Cziffra 40

[Drasko]

Yummy!



http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2768290

GEORGES CZIFFRA
COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS 1956-1986

This boxed set contains the recorded legacy of the ‘meteor’ Georges Cziffra,
preserved in 40 CDs that make for consistently varied and thrilling listening. They bring together all the studio recordings Cziffra made for EMI and Philips, from his first 25 cm, 33 rpm microgroove LP, released in 1956 when he arrived in Paris, to the last sessions in the Saint-Frambourg chapel in Senlis in May 1986 a few years before he died.
This thirty-year period included many highly successful tours, both in France and abroad – notably Japan –, which brought Cziffra considerable fame, an image in striking contrast with his own modest self-definition as a ‘workman’ aspiring only to share his love of music and the piano. His legendary virtuosity, the outcome of unsparing, almost superhuman hard work, tended to overshadow the inner turmoil of this rather shy man, who suffered personally from Nazi oppression before undergoing the humiliating ordeals inflicted by the post-war Hungarian regime, the accumulated effects of which drove him into exile, where the vicissitudes of human existence brought their own share of suffering.
Cziffra strove for perfection and often rerecorded the same works. It seemed valid to run the risk of redundancy and include all the versions he made of these: though similar, they varied considerably with different moods or new perceptions of the piano’s resources. The dazzling improvisations, paraphrases and transcriptions at the beginning of this collection bear witness to the power of his imagination in response to well-known pieces of music, while giving us a fuller picture of the personal style he deployed in his playing. Unreleased test recordings from the EMI France archives round off the set, making it truly complete. As with all the other recordings, enormous care went into the transfers.

Release date 22. September.
For complete track listing click on hmv link

[Renfield]

*jots something down in The Purchase List*

Thanks.

[Peregrine]

Yeah, looks good. Saw it flagged up over at RMCR

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Did he record any Bach?

[ezodisy]

woah! 100% piano rerelease of the year!!!! I hope this is released in Europe. I don't see it listed on Amazon.fr or fnac or mdt yet though hopefully it's only a matter of time.

Yeah, looks good. Saw it flagged up over at RMCR

Just looked in, Deacon is right about the Francois set, that is the next deserved box-set.

[Holden]

As a diehard Cziffra fan who has many of his recordings, it would be interesting to see what is in this set. If there is enough material that I don't have I'll get it.

[ezodisy]

contents and recording dates are fully listed on the HMV JP website. Just click the English button at top-left and search Cziffra. Some very interesting alternative takes and early recordings are included.

[sound67]

Cziffra strove for perfection and often rerecorded the same works. It seemed valid to run the risk of redundancy and include all the versions he made of these.

How terribly exciting. 

[Wanderer]

I hope this is released in Europe. I don't see it listed on Amazon.fr or fnac or mdt yet though hopefully it's only a matter of time.

I hope so, too. I don't think ordering this from Japan would be worth the trouble and lost hours at customs.

[Peregrine]

woah! 100% piano rerelease of the year!!!! I hope this is released in Europe. I don't see it listed on Amazon.fr or fnac or mdt yet though hopefully it's only a matter of time.

Just looked in, Deacon is right about the Francois set, that is the next deserved box-set.

Deacon-lover!

[ezodisy]

How terribly exciting. 

his performances can be significantly different from each other. A little familiarity will reveal that, and it is worth having any duplicated recordings from the '50s or '60s compared to those from the '80s, after his son's tragic death which affected him greatly, enough to stop performing with others and almost stop performing entirely. Any box-set for a pianist so obviously close to genius level should include as much as possible, otherwise we have the frustration for years of recordings which will never surface.

Cziffra's very special and emotive Liszt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lora8mlw3ns

Cziffra's Rachmaninoff Prelude 23/5, most interesting since Prokofiev's recording IMO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smH8-3e38ZI

Deacon-lover!

Deacon the beacon of self-assured nonsense. Love him.

[Drasko]

Shame they haven't included his one-off recording of Bartok 2nd Concerto. Yes I know it is live and this being studio recordings set but still it would made nice bonus (especially since I haven't had the chance to hear it yet ).

It looks very hard to find otherwise

[ezodisy]

I had no idea this even existed! What an amazing cover pic. Is the person on the left wearing goggles?  Is Cziffra heading down to an underground mine or going up in an open-top fighter plane? Just trying to imagine how interesting that would be, Cziffra playing Bartok, live, I can't think it would be anything less than the most remarkable account of the work. Let me know if you ever find it. It is now my number 1 target.

[not edward]

I had no idea this even existed! What an amazing cover pic. Is the person on the left wearing goggles?  Is Cziffra heading down to an underground mine or going up in an open-top fighter plane? Just trying to imagine how interesting that would be, Cziffra playing Bartok, live, I can't think it would be anything less than the most remarkable account of the work. Let me know if you ever find it. It is now my number 1 target.

