I already asked the surlym intolerant denizens of the classical section:

http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1195865/so%20what's%20with%20Vlad's%20strange..html#Post1195865

but predictably, nobody responded. Can anyone here venture a guess as to why Horowitz took the "Joe Cocker" spastic hands approach to play thumb/pinky intervals?

Well for a start you could stop the "them and us" stuff. More chance of a response, I would think, if you weren't so abrasive. Or maybe it's a joke. If so, I think it's wearing a bit thin.

I'm one of the surly, intolerant denizens of the clasical section myself! No shame in that at all.

Descended from a very war-like people , I'm right at home over there!

The real question, I think, is why he isn't playing those intervals with his nose.

Horowitz might have been having a bad acid trip. That would explain the Cocker hands.

My point here is that the focus on mechanique is misguided. I am reminded of the story of a lady who approached Hofmann and Godowsky at a party and expressed amazement that they could play so well with such small hands. Godowsky responded: "Lady, where in the world did you get the idea that we play piano with our hands."

I don't know but when watching him play he manages to make that technique looked relaxed....?

rada