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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Georges Cziffra plays Chopin & LisztCziffra in Tokyo 1964
Chopin: | Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31 Waltz No. 1 in E flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 18 Waltz No. 4 in F major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 34 No. 3 Impromptu No. 3 in G flat major, Op. 51 Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' | Liszt: | Rhapsodie espagnole, S254 Grand galop chromatique, S219 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 6 in D flat major |
Gyorgy (Georges) Cziffra (1921-1994) was a child prodigy, a phenomenal pianist, born into poverty in Budapest before adopting French citizenship having escaped from his Soviet-dominated homeland in 1956 after enduring deprivation, hard labour and imprisonment. In a breathtaking career, Cziffra achieved almost iconic status but at the same time remained a controversial figure. After the tragic death of his son, Gyorgy Junior, in 1981, Cziffra's life changed and he was never quite the same man again. Cziffra died in 1994 leaving the Cziffra Foundation at Senlis devoted to helping young pianists. 'Greater than Horowitz, he combines the precision of a metronome with the electrical discharge of a thunderstorm' are some of the quotes describing his pianism. His Liszt produced a near hysterical reaction where he found an ideal outlet for his hair-raising pianism while his Chopin was highly individual and controversial. The Tokyo recital from 1964 represents a very high point in his playing capturing the early Cziffra at his mercurial best. He had only started his career in 1956 and by 1964 was totally international. The tapes have been sourced from the Cziffra Foundation. "Judging from recordings of live concerts, the stimulation of an audience spurred Cziffra to reach for his limits and beyond; the pianist repeatedly demonstrated some of the most daring risk-taking in musical history. The 1964 live Tokyo recording contains unimaginable renditions of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody n°6 and Grand Galop chromatique, for example. The palpable electricity and generosity of his playing, reflecting the warmth and kindness of the man, were the sources of his public adulation" Pierre-Martin Juban writing in the International Piano Quarterly. “Traditionalists will no doubt baulk at his Chopin which sometimes pays scant regard to the markings in the score. Yet the results are almost always thrilling, and especially so in the almost improvisatory way he drives the music inexorably towards the cataclysmic climax of the Fourth Ballade. In the Liszt items Cziffra seems to be even more in his element, teasing the audience with the sheer velocity of his finger work and his surefire consecutive octaves.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Sviatoslav Richter - The Master Volume 10
Chopin: | Prelude Op. 28 No. 6 in B minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 7 in A major Prelude Op. 28 No. 8 in F sharp minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 in E major Prelude Op. 28 No. 10 in C sharp minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 11 in B major Prelude Op. 28 No. 19 in E flat major Prelude Op. 28 No. 17 in A flat major Prelude Op. 28 No. 23 in F major Prelude Op. 28 No. 24 in D minor Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op. 60 Nocturne No. 4 in F major, Op. 15 No. 1 Polonaise No. 7 in A flat major, Op. 61 'Polonaise-fantaisie' | Liszt: | Piano Sonata in B minor, S178 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Scherzo in G minor, S153 (1827) Nuages gris, S199 Consolation, S. 172 No. 6 in E major Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 17 in D minor KLAVIERSTUCK IN F SHARP MAJOR, S193 (after 1860) Mephisto Polka, S217 Transcendental Studies, S139 (selection) Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10 & 11 Un Sospiro from 3 Concert Studies, S144 No. 3 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 |
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| |  | The Great Pianists Volume 6 - Eugène d’AlbertMasters of the Piano Roll series
Albert, E: | Airs from 'Tiefland' | Bach, J S: | Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor, BWV582 | Beethoven: | Bagatelles (6), Op. 126: No. 4 Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 movements 1 & 2 | Chopin: | Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 Nocturne No. 3 in B major, Op. 9 No. 3 | Debussy: | Préludes - Book 2: No. 6, General Lavine - eccentric | Liszt: | Valse-Impromptu, S.213 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 | Saint-Saëns: | Etude en forme de valse Op. 52 No. 6 | Schubert: | Impromptu in G flat major, D899 No. 3 |