It's a very good performance, actually. I bought it for my brother (who's a big Cziffra fan) and took a couple of listens before passing it over. Cziffra plays the concerto largely 'straight', perhaps in part because he was a last-minute replacement and lacked rehearsal time, but with great technical assurance and aplomb. When I heard it I'd placed it a little below Anda/Fricsay in my personal Bartok pantheon.

Interestingly enough, after moving to the West, Cziffra vowed never to perform Bartok live again till Hungary was free from the Communists.

I could contact my brother and see if he can rip & upload this at a good bitrate: I don't think he has flac on his computer.

[karlhenning]

Interestingly enough, after moving to the West, Cziffra vowed never to perform Bartok live again till Hungary was free from the Communists.

Weird. Why make Bartók the victim?

[dirkronk]

OK, this must be the season for me to rediscover pianists who wow me but from whom I've taken too long a listening sabbatical. First Sokolov astounds me anew with his Hammerklavier (see my gushing post on that thread) and now this reminder that it's been a while since I had a Cziffra marathon. Thanks for the news about the big 40-CD box--I'll watch and hope for its appearance in the US. Meanwhile, I'm digging back into my CD archives for the Cziffra discs already acquired. My ears have their work cut out for them.


Dirk

[Drasko]

Interestingly enough, after moving to the West, Cziffra vowed never to perform Bartok live again till Hungary was free from the Communists.

I think that has to do with circumstances around that one and only performance. The concert took place on 22nd October 1956 and the very next day Hungarian uprising started.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/Cziffra/All_or_Nothing.htm

It was 1956. There was some question in high places of sending me to the USSR shortly and, at the end of the year, they might even let me go to Paris. There were so many ‘ifs’ that it was most unlikely and, as far as I was concerned, I had become resigned to the situation long ago. Before that, I had to undergo my trial by fire, figuratively speaking.

          As part of the festivities celebrating the anniversary of the Great October Revolution (which workers and intellectuals had been forced to celebrate for the past eleven years) a highly talented colleague of mine was asked to learn by heart Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto, considered unplayable at the time. Although he had six months to learn it in, he dropped out three months before the day of reckoning, fearing a memory lapse. In desperation, a great Chinese pianist (in those happy times our two countries were on friendly terms) was appealed to. He was reputed to have learnt all Mao’s thoughts in a fortnight, not to speak of understanding them. After six weeks he too turned the proposition down. And that was how the astounding piece fell to me – even today it remains one of the most complex contemporary piano works. I did not accept gladly, but I was given to understand that engagements in Moscow, London and, above all, Paris depended to a great extent on my performance.

          I got down to the task and it almost drove me mad. But I also realized that if I managed to play this impossibly difficult work within the imposed time limit I would have convinced myself I was truly ready for an international career.

          The great day arrived and the concert was a triumph of some portent. The audience was a cross section of a people weary of the excesses of a regime whose victorious army had, after eleven years, still not returned home. Despite its stupefying complexity, the music is perfectly structured and this enabled me to surpass myself so that it seemed like molten lead to the audience. Some two thousand people, normally so disciplined, rushed from the hall singing the National Anthem and ripping down anything bearing emblems other than the national flag as they ran along the nearby streets and avenues. There was an uprising and the government (responsible for an even worse police state than the one it had copied) fled to a new refuge. The frontier half opened. While people rushed into the breach in their tens of thousands, the revolt was rapidly put down and a new regime did its best to gloss it over as a mere passing error.[By way of homage to the thousands killed by the Soviet forces, Cziffra never played the Bartók concerto again.]

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Shame they haven't included his one-off recording of Bartok 2nd Concerto. Yes I know it is live and this being studio recordings set but still it would made nice bonus (especially since I haven't had the chance to hear it yet ).

It looks very hard to find otherwise

I used to have this. I can only speculate why EMI would have left it out of the new box set but one possibility could be the abysmal recorded sound. So bad is the sound that it appears all the world like a bootleg. Which might have led to two things: the performance was misidentified as a Cziffra performance and only later someone realized the error; or the Cziffra estate took issue with its release and ultimately squashed it.

[ezodisy]

I think that has to do with circumstances around that one and only performance. The concert took place on 22nd October 1956 and the very next day Hungarian uprising started.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/Cziffra/All_or_Nothing.htm

So interesting. For one reason or another that time and place is fascinating for me. It's a very worthwhile place to visit, as I know Don will tell anyone. I hope the Cziffra sets come with extensive notes. It's an ideal chance to include something like the link above (okay maybe not all of it, at first I didn't notice just how large it is. Thanks for pointing it out).

Which might have led to two things: the performance was misidentified as a Cziffra performance and only later someone realized the error; or the Cziffra estate took issue with its release and ultimately squashed it.

The second one is possible, perhaps done out of respect for his wish to never play it again. Who knows?

I could contact my brother and see if he can rip & upload this at a good bitrate: I don't think he has flac on his computer.

If it's not too much trouble it would be wonderful to hear at any bitrate.

[Drasko]

If it's not too much trouble it would be wonderful to hear at any bitrate.

I'll second on this, though still getting the disc would be worth alone for that photo of Cziffra at the top of the mine shaft, surreal.