Ervin Nyíregyházi plays Liszt "Mazeppa"

[30gaboo]

bravo!

[jeffgrigsbyjones]

Unstoppable technique and unforgettable characterization. It's such a pity he wasn't able to exhibit his full potential. Can you imagine if his Dante Sonata was this good??

[gainweighttoday]

I don't know how on earth the name Richard Kastle reached this video... it seems Richard Kastle is the Chuck Norris of the piano... fine let it be, but then let Mr. Nyiregyházi be the Bruce Lee of the piano ;)

[liszt141]

Didn't Nyireghazi (excuse my terrible spelling) miss the 3/4 at 3:57?

[dancersover40]

Magnificent! 

[gainweighttoday]

well, there are very good Mazeppas around, but Nyiregyházi's unique character owns the show...

[Marc888ful]

It must be made clear that this is and AMPICO reproducing piano roll made by E N in about 1922. It is being played on a 5'8" Grotrian-Steinweg grand from an ARGO LP that came out in about 1968. I feel that it is about the only successful transfer from rolls to LP by some miracle. MOST all other transfers fail.

Nyiregyhazi told me that he disliked his rolls and felt that the AMPICO people were only interested in making money. However, he thought the coda of MAZEPPA came through.

[dmcII]

Wow...! Here I'm starting to feel like I'm making some progress on this dang instrument and then I hear this. Guess I'll just go back to my man-cave and settle for playing chopsticks....Bravo & thanks for posting !

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

i don't think it's speed up... fairly amazing recording for a piano roll...

[eduardofdez]

Very nice

Thanks for sharing

[paulostroff99]

Awesome

[CurzonRoad]

@paulostroff99

Many thanks to truecrypt for posting, and to Paulo for sharing!

[jaapaap5]

souvern played, amaizing technics.

I guess this is the way Liszt would have played it!

[uhartchristian]

he was a giant under the pianists..... today two pupils of eliane richepin in france are able to produce such a full and big sound: Roger Muraro and Pascal Galet. Horowitz was able to do it too and Richter. Eliane richepin studied under Cortot Yves Nat and Marguerite Long and got the Liszt technique of big round but not hard sound through bodyweight from there.

[mrjlowitz]

WOW!!!!!!!

I've never heard anything like it. I don't think the piano roll speeded up too much as it would be more noticable in the pitch.

Only Ciizzfra, Berman, young Bolet and Richter come to mind as being able to imprint the "demonic" into this kind of performance.

And yes many genius performers have had bouts of mental illness. Alcohol abuse, Manic Depression and major depression/anxiety not uncommon.

[costellopianist]

wow

[gnolti]

How early is this recording? I was only familiar with EN's later 70s comeback, by which time his technique had deteriorated somewhat -- no fast stuff at all.

[troppofiato]

This is the first time that I've heard this piece when it made any sense to me. Nyíregyházi swallows it whole - he is awesome. It's really an awful piece of music and very taxing to perform - nobody plays it as written.

[aardvaark069]

This is a piano roll. As well capture lightening in a bottle as to try to capture N's titanic pianism on a roll. I consider this NO indication of this pianists escence. It probably does indicate some of his metrical ideas though.

[talonboy5432]

Unique playing.Some say its just rushing but its odd since there is rhythm in his playing.

I would rather say that Ervin was taking rubato to the extreme(which I feel is rather refreshing to hear once in a while)

[paulostroff99]

Magnificent to the max. I'm flabbergasted!  TY.

[geertdehoux]

This performance has some interesting as 'weird' ideas as well.

Then he cut the fourth variation.

Anyhow, this is clearly the 'old' way of piano playing, with its typical ups and downs.

[piachmaninov]

Please, what does it mean up and down? Thanks. :)

[geertdehoux]

Good evening.

I just listened to this performance again and I must confess I was quite impressed, much more than I was last time.

This man was undoubtly a great pianist.

With 'ups and downs' I mean: lack of global balance, caused by very good and weak things in the performance as well.

In our days everything is much more in balance.

However, great art is not only a question of balance.

Kind greetings,

G. Dehoux.

[piachmaninov]

Lightness in playing compared to the modern pianists way? Thanks, and sorry for my bad English.

[geertdehoux]

Hello, again.

It's a real pity we've lost the great art of 'light' piano playing.

But don't forget this is not only a question of technique: the piano itself has changed a lot, too!

How would Chopin play on a modern Kawai ? Probably not the same as he could on the instruments from his time!

Kind regards,

Geert Dehoux.

[SarrasaniPianoCircus]

Wrong history of pianism. This one had to be one of the most considered.......and he was refused as pianist.

[Rlaw2222]

amazing technique

[brunoparis12]

one can say this or that on his playing, but these are so minor things compared to this uncredible technic, inspiration, passion, full envolvement. a very very few pianists actually can reach that level, musically and pianistically speaking 

one should be quite humble to criticize such a reality

[denpl]

I am on my knees before Nyiregahazi for this performance! Perfect phrasing, perfect voicing! That's how this piece should be played! AN IDEAL PERFORMANCE! Lamost sounding like an orchestral one!

[StrmUndDrng]

This is one video that one could show to prove that Nyreghyazi was indeed a great pianist, although at times he squandered his talents and many of his recordings do not meet such high standards

[chacoteris]

Although I'm no great fan of EN this is formidable!

[nathanscoleman]

did no one notice he cut out the 3rd variation?

