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I loved the way Horowitz played. His style and technique were unique... Have you ever noticed how smooth and precious his runs were? Like a string of pearls, as I've heard one person put it...

How did he play those runs so perfectly? (I know, practice, practice, practice...) I've practiced my scales, tried to run "lightly" over the keys and watched the "weight of my arms"--if that makes sense--on the keyboard. Over the years, I've focused on finger building techniques ("Skills and Drills" by Robert Pace and Karl Tausig, good ole #36). I guess I could review my Hanon book...

Does anyone have any suggestions for good finger technique books focused on improving runs, that could produce Horowitz-like results? (If there is a good Tausig, Czerny, or Hanon exercise, that I've missed, that would be great.)

Thanks

Play a lot of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. Lots of scales in their pieces and it challenges you to play them in a musical way.

What is wrong with your scales now?

Horowitz' piano was fixed up so that the touch was incredibly light. He also played very flat fingered.

Thank you all. I've been focusing on a couple of some sonatas... Haydn's E flat (no. 49) and a Beethoven one (no. 8) which helps. Good idea you have and will continue to go that route.

As far as scale runs, I'm trying to make it more consistent between notes... More even tones if that makes sense.

The string of pearls phrase is a standard expression for a certain kind of playing, not particular to Horowitz. You can Google "jeu perlé piano" for more info about it.

basically it's about measuring how fast and how far down you play each key in the run, practising very slowly. I mean VERY slowly. To name drop (but in a good way), Karl Ulrich Schnabel told my teacher that each note in a run must have the same quantity of sound, and the same quality of sound, and it should sound like a string of perfect pearls (as you say). Core sound should be like iron wrapped in velvet (another direct Schnabel quote), meaning it should have body, but it shouldn't have a hard edge to it.

Another image that Schnabel used was to say, imagine the feeling of diving into a pool, you use your full weight, and dive right in, but you don't hit the bottom. That's what playing the notes on the piano should feel like.

Of course in practical terms, you DO reach the bottom of the key travel, but your arm makes it feel like you don't. If that makes sense..... (very hard to put into words, easy to show)

If I can just add something else to this:

I too love Horowitz, and I think he was a genius. At times I disagree with some of his interpretation, and his technique isn't something I would wish to emulate - but he was wealthy enough to play with his own piano at every concert (and having seen videos of him playing on different pianos, I know that his technique wasn't limited to his own instrument).

Anyway, what I wanted to say was, don't try and be like Horowitz by emulating his performance style, but try to be like Horowitz by searching for what he searched for. Does that make any sense?

Also worth mentioning that Horowitz had long fingers, and thus had long-finger technique. It might be better (and easier) for you to learn short-finger technique.

Josh Wright has a great video on this:

Pearly Sound

Josh's explanation helped me tremendously with my tone. Add a little bit of space between the notes (not quite staccato but sort of) and when played at faster tempos it creates that light magical pearly sound.

Great feedback! Thanks everyone!

I've only recently begun watching videos of Horowitz playing and I'm struck by the angle at which he approaches the keys. After having studied Glenn Gould's technique a little (not to emulate, just to know), I wonder if Horowitz had a similar philosophy.

As I understand it, broadly speaking, being low to the keyboard forces you to use the muscles in your fingers more and the muscles in your arms less. Your finger muscles have more dexterity but you sacrifice the power available in your arms. Additionally, you likely sacrifice your body and your long-term ability to play.

I don't recall having seen Horowitz mentioned in my reading of Gould's technique but now I wonder about the similarities.

Sounds to me like you're confusing two different things. Horowitz used flatter fingers than most but he was not low to the keyboard, i.e. sitting low. One needs dexterity and power to play well. Most don't recommend or use a low sitting position as it is harder to use arms when playing.

Unless you are a very advanced conservatory level student, any professional pianist's scales would be a good model to emulate. They all have excellent technique, and most use a technique that's more suitable/recommended than the more extreme approaches of Horowitz or Gould. One doesn't have to use their approaches to play runs well.

Notice that both Horowitz and Gould, although their elbows were low, their hands were held high and in a solid position.