Composition and/or Improvisation

I believe that what we can argue  that the ‘composition’ of  music, more often than not,  begins with the creative spark that is manifest in the composer’s desire for, and pursuit of, selfexpression which, in my view, may be characterized as the essence of ‘improvisation’.

I’m presenting here an audio essay on the matter of composition and improvisation, not to prove my point, but to attempt to shed some light and illuminate it:

Given the fact that these pianists are not all playing the piece in exactly the same manner, and in exactly the same way, a reasonable conclusion is that someone here is improvising…

Does, or should, it matter to an audience?

My personal favorite rendition of Traumerei is by Vladimir Horrowitz, which was  performed as an encore at his Moscow concert given in April of 1986:

Is he playing the Schumann composition to perfection or, did he include an element of ‘improvisation’ thus providing his personal signature or water mark as a gesture of gratitude to an extremely attentive audience?

If you look closely you can see the tears which, to me, speak volumes on the question…

From a most unlikely source, in the movie ‘Amadeus’, there’s an example of simultaneously playing by ear and improvisation:

This is an excellent example of my theory and thesis because it’s done within the context of ‘classical’ music…

It’s really quite good…