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George Cziffra's Legendary 1964 Tokyo Recital · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:10
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:14
  I hope you will consider subscribing to this
• 0:17
  podcast through my Substack page, and I've provided
• 0:20
  a link to do so in my episode comments. Well,
• 0:24
  what... is there to say about that legendary
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  Hungarian pianist, George Chifra? who lived from
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  1921 until 1994. He was basically a law unto
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  himself and kind of a throwback to an era where
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  one could get away with virtuosity as an end
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  in itself. And certainly that was true when it
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  came to Cifra's transcriptions and improvisations,
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  or when he played certain pieces like Liszt's
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  Hungarian Rhapsodies, or when he recorded the
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  most insane edition. of the Chopin etudes ever,
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  and I adore his Chopin etudes, as some of you
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  may know. But Chifra also could be as serious
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  and focused and forthright an interpreter as
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  they come. And we have both sides of the Chifra
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  equation presented in a remarkable recital that
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  he gave in Tokyo on April 23, 1964. devoted to
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  music of Chopin and Liszt. This recital was issued
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  on the Medici Masters label from the producers
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  of the BBC Legends series. The recital begins
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  with Chopin's F Minor Fantasy, Op. 49. This is
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  a performance that really moves, and the fast
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  tempos never sound impatient. And there's a lot
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  of wonderfully nuanced phrasing, and every once
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  in a while, Chifra amplifies. bass lines with
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  an added octave or filled out chord, but he does
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  so discreetly. He doesn't always do this discreetly
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  when he plays Liszt, but he does this more discreetly
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  in Chopin. I think it's a marvelous performance,
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  actually. And this is followed by... a really
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  well -paced second scherzo of Chopin, and it's
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  full of imaginative touches and very shapely
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  bass lines. I just wish there was more dynamic
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  contrast, but that's okay. And two waltzes follow,
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  the E -flat Op. 18 and the F -major Op. 34 No.
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  3. These are a lot of fun to listen to. The repeated
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  notes in opus 18. Actually, I can't sing repeated
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  notes fast. But these repeated notes really take
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  wing. And while the dog chasing his tail right
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  hand cross rhythmic. Phrases in the F major waltz
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  go fast. They're not breakneck. And there are
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  cute little instances of accents and inner voices
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  and fanciful dabs of pedal that are really a
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  lot of fun. And also you hear fanciful but never
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  vulgar details like this in the G flat impromptu.
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  I really like this performance. Next is the fourth
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  ballade of Chopin, and this was always one of
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  Chifra's best pieces. I think this live version
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  is a little brisker and more capricious than
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  in his studio -recorded versions, which I frankly
• 3:34
  prefer to this live one. I have a feeling in
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  this live performance it sounds as if Chifra
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  has played this piece a few times too often.
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  The only thing I don't... really care for in
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  the Chopin A -flat Polonaise is that when Schieffer
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  gets to the central section with the left -hand
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  octaves, all of a sudden it just starts up kind
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  of fast like an octave machine, and you don't
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  really get a sense of the music emerging from
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  what has come before. Although that lyrical section
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  right after that is really imaginatively shaped.
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  However, the four pieces of Liszt that follow
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  on this recital find Cifra on his typical Lisztian
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  form, with the advantage of him being in his
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  technical prime. The introduction to the Spanish
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  Rhapsody explodes out of the starting gate. It's
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  really wild. And the variations just go helter
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  -skelter with all kinds of petulant accelerations
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  and accents that are like bombs. It's so much
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  fun. I keep using the word fun, but I can't think
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  of any other word that can describe this performance
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  other than fun to listen to. I mean, it's not
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  subtle or noble like other Spanish rhapsodies
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  out there. but it is exciting as hell. But also,
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  there's a lightness to the articulation, and
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  there's humor, and there's also color and dynamic
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  variety, so that kind of saves the interpretation.
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  The Polonaise No. 2 never really establishes
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  a steady, swaggering tempo. It kind of moves
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  and fits and starts, but Schieffer always somehow
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  holds your attention. However, this next selection
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  on this recital, this is amazing. It's the most
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  jaw -dropping, awesome, and insanely foaming
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  at the mouth performance of Liszt's Grand Gallop
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  Chromatique that you will ever hear. I guarantee
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  you this. And in this performance, Cifra's accelerations
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  and dynamic surges and... All those bits of craziness
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  totally work because they are just so nuts. They're
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  so cartoon -like. And it just creates a whole
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  sound world and aesthetic that you just have
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  to accept. It's like a Tom and Jerry cartoon
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  on amphetamines. You can't believe your ears.
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  I mean, this is the most amazing piano playing.
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  And Schaefer still seems to be on this adrenaline
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  high when he launches into the final selection,
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  the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. And I think he's
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  a little too antsy and he fusses around too much
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  with the music for it to naturally unfold and
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  take shape. And, you know, even though he plays
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  the right hand octaves, those repeated... You
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  know, even though he plays it really fast, it
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  doesn't... really have the steady build and dynamic
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  momentum and rhythmic discipline that make the
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  recordings of Horowitz and Argerich much more
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  exciting. In this sense, I think Chifra sounds
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  more excited than exciting. I think that's probably
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  because he had... put everything together and
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  put everything he had into the Grand Gallop chromatique
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  to such amazing effect. I think he really just
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  shot his wad in that piece. And basically, the
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  Sixth Rhapsody is kind of a throwaway in context.
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  But still, this is a great recital, and thank
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  goodness it was preserved. Georges Chifra, live
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  in Tokyo, April 23rd, 1964. And if you are a
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  real piano maven, and I know you are, you're
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  going to want to get this. This is Jed Disler,
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  and you've been listening to The Piano Maven,
• 7:56
  your friendly... Podcast Guide to Piano Recordings.
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  Thanks for tuning in, and I look forward to being
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  with you next time.