In terms of accuracy and of an intellectually meaningful interpretation Michelangeli was unique. Even Svjatoslav Richter and many other great pianists admired him. Don´t get me wrong - Cziffra was a great pianist. No doubt about it, but most of the time he chose his repertoire just as a showcase of his technique. Michelangeli just wasn´t in need to do so - his technique was flawless and it was only his tool for his interpretations. That´s how it should be, because if we go to the converse direction we end in a circus show.
I thought Kissin's Campanella was the best I'd ever heard, until I heard this! Cziffra brings out nuances in this piece I never even knew existed! It was like hearing it for the first time, but this time with real emotions. Kissin sounds cold and mechanical in comparison. It seems like I've found a new favorite pianist!
Agreed. Kissen plays it perfectly. Cziffra plays it better than perfect. Ive listened to this pieces hundreds of times but this just takes the ultimate cake.
@@golden-63 That was almost a good reply, but you can barely tell the diference between those two La Campanella. Lang Lang can be such a technical player, as much as Kissin, and at the same time, heartfull and harmonical. Kissin is good, I know, but my personal opinion goes to Lang Lang.
Indeed. In the 19th century improvisation was expected and even demanded: Many pieces had a 'cadenza' which was an improvised section. It was only later that a recommended cadenza was added to scores and became a standard feature of performance. Liszt was as famous for improvisation as he was for performing the compositions of others.
Andras Schiff speaks of watching Cziffra play a piece with which Schiff was familiar and remarked that Cziffra's hands and fingers were moving so fast that he could not actually tell what he was doing. I had not realized that Cziffra played this version live until we hear the audience at the end. Cziffra never got the kind of attention that Horowitz or Richter got, but his technique is every bit as good and when he plays Liszt, he is amazing. Franz himself would have approved.
Cziffra was an extraordinary pianist and I fail to see how he can be compared to other pianist of his genre. Unique in every way. This was one of his great performance of La Campenella as only Cziffra knows how.
I just love his UNORTHODOX method of playing music that have been so familiar to us. Every bar is a box of surprises. He's what I call a genuine Maverick of the Piano. Truly excellent genius!
you know as a kid of 10 years old in the 90's, I always used to fall asleep at piano concerts, they were just so boring. One day I heard Cziffra's recording of this piece and suddenly I got it, I understood it, the composer, the legacy, the history... imbued in 88 keys and some writing is the fire of the soul of the man known as liszt, probably enough to melt the most stubborn metal known to man, yet gentle enough to just keep you warm on a cold winter's day. It occurred to me that all the pianists that played this piece either didn't understand that or didn't have the technical capacity to deliver that, but Cziffra... Truly legendary.
Many great pianists whom I adore have similarly spectacular technique...but this man delivers the passion he was born with and that his amazing life magnified.
I do believe that György Cziffra is Liszt reincarnate. His rubato and phrasing have deep Hungarian gipsy roots. He doesn't just play the notes like everyone else, but plays the spaces between them with a strong Austro-Hungarian accent. His recordings are as close as we can, be at a live Liszt performance.
Good observations on the Gipsy and Austro-Hungarian nuances. A lot of Western conductors and performers who play music from the region seem to miss and not understand this.
@@vetlerradio No, he wasn't: Liszt died 35 years before Cziffra was born. However, he was a student of István Thomán (one of the greatest Hungarian piano educators, Béla Bartók was also his student) and Thomán was Liszt's student (a favourite one at that) and he definitely carried on Liszt's legacy and playing style.
The best version I have heard of this piece. Something special that I find difficult to express in words. It's not just about the technique but the lovely sound he produces. This is a real gem.
Bilal Jan He faced all the horrors of war and discrimination as well, then when his life got back on track he lost his son. That is when he started drinking. A great loss for art & for all of us.
C'est sublime !! J'ai eu la chance d'écouter un récital en plein air à Gémenos en 1972 au théâtre. Une cigale a chanté tout le temps qu'il a joué. Inoubliable !!!
La Campanella or in English "The Bell." Ever since I've come to know this piece, I do not really get my this is called such. But having heard this, it's quite clear now to me why it's called La Campanella. You could hear "the bell" in his performance with how brilliantly he played it. Truly amazing interpretation!
