Added: 5 years ago
From: Sissco
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  • Liszt playing Liszt.

  • wat

    no

  • 100 percent speed hack...

  • Here's a tip, if you ever want to learn a piece, don't watch a Cziffra performance of it. Your self esteem will never recover

  • Is that speed POSSIBLE?

  • The one who came up with the idea to turn the video upside down during the theme have earned himself a beating though...

  • @Padachan This is just Cziffra showing off how he can play just as good upside down.

  • nothing more simple...

  • This is just so ridiculous. I don't even know how this is possible. How, Cziffra, how!?

  • My god, it's tickling my ears!

  • 2.02 - 2.12. He needs a little extra concentration to play about 10 notes a second in his right hand.

  • CZIFFRA LOOKS LIKE FRANKENSTEIN FROM 1:55

  • Liszt knows i only have 10 fingers yet , he likes composing pieces for 20 fingered person...like the guy called Cziffra!

  • absolutely incredible...

    

  • This is the best visual performance of cziffra on youtube. He's like a bugatti veyron supercar. This is him cruising at about 200mph. Crushingly fast but very much in control. I'd love to SEE his performance of Islamey which must be about 250mph. Since he designed his scary transcriptions, they'll be at 268mph. No wonder audiences clapped for 20 minutes.

  • This was Stalin & Lennin's regime, just like hitler. Sad nothing has changed. Great people are tortured for the sake of greed and ignorance. He left Hungary very sadly, not because of his own people but of the russians.

  • Gnomes Gonzaless !.... :p

  • - ARRAU -

  • Hes a Super Ninja.

  • When he looks up into the camera at the end after that performance...

  • I was considering to try learning this piece, but then I saw this video... Cziffra plays this so well, it's almost depressing!!

  • Gnomenreigen is the worst dungeon ever!

  • To quote from the movie "A Beautiful Mind", one of John Nash's fellow mathematicians asks, "John, what is the difference between 'genius' and 'most genius'?", to which J.N. replies, "QUITE A LOT!" All of which is my way of saying that Cziffra certainly qualifies as "Most Genius"!!

  • I can't believe this technically hard piece could be played so light and delicate touch, even if he woluld have had not only ten fingers

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  • fuck these damned little gnomes!!! I can see them everywhere now!! O_O

    great playing! :D

  • Why does watching Cziffra make me crack up unfailingly?? he's just too good...

  • An extremely lyrical interpretation.  Lovely!!

  • Limpide.

  • Nothing boring in his playing, not just fast but full of character and energy, indeed a monster!!

  • I can see the gnomes dance so cheerfully! :) What an interpretation...

    Would send Bolet back to school (no disrespect btw, I'm talking about this very piece).

  • wooaaah it's upside down!

  • As a prisoner in Hungary from 1950-1953 he was made to carry masssive blocks of marble to build a university staircase which stretch the ligaments in his right hand. His captures knowing he was a pianist also tortured his hands. The heavy lifting also damaged the ligaments in his back and as a result he wore a surgical corset for many years. Wonderful that he was then able to play so effortlessly after suffering mans inhumanity to man.

  • What Grade is this piece in?

    Just want to know

  • @123mazeppa Very, very advanced

  • 5 people failed to learn this piece...

  • Dexterity..

  • @97boskeys, read his momoirs "Cannons and Flowers" It was the Communists who jailed him for trying to escape from Hungary. They made him carry rocks, until his wrists nearly fell apart :-( Nevertheless, he practiced and built back his piano playing, but had to use leather bands to hold his joints together for a long time :-( If you read his memoirs, you will love him even more as a person.

  • Such technique. Him and horowitz are two of the best modern time pianist.

  • God

  • four hours a day is bullshit. if you want to get to a high level, you should start out with a few hours and as you get more stamina and technique you play more and more until you're playing up to nine hours a day. a third year piano major should be practicing their own music for sixty hours a week. along with an additional seven hours for accompanying other people.

  • @ifreshwater non sense-stop with the shoulds

  • W  O W

  • ...delicato e maestoso...

  • omg (Y)

  • 1:30-1:33..CRISPY!!!

  • this is totally orgasmic

  • Uncanny connection with his instrument, the like of which us mortals can only ever dream of.

  • @LeroyJacksonJones go visit a fucking eye doctor

  • I don't think you know what "negro" means

  • Such sensational hands!!

  • cziffra is one of the true liszt masters...superb technique and expression

  • Just answer the question "how many years do I have to practice to run as fast as Usaine Bolt". And he doesn't even have to know how to read music while he is running/

  • He plays if "so fast" because he can. As for Liszt, he was a showman, who also was a brilliant, possibly the most brilliant technical virtuoso ever, and if he could play this fast, I:m sure he did.

  • haha made me laugh :P

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  • i agree, the speed of murray perahia's version is perfect

  • That's about the best performance I've ever heard of this piece. I don't think it can get any better than that.

