I will never tire of watching this man play the piano as long as I live

this was taken from a BBC TV recital in 1960 which I saw live (I was 17 years old). It included Lizst's 2nd Hungarian rhapsody. My family moved to Paris later that year and so did Cziffra.Thus I often went to his recitals while I was at University at the Sorbonne. To compare him with Horowitz or Rubenstein at that time was anathema in France because to the French he was the greatest gift the cold war ever gave them. Probably the greatest Hungarian of the 20th century along with Ferenc Puskas.

@kristofkovacs77

3 жыл бұрын

It was the 6th!

I love how much he enjoys playing this

@GeorgeOfZala continued: Since many pianos have different touch, Cziffra was famous to often arrive to the concert hall in the morning, tune up the piano, or touch up the tuning if necessary and practice all day, to get used to its individual touch response. Then in the evening concert the miracle happened, to amaze his audience with his unsurpassed performances.

I admire his technique.

If only all concerts were filmed from this fixed angle...

@pianosenzanima1

5 жыл бұрын

Ikr

Absolutely brilliant playing. Inspiring and humbling.

Wow! I just realised this has the exact same introduction as Scarlatti's sonata k.159 except the later one is chords and not single notes! I LOVE CZIFFRA!

His hand is flying.

"No need for that final chord, however." In view of Cziffra's level of accomplishment, he's entitled to end the piece by spitting on the piano.

We tend to think of Cziffra as the super-Lisztian virtuoso but he recorded and played Scarlatti from early on in his career. He also recorded Scarlatti for Supraphon in the mid 1950s and performed Baroque pieces by Rameau and Couperin with brilliant articulacy and style.

What a great temperament he had for Scarlatti!

Extremely brilliant and refreshing playing, unbelievable clarity and speed!

Original source > 60's microphone > pre amp > analog reel > converted to numeric years later > bit reduction > aliasing > video /sound encoding > youtube compression = perfect sound chain :)

@Spanuse

6 жыл бұрын

Phonosheet sounds you know something of sound

Amazing piece. Amazing pianist.

Oh my god this pianist in incredible!!!!

Out of this world.

Bravo!!

Cziffra è sempre Cziffra. :-)

@Tizohip

8 жыл бұрын

logico kkkkkkkk. sempre

Oh my God I was learning this piece for a few weeks now and thought it was just a little Scarlatti sonata but I never realised that Cziffra actually played this. I am gobsmacked lol!

Enjoy his performence 😍

@psbjr any piano can be set for light or heavy touch. Called action regulation and setting to some special request of an artist. Cortot liked heavy touch and Rubinstein extremely light. Cziffra liked fast, faster and fastest response actions :-) no matter how light or heavy it was, he had the hands of steel.

Exciting performance.

I am analyzing this piece in my Keyboard literature class. Great Performance!!!

Brilliant.

This is an enlightening post! Does anyone know how many scarlatii sonatas Cziffra recorded?

WOW!

his repeated notes are like a machine gun

No discussion! One the greatest!

@yuk_notkim7658

5 ай бұрын

I agree

Pretty awesome!

@ewatarnawska-wiejacha9168

5 жыл бұрын

Geniusz !

My favourite pianist! Exactly how I perceived the piece! Yes, maybe played in the harpsichord would be slower, mainly because one wouldn't perceive all the sounds properly. That's a big advantage in favour of the piano. Luckily, Wanda Landowska recorded Scarlatti as well!

I like it! he does it, because he can!

Divino

thanks mate

@eribani yes he did play the 6th rhapsody on both French and BBC tv recitals between late 1959 and the mid 1960's. I saw all three of his BBC recitals between late 1959 and mid-1960. apart from a lot of lizst,or course, he also played Bach,Chopin and many other composers of all genres as the mood took him. Many people would be amazed at how beautiful his Mozart could be as well, though maybe his one weakness was the late Beethoven sonatas.

@ericlevin3383

2 жыл бұрын

Incomparable

Thank you for this! Cziffra understands the importance of clarity and expression. Some pianists play Scarlatti faster, forgetting that his music was originally for harpsichord and not intended to be at breakneck speed. Cziffra respects the integrity of the composition.

Lord help me. God this is good.

The Cziffra's tremolo are crazy. :o)

It was Cziffra, and the others.

His thrills and tremolos are very clear, evidence of good technique. My only quibble about his playing is, especially in the beginning, that he may be hammering out too much for the attack chords. His pianissimos are superb, though. On the other hand, I agree with comments that his chosen tempo for this piece is rather fast for the enjoyment of the nuances found in rapid passages.

Listen also to the recording by Benedetti Michelangeli: cultivated and noble.

@moiAntonin Awesome to hear. I think it was the 6th Hungarian Rhapsody btw, you can find that on KZread as well!

@psbjr For the last 70 years, good quality pianos have employed accelerated keyboard action technology. My Bosendorfer responds to touch more quickly than any harpsichord that I have experienced. I will say, however, that I have experienced a remarkable degree of keyboard difference between various Steinways, including a few that had very stiff touch.

@sfkcbf but the way he plays makes it sound like an harpsichord which is pretty amazing!

