GYORGY CZIFFRA plays RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor 

Unforgettable memories from Cziffra's fondation in Senlis France 🇫🇷 ⚜️🌹🙏

He was one of the best pianists ever in the world!

On a sidenote, the brass section is absolutely phenomenal in this recording.

At the introduction I can literally see the different shapes in different colours bursting and melting into each other - and that's about Rachmaninov's concept of colours and sound

This is the best medicine... and it's free.

A magnificent performance which should dispel the nonsense about Cziffra being a mere Circus Freak.

One of my favourites pieces of all time.

Quelle émotion, difficile à partager, cet homme a tout compris !

One of the very best performances of this work. I like the way he dose not rush the lyrical passages as most of today's pianists do.

This is a stunning recording! No one has ever made this 1st movement with such depth, so utterly russian in sound and touch...Deep gratitude for uploding this. Never have thought that Cziffra would sound like this! And the orchestra makes a phenomenal partner too...! Legendary!

Extraordinaria mirada del 2 concierto de Rachmaninoff por parte de Gyorgy Cziffra hijo como del padre.Extraodinaria la Orquesta como la toma lograda!!Gracias por compartirla

classical music is all you need in life to truly be happy. it sums up all of Rachmaninoff's inner complexities and passions in a way that words cannot.

12:20 - 2 Adagio sostenuto 24:40 - 3. Allegro scherzando

Great performance , It has clarity ,direction, refined understanding of form, dynamics and subtle nuances

This one got me off guard... Considering that's my all time favorite & special piano concerto, with thousands of recordings heard and compared, thought I'd found my utmost interpretation recording, BUT! Connoisseurs know legendary Cziffra mainly as an utmost piano virtuoso and great-grand master of the SpeednVelocity kind of thing. Not to ever underrate this part of piano virtuosity. Certain excentrism and attemts into new directions aren't untypical to him too. But THIS kind of understanding of the Russian romantic tragedy - deeply profound, replete with darkness, passion, with this kind of un-rashed, carved with deapth and the utmost intensity kind of sound... I'm shocked... Really! There are no more such artists - like Cziffra, Ashkenazi, Sokolov... Thank God we have the recordings to repeat them. Thank you so much for bringing this online! Болшое спасибо!

This performance is so amazing! I'm hearing melodies, that I've never heard in this piece brought to life so clearly, that's incredible!

Absolutely amazing interpretation. Reincarnation of Sergey Rachmaninoff.

if we talk about pure virtuosism, I think no one was better than Cziffra, not even Horowitz. Cziffra was not just a technician, of course.

Almost all of that performance went right over my head. What I did hear brought me to tears and gave me peace.

The vehicle is the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto, and Cziffra is at the wheel. What a combination !

Very interesting performance. I would’ve predicted Cziffra would take this piece too fast and play it in his typical Liszt/showman style. But he actually takes his time with this piece and plays it very romantically. Allows us to hear things you usually don’t get to hear.

Exceptional rendition that I 've been listening for a very long time and today it's a magical moment again ... Thanks very much dear piano 345 .

Wonderful Cziffra !! Thank you for this upload too!!!

three is a charm (Richter, Sokolov and now Cziffra) - thank you, piano345, for posting!

This is so beautiful, passionate, well-crafted, and orchestrated that it made even my armpit hair stand up

This is the best tempo for the first movement imo. I don't give a damn how Rachmaninoff played/invisioned it, I like this better.

Piano345, thank you for uploading this gorgeous music !

Heartbreaking

I never knew this recording existed. What a marvelous performance! This recording is made all the more bittersweet by the fact that the conductor is Cziffra's son, György Jr, who tragically perished in an apartment fire in 1981.

Wow.

In the first movement alone, he set the gold standard much like Horowitz did for the 3rd. Notice Cziffra doesn't oddly accelerate but emphasizes, through the marked piano and forte, the melody when the triplets form beneath the chords and uses his left hand's thumb and pointer to play that beautiful secondary melody to duet with the cellos. No one seems to recognize this and it pains me because what beautiful composing and it is overlooked and inexplicably sped up...where there is no accelerando

with my all respect for great pianist, also please try to listen this piano concerto interpreted by Alexei Sultanov! Thank you!

For some reason Cziffra’s version takes me to a 19th century childhood. The other versions I’ve heard don’t do that.

25:00 ah classic cziffra

Very beautiful! Thank you for sharing! Almost 40 years ago, my father had a LP record with Cziffra's Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 from 1970. This video sounds just like the performance on that LP. Strangely enough, the name of the artist on the description of this video is Trifonov. I've checked some video's of Trifonov and on the description of his video, it says that it is by someone else. (e.g. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-joev9kpDs0M.html) This is a kind of advertisement which has been added by RU-vid automatically, I guess? So I believe that your video is really performed by Cziffra, just like you've written. Thank you again for sharing!

Before finding this vdo, I would give Richter's rendition as the best. However, Cziffra's playing looka equal Richter or even better in some aspects

Das 2. Klavierkonzert ist ein Schlüsselwerk im Werdegang Rachmaninoffs. Als Partitur enthält es eine Fülle an Aussagen, Fragen, Antworten und Entscheidungen. Der Pianist muss sich tief in das Werk hineinarbeiten, nicht nur musikalisch sondern vor allem persönlich. Er muss sich das Werk ANEIGNEN im wahrsten Sinne. Nur so kann etwas mehr werden, als eine blosse virtuose Leistung, nur so kann das Stück seine Geschickte erzählen. Und erst dann entscheiden die virtuosen Qualitäten des Interpreten über den Erfolg der Geschichte. Nur erstklassige Virtuosen können dieses Werk wirklich zur Geltung bringen. Ohne eine Technik Premier Cru Deluxe geht die Sache gnadenlos unter. Und das passiert leider alltäglich. Hier nicht. Cziffra hat sein ganzes Werkzeug als Pianist und Musiker ausgepackt und das 2. Klavierkonzert zum Leben erweckt und zum Sprechen gebracht. Definitiv eine Referenzaufnahme!!!

Did he ever play Rach's concerto no 3 ? . I could not find it.

la doublette rachmaninoff-cziffra c'est du petit lait. Difficile de faire mieux...

23:03 22:33

Bravo!! I want to recommend this powerful rendition of the concerto by a long-forgotten Chinese pianist in a recent performance in Shanghai: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r8iKFexc6to.html

This is great but it does sound like Cziffra at all