After the overwhelming success of Vladimir Horowitz live at Carnegie Hall, Sony Classical presents Vladimir Horowitz: The Unreleased Live Recordings 1966 1983. This edition takes you on tour with the legendary pianist from his home town of New York to the great halls of the USA, from New Haven to Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and beyond. This special collector's set features 13 programs recorded at 25 solo recitals in 14 different concert halls.

This is the Rachmaninov Third to end all Rachmaninov Thirds, a performance of such super-human pianistic aplomb, pace and virtuosity that it makes all comparisons, save with Horowitz himself, a study in irrelevance.

Horowitz proves on this CD why he was/is recognized as one of the greatest performers of all time. This CD has a collection of music that ranges from soft and serene to vigorous and powerful. Horowitz himself adds more emotion to each piece, and this CD displays both his talent as a piano player and Chopin's wide variety of composition. Chopin wrote some of the hardest music to play, and very few people can play it well and consistent. Horowitz does both at an extraordinary level. If you like either Chopin or Horowitz, this is a MUST.

Other than Rubinstein, there is no greater Chopin interpreter than Horowitz, and in his single greatest work – the second sonata which is the highlight of this disc – I find Horowitz preferable because Rubinstein takes the great funeral march of the third movement too slowly, whereas Horowitz' direct approach conveys an even deeper sense of melancholy and tragedy. That said, this is a superb sampling of Horowitz' art, even better than the first volume of this series, with unworldly playing and fine sound quality for an analogue recording. The second sonata is second to none, and the shorter pieces are all very familiar and superbly played.

This is a very fine sampler of Horowitz's Schumann - surely one of the great interpretative acts of the last century? It is at least one of the greatest - probably the greatest - performance(s) of Kinderszenen around; Horowitz's almost frightening ability to give life to these pieces is inimitable, and the poetic depths and shadows of various nuances he brings to the more reflective pieces is peerless. It is, quite simply, an almost perfect performance. He is no less impressive in the other works either; the Fantasie is beautifully shaped and wonderfully played.

Vladimir Horowitz (who had a Polish grandmother and was fond of pointing out that he was "half as much a Pole as Chopin"), recorded more of Chopin's music than that of any other composer. Horowitz made four (approved) recordings of the Chopin's Ballade in G-Minor. Truth be told, he was never entirely successful in the work, finding difficulty in balancing the episodic and structural elements. The versions here, from the 1965 return concert and 1968 television recital, are the most successful technically and musically.

This very generous (79 min.) program of Rachmaninov and Liszt is a sterling representation of Horowitz's mastery in these two composers. It was issued in 2003 as a centennial tribute to the pianist, and quite a number of readings derive from live concerts. the span of time is relatively short - most of the performances come from 1967 and 1068, with several more from 1962, before he ended his self-imposed exile from concertizing. The sonics from that period could be a bit thin and shallow, but they are good enough, and at times, as in Rachmaninov's Etude-Tableau Op. 39 no. 5, Horowitz's full range of sound jumps out, making one wish that everything was this present and engrossing.

This is an extremely famous recording by Vladimir Horowitz who brings out the tenderness and madness of his subject, Schumann being one of his favourite composers. In here we can hear Schumann remembering his happy childhood, yearning for love, and aching for a peace away from the torment of his mind.