One of my very favourite pianists is the Hungarian, Georges Cziffra, who died in January 1994. A pianistic marriage of musicality, sensitivity & the most hair-raising technique of all the great pianists, I offer two examples of his playing; This! and that!
For more information try: here.
Marcel has found countless Cziffra performances for me at a very reasonable price. Good luck!

OK, once again I find I cannot edit my post...( )so here is a postscript to it.
1) Sorry about the poor sound quality on the Schumann.
2) A brief piece on Cziffra from Marcel.

Ritz, there is a 15 minute limit on editing posts. Unfortunately, a few people (a very few) were going back and editing old posts, apparently to remove comments or statements that they wish they hadn't said. In some cases, it made what later posters said look ridiculous. The choice was to allow people to go back and destroy old threads or to place a time limit on editing.

Fair comment, DG, all is clear!

Thanks, Ritz. I'm feeling a bit misunderstood lately, but you've just made me feel a bit better.

-and soon, DG, I hope you will be feeling a little more better...

57 responses to 'What Song Do You Like To Get Depressed Over', and none to this post, and just one to my Handel question...?...
Why does the sentiment 'why bother' occur to me more and more...

Well, it wasn't entirely wasted, and I thank you. I checked your URL and was astonished. It is perfect and marvelloous. Yet I don't recall ever hearing the name Georges Cziffra.

My husband draws a lot of comfort from listening to music and I would like to buy at least the Liszt album.

Amazon.com has

Georges Cziffra Plays Chopin, Liszt & Franck (EMI Classic Archive)

I don't know how YouTube works. Can I buy it through them?

And how is his name pronounced? SHIFFra?

So again, thank you for sharing with us.

quote:

Originally posted by babthrower:

I don't know how YouTube works. Can I buy it through them?

I can only answer this question. YouTube doesn't sell anything, sorry to say. It only shows videos.

Well, Jusork, that's cool, too. I thought the info at YouTube was really helpful, and I've always had good experiences with Amazon.com, so I'll just go ahead and order the "fruit salad" CD, Chopin, Liszt & Franck.

I had wondered if I could download individual items onto a CD (data-type, like I use for backup), paying for each one I download, and just play the CD on my CD player. But I'm really naive when it comes to that sort of thing.

Hi Babs

quote:

Georges Cziffra Plays Chopin, Liszt & Franck (EMI Classic Archive)

I have this DVD and it is fabulous. It features his son (same name, Jr.) who tragically died in a fire when still very young.
If an all-Cziffra DVD is overfacing, and you prefer something more all-embracing which also includes the Great Man, I highly recommend 'The Art of the Piano here which is really excellent, and so informative...very accessible, too, with none of the lofty & distasteful arrogant jargon which so often tarnishes the sparkle and joy of the goods on display.

As a footnote (ugh, sorry!) I do not expect 100 replies to my posts in the Classical forum, but one or two genuine replies are very gratefully received. Thanks for the input! Whichever you choose for your husband I promise he will love it. On balance, I would try The Art of the Piano. If he likes the Cziffra bit, then try the other one (if you can splash out willy-nilly!)
Cheers, Ritz... ...

PS Cziffra Gallicised his first name from the Hungarian on his settling in France, and subsequently pronounced it 'Jerj', similar to the first vowel sound in'gerbil'. His surname I have heard as 'Chiffrah' , 'Shiffrah', 'Sheefrah', etc., but I am fairly sure that he himself pronounced it 'Tseefrah'. However the only person who could probably tell us for sure, died in 1994, his widow finally passing away last year.
PPS If you can access his autobiography, 'Cannons & Flowers' it contains a CD of his playing inside the front cover. A great read of triumphs over dreadful hardships (he was imprisoned for his politcal beliefs and had to carry 60-kilo concrete blocks for weeks, which permanently damaged his right forearm) and a fascinating picture of Europe during & after the Second World War. It is hard to find, however, and it took me weeks to locate my own copy, so I wish you well!

quote:

Originally posted by babthrower:
I had wondered if I could download individual items onto a CD (data-type, like I use for backup), paying for each one I download, and just play the CD on my CD player. But I'm really naive when it comes to that sort of thing.

You could do that on downloading programs like Napster (if they have anything on him). I just searched his name on iTunes and found 75 songs by him, and some pretty comprehensive looking albums. Each one is 99 cents.