Liszt: Fantasy on Hungarian Folk-tunes, S123

Hungarian born György Cziffra (1921–1994) was one of the most celebrated and individual piano virtuosos of the post-war decades in Europe, especially noted for his powers of improvisation and as a Liszt pianist.

In 1950 Cziffra was arrested after he attempted to escape from Hungary’s Soviet-sponsored regime and was severely tortured. When he was released in 1953, Cziffra started to record for the Qualiton and Supraphon labels (ICAC5008) which began to circulate in Western Europe, propelling him to legendary status. When Russia invaded Hungary, Cziffra fled to Vienna making his debut there in November 1956, with outstanding success. Debuts elsewhere in Europe followed. Cziffra gained international stardom not without critical disfavour, adhering to a nineteenth-century approach to music that allowed for taking ‘liberties’ with the texts.

Cziffra settled in France. He retired from recording in 1986 and left the concert platform in 1988. In the same year, France named him a cultural ambassador to a newly liberalised Hungary. He set up the Fondation Cziffra with his wife who runs it today.

These live recordings have never been issued commercially before.

The Grieg Concerto is typical of Cziffra’s ‘startling and mercurial quality’ while the Liszt Concerto and Fantasy on Hungarian Folk Themes are very much in the style with which Liszt ‘loved to tease and astonish his adoring audiences’. (Bryce Morrison)

‘Cziffra always held miniatures in special affection’ – the Lully Gavotte and Scarlatti Sonata K.96 are ‘infused with all of his unique tangy brilliance and bravura’. (Bryce Morrison)

After one recital in London, The Daily Telegraph said the audience ‘witnessed feats of piano playing probably never to be equalled, certainly never surpassed, in their lifetime’, and Cziffra ‘combined the precision of a metronome with the electrical discharge of a thunderstorm’. For the Paris press, ‘he was greater than Horowitz’ and for Marcel Dupré, the great French organist, he was quite simply ‘the reincarnation of Liszt’. As Bryce Morrison states, ‘Either way, (Cziffra) hardly invites a middle course or compromise. Above all, you could never ignore this artist who occupies a unique place in the pianistic Parthenon.’

Although the works of Liszt were not a central part of Richter’s repertoire, he was one of the twentieth century’s important Liszt interpreters and was deeply committed to the works which he did play. In this collection we can hear his delicacy, tenderness and great lyric power in the two Liebesträume and contrasting ferocity in the Mephisto Waltz No.1. These are new digital restorations.

No other pianist is as closely connected with the music of Franz Liszts as Georges Cziffra. The Hungarian-French virtuoso, who died in 1994, was one of the best Liszt interpreters of all time. His recording of the composer's two piano concertos together with other pieces for piano and orchestra are among the highlights of his discography.

In April of this year PentaTone released the debut album of exclusive artist Nareh Arghamanyan, born in Armenia who was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory at the age of 14 (youngest ever). This Rachmaninov recital was very well received. Classics today gave it a 10/10 and uses it as benchmark recording. This recording has already generated great reviews in the US.

IRENE SCHARRER, though perhaps the least remembered of the major Matthay pupils, was the earliest to record, beginning in 1909 at the age of 21.That in itself is a credit to her early fame, which she established through an extrovert, but always musical, virtuosity.

She excelled in such works as the Chopin Etudes, nine of which she recorded, and in other brilliant pieces such as those here by Scarlatti and Liszt, but the poise and refinement of her Chopin nocture or the slow movement of the Mozart sonata reveal another side to her playing that is sadly underrepresented on disc. Her final recording, of the Litolff Scherzo, was also her most famous; in its day it was a best seller and was responsible for putting that work on the musical map. This set reissues for the first time all Scharrer’s electrical recordings and also an example of every work she recorded in the acoustic era (pre 1925) that was not later remade as an electrical recording. For completeness, a discography of all her other acoustic recordings is also included.

The second recording for Warner Classics by the critically acclaimed Hungarian pianist.

Farkas’ first recording, 2008’s ‘An Evening With Liszt’ was lauded throughout the European press, and won him the 2009 Franz Liszt International Grand Prix du Disque of the Hungarian Liszt Society.

Cziffra was renowned with critics and audiences for being a popular Liszt interpreter. This CD brings together four important compositions for piano and orchestra recorded live in Rome, Milan and Venice between 1958 and 1960.

A glorious programme which showcases the talents of Elisso Bolkvadze. This fine pianist has had the opportunity to work with many musical greats, including – Pierre Petit, Zubin Mehta and the legendary Van Cliburn, who was struck by her sonority and subtlety of touch.