Horowitz Wows Moscow Crowd

Pianist Vladimir Horowitz returned to the Moscow stage today for the first time in 61 years and overwhelmed Soviet music lovers with a virtuoso display that left his audience weeping and cheering with joy.

Hundreds of officials and celebrities who had tickets and dozens and dozens of students and music lovers who didn’t jammed the Great Hall of Moscow’s conservatory to watch what was billed as an open rehearsal for Horowitz’s first concert in Moscow on Sunday. What they got was a two-hour performance: the hourlong program for Sunday, some clowning and three encores that sent the 1,600 spectators wild.