  • Mercy.

    Not a single note was "banged" in this.  -Impossible-.

  • He's not THAT good.

    Oh wait. He is.

  • HIs articulation is incredible. But he brings sounds out of the piano that are inhuman.

    But he is is so gentle with the music too. It never sounds forced, even when played fast.

    Pianists like him come around a generation or so.

  • I dont even know to read music but have saved up enough money to rent a piano...I want to play these pieces. Can anyone tell me how long it will take for me to come to this level...if ever??Also is reading this sort of music very difficult or what???

  • Thanks for your reply...I have booked a teacher, but I am over 20...I did find my fingers stiff...but I will still give it a try...

  • With a teacher directing you , you should be OK. But you cannot expect playing this from the first day. You first need to know how to read music..which is the easiest part of music in all. Then comes technique and playing pieces.

    Good luck!

  • I don't think that reading music is the easiest part. For me it's like it takes a long time to read that stuff and then i got it in my mind and don't need the sheet music anymore. The fun and easy part for me is to interpret pieces and work on dynamics and articulation.

  • @LazyBastard69 Agreed. From my experience, there are two types of musicians: the readers and the memorizers. The readers never learn to memorize because reading is easier, and the memorizers never learn to read because memorizing is easier. This of course does not even take into account those who can figure out music by ear.

  • @nanotechxe LOL

  • laugh loud.....one day ill shuv the laughter up yours!!!

  • It depends how quickly people learn. You still started at a young age. I'm not saying you can't play anything if your above the age of 16. You can of course, but it takes hard work. You , sir , know nothing about the piano. Your very lucky that you learn quickly but others dont swallow things like you apperantly do.

  • I may not be a professor, but you can't say I know nothing about about piano since the fact that you don't even know anything about me... And what do you know that I don't, your one year older than me!! -.-

  • Show us! Surely you've got a video phone to take to your raves. Let's see a bit of Alkan please.

  • @Jim341046

    Sure, I uploaded yesterday actually!! just check my profil

  • Wow that's great. I had a look on your profile and didn't see it. Send me a link to the video if you can.

  • Hmm, a video? This is just a audio recording with some scores since I haven´t got anything good to film with, sure I got a phone to film with and I have tried but the audio did really suck you could barley hear something...

  • How old are you?

  • still it will take years for u to get to this technical level, unless ur like ray charles and just know the game

  • @nanotechxe without a teacher you will need about two years if you play as much as me ^^ i do it by this way and i learnd reading sheets well and gnomenreigen to 1:30 ^^ a teacher tells you what you are doing wrong and can give you tips so tahat it doesn´t take so long but it´s possible. good luck

  • @nanotechxe If you want to get to a high level do an hour a day and you'll get there.

  • @Haydenbrooks83 an hour a day is a joke for a high level. you need to practice about 4 hours. and i mean concentrated practice. not diddling around.

  • Wow, that was an amazing display of virtuosity.

  • Cziffra dazzles no matter how many times. such lughtness, quick three fingered repeated chords. He  had it plus style yet they say his Mozart was irst clas too.God i wish i could have attended.Volodos is great Lisztian and he speaks SCHUBert's language like a RICHTER . What makes these men?

  • sagol toooooooo

  • Can someone tell me how to develop technical delicacy in this etude?

    Do I have to be very accurate in the beginning? (because it sounds like broken chords in most parts.)

  • everyone has his own style

  • Practice, practice, and more practice. You have to reach a point where playing those notes is like instinct, because Liszt really does leave NO room or error. Just keep a loose wrist with a firm 5th finger to bring out the melody, and with enough time, you can make it sing too.

    Good luck! :)

  • Thanks, that helps... A LOT. Flicking the wrist makes it easier.

  • really slow really slow and watch your fraising and articaultion

  • Yes, absolutely. It's insanely difficult to make it sound like actual chords instead of a mess, but once you pull it off it sounds beautiful.

  • awesome

  • Do you note the black band he wears on his right wrist? It is to remember how he was caged as a Hungarian Roma in Hitler's concentration camps. His hands were crush but amazingly he worked until he could fill the world with his wonderful playing. Fasinating story!!!!!

  • Thank you so much for that information!

    No question he's been there...

  • It was not a concentration camp.

  • Your story is almost true. He was enlisted into Horthy's army in the 2nd world war, he was a prisoner of war, but he was not in Hitler's KZ. He was imprisoned from 1953 to 1956 by the communists. After the second world war he played in bars in Budapest as the communists did not let him to live a life he wanted and deserved... The Hungarian communists imprisoned him after an unsuccesful trial to escape from stalin's red block...

  • @97boskeys hahaha where did you pick that story up?

  • @Tetanus512 its on wikipedia..

  • @97boskeys Actually, he served for axis military and was even a tank commander briefly.

  • @97boskeys You are wrong! He hasn't ever been in a Hitler's concentration camp. Were the damned communists that tortured him after taking power over Hungary. His son György Jr. almost died due to the infra-human treatment they suffered.

