Piano: Georges Cziffra Work: Liszt S.219 Live from 1964 Tokyo I used 4 sources(2 audio, 2 video) to enhance quality copyright infringement is not intended, if any still exists.
Cziffra was taught by one of Liszt’s very favorite pupils, and I think Cziffra more than made Liszt proud. What an extraordinary once in a generation talent.
@@flouz2 why? I listened to some interpretations of her, such as chopin's ballade no 1 or lizt's hungarian rhapsody no 2 and they really impressed me, although I understand that the performances of great pianists like cziffra manage to stand out in a great way I would not believe that lisitsa's performances so bad (I'm not defending or something like that I just want to know)
All recordings of Liszt's Grand Galop by Cziffra are astonishing, but this....is inhuman.....it is the tipical " virtuosistic trance" by Cziffra, when he was achieving this state,,anything became possibile, even the impossibile.
Il dit de lui-même qu'à l'époque il était d'une sûreté absolue !... Faut le faire ! De plus certaines compositions de Liszt n'étaient pas comprises car difficilement interprétables à ce qu'on pensait, jusqu'à ...
This very performance drew me in the world of classical piano music, which had been unknown to me until then but afterwards has been a world of rapture. This performance of Cziffra's changed my life.
bet franz liszt plays 0.5 faster than cziffra, but if i practice piano 10 years non-stop, i can play this piece, but faster and harder than liszt, cuz my transcription is named "Great Grand Chromatique" which is harder
Absolutely. If to this day Cziffra is the greatest of all RECORDED pianists, logic favors him being #1 among those that have never been recorded as well.
Compared to an earlier recording he made of this...this is somehow even better, and that was already one of most impressive things I've ever seen and heard. His left hand voicings are more nuanced, his chords are more full, and his left thumb is absolutely insane. Good fucking Lord have mercy. He just ripped this piece out of the piano...and all while casually sitting on a chair.
It says there are no captions for this video, so I would like to offer some - "Hold onto your seats, because it's about to feel like they've sprouted legs and started jumping all over the room. Just remember to keep smiling while you roll around in a tornado of sound. You'll be fine." Cziffra is an actual magician. As a pianist myself I can only applaud this delightful master.
@@martingerhardt6268 We actually have commentary on how Liszt played by people who heard him in his old age and could compare him to pianists we have recordings of, like Godowsky or Rosenthal. Technically, even when old, out of practice and partially blind his technique was equal to or surpassed any of these pianists. It was the comments about Liszt's expressive and interpretive powers that are most interesting- over and over commenters stated that "if you had not heard him play, you could not imagine what he played like." He played once for a young Debussy, who said that his use of the pedal was such that the piano seemed to breathe.
@@markkovrizhkin7441 No I think it doesn't matter how cool technique you have. It's cool but not the main. The main thing is you should listen what you play and analyze it. Maybe Cziffra played more musician than Hamelin but it's subjectively imo
@@Ar1osssa I dont know when I said Cziffras technique was cooler but ok. Its his ability to play such insanity freely and controlled while also sustaining severe hand and wrist injuries (from torture).
ce qui tout bonnement incroyable chez Cziffra c'est qu'il parvienne à une telle vélocité tout en ne sacrifiant pas l'interprétation de l'oeuvre ! Un pure génie du piano doublé d'un homme bon ...
Learning this piece now. At first my goal was to play it the way he does, now, it’s just to be able to play it well. No way anybody could ever do something like this again.
Derrière cette virtuosité affolante ( Cziffra fut le plus prodigieux virtuose du XXème siècle ) il y a surtout un musicien extraordinaire ayant compris mieux que quiconque ce qu'est un " grand galop chromatique " mais lui seul avait les doigts et surtout l'esprit pour le jouer !!!!!!!
At about 30 seconds in, he plays the chromatic line for the 3rd time. He uses one of the very lowest notes to reiterate the line. I love that part. A stronger return. Almost authoritative sounding if it was but for the frivolous nature of the piece elsewhere. ❤
This is the same recital in which he played a superb account of the rhapsody no 6, ballade no 4, spanish rhapsody, impromptu 3, scherzo 2, heroic polonaise, grande valse brillante, liebestraum, such very popular pieces ! I highly recommend anyone reading this to search for 1964 tokyo recital ! The recording is available on YT now
It's not impossible. Learn the piece slow. A lot of it has the same pattern over and over again. The end of the piece, right hand plays the same notes while the left just plays octaves you can easily memorize. It sounds worse than it is.
Fritz - I attended two music conservatories and received one of the highest scholarships given for piano performance. In all my experience and decades long career sitting at a piano performing repertoire from the great composers, do you HONESTLY.... think I care to prove something to you?
It is not legal to play a piece like this. That confident ending gets me all the time with the fast octaves. He knew that he nailed it, and why shouldn't he? Scorching!
O... M... G... hands the size of dinner plates and the mind to control them. It'll be a while before we see someone this good again, he was "borne into a family of travelling gypsy musicians", and attained incredible abilities from a young age. He has the facility, the humour and the passion like no one else.
"Everyone is very friendly to A., in roughly the way one might seek to protect an excellent billiard cue even from good players, until the great one comes along, takes a good look at the table, will tolerate no precocious mistakes, and then, when he starts playing, rampages in the wildest way."-Franz Kafka, Zürau Aphorisms
That was one of Liszt bravour pieces, like Mazeppa etc. Dont search for the deep sense in it. You have to keep in mind, Liszt was a super star, something like Madoona, Elvis or Michaal Jackson of the 19th century, women fainted during concerts. So yes, this is solely a show-off piece. It says presto and Chiffra does presto. He understands the sense of the piece, Liszt would have been proud or even evious. In contrast, listen to Lang Lang's version. He is hyped, but does't have Chiffra's (or Liszt's) technique. Double-Lang has to slow donwn, has to make rubatos, has to "find a story" in the score. There is no story!!!! If you are looking for a story in Liszt pieces, e.g. listen to his B Minor Sonata (but don't listen to Lang Lang). The encore would have been the Galop. Bravissimo Chiffra!!! (Lang Lang - go practicing or do something different, mayby filling shelves or plumbing, ...)
Rafael R. In my eyes this isn't solely a showoff piece. While I'm not hearing a story exactly, I can see a playful pony going insane in his play. And it's really funny to listen to.
what allot of people fail to understand is that behind Liszts pieces there is allot more going on than just allot of fast notes almost anybody can learn a liszt piece(if they practice allot) but bringing his works to life is another story
Vous avez complètement raison, d'ailleurs aucun pianiste n'est arrivé à même approcher Cziffra dans cette pièce. Entre nous Lang Lang Est un pianiste fabriqué par les médias.
If anybody asks what is virtuosity and u play hungarian rhapsody friska and tell them that that is virtuosity and they dont still understand, theyll probably understand after this
This incredible & valuable footage was broadcasted as a TV PROGRAM by the Japanese national broadcaster NHK in 1964, the year of the first Tokyo Olympics. In the same year, SHINKANSEN also started its operation.
Cziffra's playing often sounds so wild, one can't imagine the piece to end in dignity, yet, like in this recording, it is often the finishing accords that seal the deal
I like the way he stares accusingly at the top end of the piano (the bit he's not playing) , about 20 seconds in - as if the piano had done something wrong of its own.
