Traumerei, Vladimir in Moscow 1986

(YouTube: https://youtu.be/XU_ccvjxq6o?si=tikk3dvGy6mRTMqP)

This is a legendary version of Träumerei. In April 1986, Vladimir Horowitz—arguably one of the two greatest pianists of the 20th century—returned to Moscow after more than 60 years in exile to give a recital at the Moscow Conservatory. The Cold War was still simmering, and the symbolism of his return made the concert a moment of cultural and emotional magnitude.

Horowitz had long battled depression and fragile mental health. His perfectionism and deep anxiety often forced him into prolonged retreats from the stage. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1925, he never returned—by choice at first, but eventually becoming a persona non grata in his homeland for decades.

The concert itself was historic and legendary already. At the end, Horowitz encored Schumann’s Träumerei. It felt like a personal offering to his homeland, a soft-spoken gesture of peace, longing, and reconciliation from a man who had carried his homeland in his heart for a lifetime.

Well, music, as time, can heal. I played it on the last day of my undergraduate years in Shanghai, at my aunt’s house in the quiet suburbs—the same place I first arrived alone four years ago. The sun, the trees, the summer heat, and the birdsong were all unchanged. Sitting alone in front of the piano, I felt time collapse and suddenly I understood this piece.