I've now completed a run through of the Erato Georges (Gyorgy) Cziffra Complete Studio Recordings set.
Since I had shortly before done a run through of the Erato Samson François Complete Recordings set,
I thought I would do a barebones comparison.
TL:DR
The Francois set is preferable to the Cziffra
First off, there's more in the SF set (54 CDs and a DVD vs 41 CDs).
Second, the SF includes a good deal more in concert recordings (no doubt reflected in title not limiting itself to studio recordings in the way the GC set does).
The GC set includes in its 41 CDs a CD and a half of orchestral recordings conducted by Georges Cziffra Jr, a conductor who died young. These are solidly performed but not the sort to be sought after for their own sake.
The GC set is organized by composer and work for the solo piano works, so all the Liszt is together, etc. Concertos are grouped in the back. This approach makes apparent how often Cziffra re-recorded some works, and also how limited his repertoire was: Liszt is the biggest component.
The SF set is arranged chronologically over the pianist's career, so repeated recordings are spaced out. Francois's repertoire had a wider reach, although not as Liszt focused and not as concerto heavy.. He also composed music, including a film score whose recording is included in the set.
The GC has a significant drawback: there is no track listing or index of works performed, so to find a particular recording requires going through the CDs one by one if you want to listen to a particular work.
The SF does not have this problem.
Sonics obviously vary within each set depending on.the age of the recording.
Finally, a highly subjective point: I prefer SF to GC as pianists. SF was (to me) more poetic, GC more flashy. SF did more Chopin and was in the middle of a complete traversal of Debussy's piano works at the time of his death. GC's Debussy was.limited to just a few works. The best Debussy in the GC set in fact is the La Mer conducted by Cziffra
fils.
I would advise getting the SF box if interested in these pianists, but only the small set of Cziffra's Liszt
Although that means forgoing the first recordings of works recorded more than once (most important, the Hungarian Rhapsodies).
