Complete Studio Record... - Cziffra - Audio CD (Arrives in 50 days)

The phenomenal pianist Georges Cziffra was born in Budapest on November 5th, 1921. To celebrate his centenary Warner Classics has released this 41-CD set of his studio recordings, which cover a period of 30 years.

“A hundred years after his birth, Cziffra is now perhaps best known for his transcriptions, his artistic freedom, and his Liszt recordings,” writes Pianist magazine. “Not only was Liszt his compatriot, but the two men shared a fantastical, improvisatory sensibility which unites them in an almost mystical fashion; and they both also held the music of Chopin as the highest pinnacle of keyboard writing.”

Music by Liszt and Chopin duly takes the lion’s share in the box, but among the other composers to feature are Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, Ravel, Bach, Couperin and Rameau. Cziffra’s improvisations and transcriptions – of sometimes extravagant virtuosity – will grab the listener’s attention, and there are official world premiere releases of a 1967 studio recital from Tokyo and a live recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini in Paris in 1957.

There was much turbulence in Cziffra’s life, even after he had settled in France in 1956 and achieved a briliant international reputation. In his later years (he died in 1994) he became a mentor to young musicians, establishing the Cziffra Foundation in the historic city of Senlis, north of Paris.

Label: Plg France | Origin: Holland

📌 .. Studio Recordings 1956-1986