Sunday Uplift: Horowitz In Moscow

In 1986, I drifted in sleep, dreaming of fairies and magical music in a perfect pastoral setting. As I gently, gradually awoke, I realised that the music wasn't just in my dream, but was coming from the television in the next room! Who was creating such rhapsody, such bliss to my senses?! Grabbing my robe and slippers, I dashed into the kitchen, where I was greeted by the sight of a wizzened gentleman at a grand piano on a stage in front of a rapt audience. After 65 years away from his Homeland, the political tides had turned, and it was safe for Horowitz to return to a Russia filled with extremely knowledgeable and adoring fans. It was an event to witness, and people stood in droves outside the hall, simply to be near the Master.

Almost twenty years later, I played the Horowitz in Moscow cd for my 96 year old father, who had always loved piano music. He drifted in and out as it played, filling the room as it had for me so many years before, and when it finally finished the sheer volume of applause opened my father's eyes, he looked at me and said "I didn't know music could sound like that...it felt like I was in another world!" And I knew exACTly what he meant.