Vladimir Horowitz's Transcription (1945) of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (1897) by John Phillips Sousa

[DonRocks]

And, it's always played way too slow.  I know it's in triple time, but it should be played at something approximating march tempo.  It ain't a f**kin' dirge.

NY Times article about the history of the song.

Vladimir Horowitz claimed the opposite problem occurred with "Stars and Stripes Forever" - this whole 1977 interview with Mike Wallace (and Horowitz's wife, Wanda Toscanini Horowitz) is worth watching, especially for context, but if you want to get straight to the quote, skip to 9:30.

Here is a recording of Horowitz playing it live - he wrote the piano transcription to celebrate becoming an American citizen (he immigrated from the Soviet Union), and played it at the "I Am An American Day" all-star concert in Central Park - it was broadcast over the radio to over 2 million people. It's a pretty breakneck performance, but I'm sure it was something to behold.

I have the score to this (I bought it just to see how it was possible for one person to play it), and it is unplayably difficult for all but a select few, needless to say. The way Horowitz imitated the piccolos - at one time, he was the only person in the world who would dare even attempt it, and was even accused of falsifying the recording with multiple pianos - he hadn't even written the music down. As concert encores go, this is about as good as it gets, especially taken in context of World War II.