Many of them do - Scarlatti was at the Spanish court.

yee~~~~~

G. Cziffra was one of greatest virtuosos but to me, much of the beauty of this Scarlatti masterpiece is lost in this performance. I like very much Fei Fei Dong interpretation of this sonata at Cleveland competition rnd 1 part 1 . There is so much to hear there.

@sfkcbf hmm perhaps bosendorfer's are an exception, but my experience playing virtuosic elizabethan pieces on many grands (mostly steinway) vs. a number of harpsichords has been that the weight of the action makes it incredibly difficult to perform intricate passages at the same speed. I have always had to play pieces marginally slower on the piano simply because of that weight. I'll have to try a bosendorfer some time!

@psbjr harpsichords have a very light and primitive action compared to the piano, made only few hundreds of pieces, until the piano is about 12 thousand pieces with the utmost dynamic possibilities. Therefore anyone is used to harpsichord (or organ) has a super light touch, which in turn is not sufficient on a piano. Cziffra had an amazing technique, which consists of power, gentleness, speed and utmost musicality. ...continued ...

@Niodo yes ,in his later career in Paris he played all four of the concertos at concerts but there are very few good quality recordings of these. If you want to look on You Tube you should find him playing the 2nd Rach concerto with the Hungarian TV and radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by his son, georgy jnr.

@ustadspencertracy7195

4 жыл бұрын

Are you sure he played all four?

He seems to elongate certain sections; and some of the left hand crossing over sections seem very much altered too.

omg look at his hand...damn fast

Have you heard Wanda Landowska's harpsichord rendition?

Very clean and a good Scarlatti style. However, I do think it is played much too fast - sounds like Presto at least!

@Davidpianist-ge5et

8 жыл бұрын

+Davidpianist8642 If not Prestissimo!

@leighclark5257

7 жыл бұрын

Prestissimo! It sounds much better if you slow it down (but still keep it clean and precise).

@danyiluska

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, only twice as fast as it should be :D

@zzambezi1959

5 жыл бұрын

It is interesting that regarding the tempo Bela Bartok's (!) Scarlatti performance was similar. I love both performances.

Magistral mais un brin trop rapide !!!

These sonatas are called "the flamenco-sonatas" as well.

@sfkcbf Or that final sentence, which pretty much invalidated the kindness of the rest of your comment.

If, 300 years ago, someone were playing this sonata on a harpsichord or guitar, it would not be so fast. The modern piano, along with this artist's physical abilities and musical perceptions, permit him to play it in an impressive and appealing manner, which the artist considers to be valid. No need for that final chord, however.

@sashh9997

4 жыл бұрын

Silence

Yup,Barok style.

it's k 96 (longo 465)

Is he playing his own version with octaves?

@yuk_notkim7658

8 ай бұрын

Most likely

This feels slightly sped up. I don't know if it's even possible to hit repeated notes that quickly. I think this has been sped up a bit. Still, this is an AMAZING performance. It's slightly lacking in dynamic poignance (only slightly), but it surely makes up for that in the sheer virtuosity of it all.

@ErikBrabantsPianist

7 жыл бұрын

Not sped up, it's just Cziffra.

@antonwills-eve124

5 жыл бұрын

definitely NOT speeded up. I saw this recital live on BBC TV in 1959/60 and simply could not believe what I was hearing and seeing. I'm afraid he really was that gifted.

e na' cifra 🙃🙃🙃

fantastic and rare document! Those trills are not made by a human being! Too bad for the modified (and in my opinion tasteless) ending.

So Lisztian.

I can't believe people are thumbs downing you. I thought it was too fast also. Like c'mon. Is it music or a who can play it faster contest?

Thank you. Well, I like Cziffra, and Scarlatti much more. What can I say? I do not play the piano, only guitar and flute but I think pianists play too fast, even Maria Tipo who has a feeling for Scarlatti does it. Is it a consequence of the technical evolution of the instrument or of the virtuosistic tradition which gets stronger in the XIXth century,especially with Liszt?

Wonderful! But i prefer Horowitz version!

Easy. *pan*

This was recorded with analog equipment. Digital equipment is very poor on odd harmonics, whereas all our music depends on odd harmonics. Ergo...digital is very tinny sounding (even harmonics get the amplification). The Japanese spent 30 years trying to get solid state systems to replicate odd hormonics...end result? Struck out. Japanese and other affectionados will pay a kings ransom for anything like Macintosh tube driven amps...

@sfkcbf no offense, but this doesn't make sense. It's more difficult to play fast on a modern piano. Heavier action...

sounds more like flamenco,,, lol

Way too fast for me, Maria Clementis version is far crisper and dynamic despite a slower tempo.

@artygunnar

7 жыл бұрын

good for your bro,

@pianosenzanima1

5 жыл бұрын

Dynamic? Do you even know phrasing bro?

You obviously need to get out more.

too fast

sorry...don't like it! everything is very very VERY impresive what he can do, but not more then that.

Mmmh, dubious rendition. Nothing compared to Michelangeli's, Horowitz's or Gilels's