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| |  | The Great Pianists Volume 3 - Ferruccio BusoniMasters of the Piano Roll series
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| |  | Virtuosity of Earl Wild
Albert, E: | Scherzo in F Sharp Major, Op. 16, No. 2 | Chopin: | Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' | Dohnányi: | Concert Etude, Op. 28 No. 6 in F minor (Capriccio) Capriccio in B minor, Op. 2, No. 4 | Liszt: | Grand galop chromatique, S219 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 2 in C sharp minor Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 4 in E flat major Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 12 in C sharp minor Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Frühlingsnacht (after Schumann, Op. 39 No. 12), S568 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 2 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 5 'La Chasse' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 10 'Appassionata' La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Transcendental Study, S139 No. 2 in A minor Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215/1 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 Transcendental Study, S139 No. 7 'Eroica' Waldesrauschen, S145 No. 1 | Mendelssohn: | Songs without Words, Op. 67 No. 4 | Moszkowski: | Étincelles, Op. 36 No. 6 | Tausig: | Concert arrangement of Schubert's, Marche militaire, Op. 51 No. 1 | Tchaikovsky: | Scherzo à la Russe, Op. 1 No. 1 | Wild: | Dance of the Four Swans (after Tchaikovsky) |
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| |  | Wild About Liszt
Albert, E: | Scherzo in F Sharp Major, Op. 16, No. 2 (2 performances) | Chopin: | Grande Polonaise Op. 22 | Liszt: | Ballade No. 2 in B minor, S171/R16 Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 4) Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 7) Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 7) Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 4) Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 5) (2 performances) Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 6) Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215/1 Mephisto-Polka, S217ii Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Fantasy & Fugue in G minor (J S Bach BWV542) for piano, S463 Symphony No. 1 (after Beethoven): excerpt Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera Widmung S566 after Schumann (Liebeslied) Mes joies – Nocturne d'après un chant polonais de Fr. Chopin, S480/5bis Die Lorelei Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 5 'La Chasse' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' (2 performances) Étude d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S. 140 No. 2 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Piano Sonata in B minor, S178 La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Un Sospiro from 3 Concert Studies, S144 No. 3 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 (2 performances) Etude de concert No. 2 in F minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 3 'Paysage' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 2 in A minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 9 'Ricordanza' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 10 'Appassionata' | Respighi: | Notturno | Wild: | Larghetto from the Piano Concerto No. 2 (after Chopin) |
DISC ONE: - 'Liszt the Poet' July 26, 1986 - 'Liszt the Transcriber' July 28, 1986 - Documentary on 'Wynyard' and Liszt July 24 - 28, 1986 DISC TWO: - 'Liszt the Virtuoso' July 30, 1986 - 'An Evening with Earl Wild' BBC-TV September 21, 1974 - CBS-TV Sunday Morning with Earl Wild 198 - Dutch TV interview with Earl Wild on the occasion of his 90th Birthday Concert in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw September 25, 2005 AUDIO TRACKS: - Earl Wild speaking to the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, November 6, 2003 - Mannes School International Keyboard Festival interview with Earl Wild - moderator Donald Manildi July 20, 2003 NYC - John Amis on BBC's 'Talking About Music' with guest Earl Wild 1986 - Sharon Eisenhour interviews Earl Wild on WUHY Philadelphia July, 1982 “Wild is a major pianist whose modesty has partly concealed what these two DVDs reveal: he is a staggering Liszt interpreter, and here we have many hours of his playing and talking. Unfortunately the discs are extraordinarily confusingly laid out.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 *** “Earl Wild (born 1915) is the last great representative of those pianists directly influenced by the playing of Rachmaninov and Hoffman: he has an all-encompassing repertoire; he composes; he transcribes; he has one of the finest mechanisms in history; he produces some of the most beautiful sounds you will ever hear from the piano (as he says himself, he was brought up to play as though every member of the audience were blind).
