Let's talk about the piano for a minute. Specifically, let's talk about Vladimir Horowitz, and the music that he transcribed for the piano. First, some backstory: Vladimir Horowitz was arguably the greatest pianist who ever lived. Horowitz's technique is flawless, and his ability to intrepret very diverse works was unmatched.

Like many performers, Horowitz found that the existing body of music for the piano didn't really showcase his technical potential. So, Horowitz made his own transcriptions of pre-existing music. Among other pieces, he transcribed Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2 and Mendelssohn's Wedding March.

Any pianists out there know that Liszt is exceptionally difficult as it is--the idea that somone would make the music even more difficult is mind-blowing. Horowitz did, and his versions are stunning. (I am currently working my way through Horowitz's version of Sousa's The Stars and Stripes Forever, and I can assure you that it is the most difficult thing I have ever played.)

Horowitz never actually published his transcriptions. That, coupled with the blinding difficulty of the music, meant that Horowitz's transcriptions went unplayed for decades.

Now, however, there is an interest in the Horowitz Transcriptions--a few very talented artists have written out the music and are performing and recording them. One such artist, Sean Bennett, has made some nice recordings of these pieces. You can download some of these recordings for free here.

I highly recommend Horowitz's version of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2. This really has to be heard to be believed.

Also worth listening to is the Variations on "Turkish March". It's by another pianist--Arcadi Volodos, who I may write about in the future--but it's just as impressive.