Hey Raymund, if I may, campana (italian) means bell, but campanella means "tiny little bells". Small bells, like those put on sheep for instance, have a much higher tone than regular bells. Now listen to this piece again and imagine each note being a little bell of its own. You should enjoy "campanella" with the dimension you've been missing because of some uncomplete dictionary
If you listen to the original, as in Paganini's violin concerto No.2 movement 3, which this piece is based off of, it'll be extremely obvious for the name "La Campanella" :)
I know!!!! Was thinking, well yeah, it’s, wow, ‘better’ (for my taste) than the even the Kissin Albert Hall epic-epic, “but that’s ok, this is Cziffra in a studio”. Mind. Blown.
in fact, no one is better that the other. Its just opinion from bunch of people that can't see longer that ther nose. Every pianist have something to bring to other people.
@@jeremiebazinet As human beings we are same (no one is worthy then the others), but talking of anything such as professions, hobbies .. etc, or piano playing we are not same at all and in piano playing or professions there are levels which levels are generally determined by knowledge, experience, spirit, habit and so on .... and these levels gives the spice of the life. Without these levels we would live in a very grey and boring world. :-)
I agreed with you 100%, but oh my God… Who are these beings. Who were George C. teachers? Do we know? Kissin's performance of this work was beyond anything I've ever heard related to this terrible old dragon (La Campanella). He not only slayed the work he slayed the audience. Yes. Sent with love. CVD
Kissin has a fantastic technique (just lookin up to his transcendental etude no.5 and mephisto waltz no.1) but no, no he is far away from czyffra on the interpretation level OMFG 2:52 is fantastic
He takes a piece, not just a piece, an almost unplayable score and he owns it. He just absorbed the work and made it work for him. I cannot say that of another pianist. I've heard fantastic, utterly fantastic recordings, but if you want to know how it should be played...Cziffra.
Donald Lee In the grand, long term scheme, virtually everything is technically "playable". But I'm sure you know a piece can be called unplayable if it isn't very practical to learn, that's what I'm referring to
Definitely so! I made my comment because El Contrabandista is extremely difficult, but the patterns and virtuosic elements it contains are very logical and practical. It's just because Liszt has the pianist doing so much of it during the piece that it has an infamous reputation.
I can't hardly believe that there was such a 'thing' in our world as a Cziffra. I understand he liked playing jazz. I wonder if there are any recordings of him playing jazz?
Find Cziffra in another live video to see his 4,5 and 3,4 trills with no rotation of his hand!! High technique and musicality make his recordings eternal!
Cziffra è stato uno dei grandi pianisti del XX secolo, e merita di essere ricordato come un grande artista, non come un recordman. La musica non è uno sport.
Wow! Maintaining that smooth speed with dynamics is SFD. -And you can hear that he's the full-possible dynamic range of that piano. And that's amazing.
Wow.....that was wonderful. Liszt wrote music to show off his magnificent and grand ability to play the piano. He truly was a virtuoso, and it has been the challenge of every virtuoso since to show that they also can play as well as Liszt. Cziffray and Kissin are both magnificent and equals to Liszt, when it comes to playing the piano.
György Cziffra is one if the finest pianists of all time. This Campanella is awesome. But I invite you all to listen to his Brahms and Schumann. You will be genuinely amazed.
O cara bota uma pressão absurda na música. Virtuosidade e potência. Pqp, veio. Já escutei La Campanella dezenas de vezes e por vários pianistas, mas essa é a mais fantástica e absurda de todas.
hey guys if you look closely, he is not moving oh my gosh it's 100% sure, and he doesn't have any shade he is a vampire, but don't tell anyone about this or you will get arrested by the police
The shade actually goes under the piano, penetrates it from below and triggers the strings. The pianist is in deep meditation, his breathing and even heart stopped because it takes full concentration to pull this off.
If you like Cziffra, just listen to Beethovens variation of God Save The King. After years of torture by the soviets where they tried to crush his hands; he came to England and his debut at the Festival Hall was the Beethoven Var.
his interpretation of listz is so brilliant and unique. thinking of listz's life and style(through stories and articles), gyorgy cziffra perfectly fits on listz i guess.
The Lang Lang of his day. Technique to burn but this was done completely for audience appeal. For a completely more authentic reading of this, see the Zoltan Kocsis version available on RU-vid.
visto e ascoltato dal vivo a Roma, un grnde veramente, un interprete di grande prestigio, ebbi la fortuna di sedere sul palco a due metri da lui mentre suonava, perchè la sala era piena e non c'erano più posti. Non ricordo il teatro ma non era molto grande
Si dovrebbe dare credibilità a Cziffra sul modo di suonare Liszt , avendo studiato con un allievo di Liszt , dal quale certamente avrà ascoltato suonare qualche composizione di Franz Liszt che l'allievo avrà ascoltato suonare dallo stesso Franz Liszt.