Among history's very greatest Liszt pianists, he is heard here in no fewer than three fulllength Liszt recitals. They were recorded before an audience over three evenings in July 1986 at Wynyard, the ancestral home of the Ninth Marquess of Londonderry, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Liszt.
'Liszt the Poet' includes the Ballade No 2, a wonderfully proportioned Dante Sonata, Funérailles and Mephisto Waltz No 1 with Wild's own and (in my opinion) much improved ending; 'Liszt the Transcriber' has 'hyphenated' Bach, Verdi, Schumann, Chopin, Paganini (stunning) and the Beethoven-Liszt Symphony No 1; 'Liszt the Virtuoso' is dominated by the B minor Sonata. Though not professionally filmed, the sound recording is quite acceptable while the picture quality is second generation video. There is also an enjoyable, homespun documentary of Wild's visit to Wynyard, the tour of the jaw-dropping estate and its immense house (boasting its own organ and played briefly by the pianist) conducted by the piano-loving Marquess himself.
On the second DVD is a 1974 BBC recital/ interview with the much-missed Robin Ray who elicits the memorable quote that 'the difference between playing a piece like the d'Albert Scherzo and, say, Beethoven Op 111 is that in the d'Albert you are a decorator; in the Beethoven you are an architect. A pianist should be able to be both.' There's an interview on the occasion of Wild's 90th birthday concert at the Concertgebouw and an additional 124 minutes of audio features: Wild lecturing (with some wickedly funny anecdotes) in 2003, interviewed by John Amis for the BBC in 1986 and Sharon Eisenhour for Philadelphia's WUHY station in 1982. What a cornucopia!” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Sviatoslav Richter in the 1950s, Vol. 5
Debussy: | Préludes - Book 1: No. 11, La Danse de Puck | Liszt: | Pensée des Morts (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 4) Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 17 in D minor Consolation, S. 172 No. 6 in E major Scherzo and March, S. 177 | Mozart: | Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K310 | Schubert: | Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat major, D960 | Schumann: | Fugues (4), Op. 72 | Szymanowski: | Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 21 |
Recorded Moscow 1957-1958 | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | The Stephen Hough Piano Collection
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| |  | Pachmann: The Mythic Pianist -1907-1927 Recordings
Brahms: | Capriccio in C sharp minor, Op. 76 No. 5 | Chopin: | Ballade No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 47 (2nd half) Nocturne in E minor, KKIV/b Nocturne No. 8 in D flat major, Op. 27 No. 2 Nocturne No. 4 in F major, Op. 15 No. 1 Nocturne No. 12 in G major, Op. 37 No. 2 Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 Mazurka No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 50 No. 2 Mazurka No. 38 in F sharp minor, Op. 59 No. 3 Mazurka No. 45 in A minor, Op. 67 No. 4 Mazurka No. 24 in C major, Op. 33 No. 3 Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 29 Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E major 'Tristesse' Étude Op. 10 No. 5 in G flat major 'Black Key' Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor ‘Revolutionary' Étude Op. 25 No. 5 in E minor Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major ‘Raindrop' Prelude Op. 28 No. 24 in D minor | Liszt: | Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 (2nd half) | Mendelssohn: | Prelude & Fugue for piano in E minor, Op. 35 No. 1 Song without Words, Op. 30 No. 6 in F sharp minor 'Venezianisches Gondellied No. 2' Song without Words, Op. 67 No. 4 in C major 'Spinning Song' or 'Bee's Wedding' | Raff: | La Fileuse Op. 157 No. 2 | Schumann: | Novelette, Op. 21 No. 1 in F major |
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| |  | Chopin: 12 Études, Op. 10and works by Gubaidulina, Liszt & Dubugnon
DDD | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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