  • @mugargusci ... I went to music school with Gyorgy Jr. and always wondered, why the teachers asked him to play after class :-) He was a genius as well. He conducted many of his father's concertos later. (see: Toten Tanz) ... About history: Yeah, President Roosewelt gave Hungary to Stalin, 45 years of occupation followed, socialist-communist experience :-( Few of Cziffra's family members starved to death ... Sad story, but they successfully defected in 1956 and had a fantastic carrier abroad :-)

  • @97boskeys so saaad :(

  • @97boskeys FasCinating spelling, too : )

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  • @97boskeys An attempted escape from Soviet-dominated Hungary led to imprisonment and communist forced labour in the period 1950–1953.

  • @97boskeys it's not to remember... he still had problems on his tendons and articulations... amazing : i know!

  • @97boskeys

    Sorry to disppoint you. The communists mistreated him and he flew with child and wife in 1956

    , therefore he stole a steam locomotive !

  • @97boskeys Sure, blame the germans!!!

    He was caged by the communists!!!

    38 idiots

  • This is the best recording of this piece that I've ever heard, but if you listen to Arrau's version, I think the last twenty seconds of his version is better. Cziffra was smooth throughout the piece then becomes a little overpowering and too quick at the end.

  • LOOK AT THE LITTLE GNOMES RUNNING AMOK

  • lol

  • Wonderful hands...such an aestethe!

    Thank you for the emotion you never fail to convey Mr Cziffra.

  • THIS IS THE BEST!!! 5/5

  • On ESPN.

  • thank you for the best interpretation of this wonderful piece. such BEAUTIFUL feeling & slender playing ... he truly was a virtuoso

    thank you virtuoso pianist for making my day. Cziffra truly was something else..

    THANK YOU MR.CZIFFRA

  • best recording of gnomenreigen ever i've heard! I love it

  • Lol I feel high listening to the treble hahaha

  • very creative shot from under the piano. Disorienting view of Cziffra's upside-down hands really gives a flavor to this piece and the video.

  • I can see the gnomes dancing :)

  • I love it, it shows another side to virtuosity. In many ways this delicate, fleeting touch is more impressive than thunder.

  • one of the few people worth envying...his left hand omfg^^

  • Where music stops and sports starts? ;)

  • A Hungarian name :)) type it in google, I dont think there are too much pianists with this (nice) name.

  • I think this the most impressive performance of this piece, but listen to the ending of Arrau's version, just that portion I think is better.

  • Virtuosoooooooooooooooooo

  • Very impressive. I agree, Cziffra is the best with this piece. The beginning is so smooth...

  • Claudio Aru?

    uhhhhhhh

    no.

    Cziffra is by far, by an incomparable margin, better. I know, its not always fair, each context is different, pace, tempo and so on...but please, in this one instance, Cziffra has the hand's down best recording of Gnomengreigen. Technically, he is by far the finest who ever lived. If you disagree, put it up...show me. It's not out there.

  • Amazing, Murray P is wonderful on this too.

  • Yes but rather polite in Liszt . He is better in the more classical style.

  • Liszt himself was better :)

  • are yu sure ? :D

  • i don't understand people who criticize this brilliant performances.. i bet they can't play it as well and with the huge expression as cziffra does

  • wrong note at 1:26, i think [the E]

    lol it's supposed to be an E flat on my music at least

  • I think you're right, sounded odd to my ear too.

  • yes true!

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  • No way. He didn't sacrifice speed for sound quality. He plays it fast but with tons of expression...

  • phew!

  • 1:24

  • 1.24

  • la reincarnazione di Liszt!

  • Me too............

    lol

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  • 5 years? you're kidding right?

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  • fuk me that gys insane

  • It is not too fast! This fast tempo gives it special spark...I truly like it!

  • It's called rubato.

  • He plays everything rubato without exception. Speeding up at places making it unconfortable to listen. for me that is :-)

  • Fabulous!

  • my piano teacher has been working on this piece for 2 years now o_O

    one day i will play this as well!!!

  • well ur an idiot

    this piece is VERY hard to play....did U ever try it?

    NO!

    so hah!

    it takes a LOT of practice, as u can see!

  • Are you retarded?

    Good luck learning a measure in a few days..

  • This isn't too fast, watch any recording, any decent recording is played only a little slower if not the same speed.

  • The point is to not make mistakes here and there. Your UH audition is going to suck because Gnomenreigen isn't a piece you audition with after playing it for only a few months.

  • Prouvez-le!Vous ne devez commetrre aucune faute!Jamais vous n'arriverez à la cheville d'un Cziffra!

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  • hi Narutard! =D

  • What a deep play...one of the best pianist of all time

  • notice the singular form of the word "pianist". This means Cziffra is indeed the best pianist of all time. $10 million prize for a counterexample.