music followed by a rock band and then an acoustic act. I need that mix personally so sometimes, in the same way, it’s a right moment for me to listen to classical music. A lot of past music was trashed when the Wall came down and so I like revisiting classical music as a reminder of music that’s not from today. It’s totally free of any ideas from the music market today.
