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I've spent some time trying to identify the performers of the transcriptions of Vladimir Horowitz.

Several pianists have played the Carmen Fantasy/Variations: Yujia Wang, Evgeny Kissin, Valentina Lisitsa, Dennis Mastuev, and Valery Kuleshov (who went over it with Horowitz himself).

There are three major figures that play the larger body of his transcriptions. The two obvious ones are Arcadi Volodos and Sean Bennett.

Recently performances by Alexei Sultanov surfaced of the Liszt-Horowitz Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, the Liszt-Horowitz-Saint-Saens Danse Macabre, and what might be the Horowitz version of the Liszt Mephisto Waltz No. 1. I am not familiar enough with that piece to know for certain. He also plays the Horowitz arrangement of the Rachmaninoff Sonata No. 2.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-aojuCQLuo

Are there any others that you guys know of?

Check out Volodos on YouTube Now! He is the best pianist on the planet.

There are great vids of him playing the Wedding March, Horowitz version, Stars and Stripes, Carmen and Danse Macabre.

Wedding March Volodos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfV8fZK3YGQ

Stars and Stripes Volodos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGTPE1Z_qs&mode=related&search=

Carmen Variations Volodos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JgjCdroPQc&feature=related

Danse Macabre Volodos - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzxK027Sxeg

Don't forget Alexander Gavrylyuk, he is a wonderful pianist. He seems to play the Horowitz version of the Wedding March quite often. For example, he played it irresitibly as the last of four encores at his triumphal debut at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The full recital video is online, split in two halves, with great video and audio quality.

The Wedding March starts at 45:40 of this video. You may need to install MS Silverlight to be able to watch it (similar thing to Flash Player I believe), but it's worth the (little) effort.

How can one make such an absolute claim? Best in what sense? The fact that he seems to gravitate towards virtuosic works doesn't necessarily make him - or anyone else - the "best pianist on the planet".

Regards,

Misha Dacic has played quite a few of them. I have played Horowitz's versions of the Vallee D'obermann, Rakoczy March, and Scherzo and March--very challenging and extremely edifying experiences all.

There's a UK concert pianist called Richard Meyrick, who I corresponded with for a while and met when he gave a recital here.

And he was saying that over the next few years, he has set himself the task of accurately scoring ALL the Horowitz transcriptions, and he's doing VERY well.

He plays almost all of them, and is steadily working through them and scoring.
Who knows, an accurate collection of scores may be available in the not too distant future!

Most of the Horowitz transcriptions have been scored often in multiple versions(depending on the date of performance by Horowitz). I think they must be reasonably and perhaps very accurate. I suppose there are always a few corrections to make but I'm no sure what your friend is intending to do unless he really think all the transcriptions already out there are highly inaccurate.

A lot of scores have already appeared on this website: http://vkgfx.com/ transcribed by some august figures as Marc-Andre Hamelin. Might I recommend the Pellisorius versions though - he's an Oregonian too. :p

It's a great site but not comprehensive, they exclude the pieces where Horowitz made more minor changes, such as the Mendelssohn 3rd etude.

I didn't know Horowitz played the Vallee differently Thracozaag. I am also a huge fan of your Scriabin Sonata No. 10, that was the first time I ever heard that masterpiece.

I think the intention was a complete collection. Appearently alot of what "has" been scored is inaccurate.

I have a DVD he made disscusing it, I may try to post it on YouTube.

The scores that have been around for a long time are very close to complete as far as I know. It's strange, but possible I guess, that your friend thinks the numerous transcriptions of Horowitz's performances are inaccurate since this has never been mentioned before by anyone and they have been played quite a bit. The DVD would be interesting.

I'm making a little video with a little info from him about what he's doing, and a performance.

Would we prefer to see the Rakoczy March, or the Carmen Variations?

I'm going with the Hungarian Rhapsody, because it's the piece you'll see him discussing initially

Here we are...

this is the best I could get for you asap!

Enjoy :)He can certainly move around that Steinway lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtNimP4uNEs

Pretty cool, though redundant. Mr. Meyrick can really play.

He's fantastic.

When I first met him, he played the 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody so that was a real treat as it's a favourite of mine.

And he introduced me to Gaspard De La Nuit.
Such an experience to hear it for the first time ever, and to have it played right in front of you

One can make such a claim quite easily. Whether said person will be taken seriously is another matter entirely.

As far as I know, at least some of the Horowitz transcriptions(Carmen, Stars and Stripes, Racokzy March) changed quite a bit over time. Some of the previous transcribers would write something to the effect "as played by Horowitz" on such and such a date. If this is true how can there be a definitive "correct" version of these pieces?

There are about 5 or so versions of Carmen (ranging from '28-80's). There is an alternate ending to the Rakoczy that Horowitz recorded, but otherwise is the same, I found (same with the Stars and Stripes).
We all do basically approximations of what he played, and of course, no one can duplicate his inimitable way with those pieces in any case--still fun, though!

He gets most of the transcription right. But he's clearly struggling with some parts that Horowitz would have tossed off as child's play. To say nothing of Horowitz's massive sonority.