[Lisztianpiano]

How come the quality of this performance is so much better than his recording of let's say- mephisto waltz? I think this is some quite good playing! It reminds me a bit of one of the Lazar Berman recordings in terms of speed and accuracy. The difference between this and his other recordings is quite dramatic.

[RabidCh]

Apparently it's a piano roll.

[StrmUndDrng]

omg, it is literally not physically possible to play it the way he plays it.

[pyroprince78]

was it an American or Hamburg Steinway? You gotta be careful with the American steinways nowadays. They are so up and down with quality, and good ones are hard to find. I love the Hamburg, personally.

[SurferRosa79]

wonderful piece

[drumintel]

i'm just reading the book about him by kevin bazzana so i just heard about ervin. this is truely amazing, i am very impressed

[Arush09]

I just finished it! Great book, great writing. I hope you enjoy it. Glad to see there are other Nyiregyhazi fans out there. A truly underappreciated master.

[TheJoyfulPianist]

I don't buy it that he's playing it this fast. Its superman speed.  Can someone explain?

[twooffour]

I don't get now, is this a piano roll or not?

[stienwayz]

This IS a piano roll =)

[Emlomor]

Hallucinant (les octaves alternées / chromatiques à 2'00 par exemple !!)

[slothvader]

formidable natural technique there. i like it very much, but still prefer berman's.

wasn't nyiregyhazi away from the piano living more or less on the streets for decades? that's what i read when he was 'rediscovered' in the late 1970s, but i've since heard that was much overstated.

[antoinezygfryd]

Nyiregyhazi reste un grand moment de piano dans ma vie

Merci pour l'enregistrement!

[KyotoMelody]

I just cant stop listening. Thanks for uploading.

[paulostroff99]

kyotoMelody-So glad that my sending you this treasure led to you putting it into your favourites. I too thank(and have previously thanked)true crypt for posting this absolute treasure. His is certainly one of the better music posters.Piano opera is also a great one.

[paulostroff99]

This man is inhuman! Bravo! TY.

[pinky0926]

Something about his playing makes me catch my breath.

[slothvader]

wow. i'd heard of him...1979 or so, but wow.

[cziffra1980]

I somewhat doubt that Liszt 'taught him' to do this, considering he was already long-dead when Nyiregyhazi was born.

[RabidCh]

The video was misattributed to d'Albert when it was first posted, who was indeed a pupil of Liszt. See earlier comments.

[cziffra1980]

Okay, that makes sense then. Still, this shows the dangers of throwing around these assumptions. Even if it had been the Liszt student D'Albert, could we assume that Liszt told him to do that particular detail? Apparently not...

[d60944]

I have a problem with the recordings of Nyíregyházi in that he had a terrible approach to piano tone in loud passages. While his spirit and excitement is superb, the tone falls to pieces, brittle, extremely bangy, and not at all pleasant to hear (to me). Enough to make me turn the music off. In a piano roll this ceases to be a problem: I guess the mechanism couldn't record the force applied in real life. So it's not representative of Nyíregyházi but all the better for that in my opinion :-)

[aldebussy]

MY FRIGGIN GOD...

Can I give up playing? This is JUST insane. The voicing is SO accurate and unique!

[kasyapa]

who is the guy in the pic with the moustache?

[truecrypt]

D'Albert... Please read "More info" to the right of the video.

[kasyapa]

thank you :)

[truecrypt]

Just changed! There are several versions of spelling - I picked this one from Wikipedia.

[AHN5D]

I know Nyireghazy is a very special pianist. Nevertheless I think the tempo is slightly unrealistic. If anybody can play these third inner voice at this speed, I am willing to attend that concert at any rate. Young Cziffra or young Bolet could not play the inner voice at this speed I guess.

[truecrypt]

You are absolutely right!

No doubt the speed of roll (or it's parts) was "edited". The only person I know who could play it faster (and in 6th instead of 3rds) is Richard Kastle (joke of course!)

[gainweighttoday]

I love your sarcasm :) :D

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

@truecrypt Oh God... Richard Kastle!!! lol

[1234567bryce]

@ReturnOfTheStienway 'Richard Kastle' is the most idiotic music troll ever...

[OverFjell]

@truecrypt 6ths? Are you kidding, Kastle could play it in 10ths with his nose!

[truecrypt]

@OverFjell

Can't dispute that! ;)

[hda10]

Here is not any unrealistic. Boris Berezovsky and Pavel Rajkerus plays at the same tempo or even slightly faster. Cziffra played first two sections at the same tempo or maybe a bit slower, but with perfect rhytm and staccato.

[liu868]

can anyone tell me who is he??(Erwin Nyiregházy)sounds really amazing

[kasyapa]

he is amazing ... do a google search on ervin nyiregyhazi!

[pianopera]

Dear Truecrypt,

If you type "Nyiregyhazi unleashes the full force of his fury" user Cziffra1980 shows us a link to the Nyiregyhazi-site (with "y" is correct spelling).

However on this site the roll is dated 1924 and is played back considerably slower (in a more realistic tempo I think) - another proof of the many uncertainties concerning piano roll recordings and tempi.

Btw I'm not sure to which "Erwin" the first comment here was addressed...;)

Regards, Erwin.

[DocMatt64]

C'est un enregistrement de Nyiregyhazi datant de 1920!

[truecrypt]

Thank you, DocMatt64!

I just found out that the roll belongs to Erwin Nyiregházy!!!!

[d60944]

What a great piano roll - it has quite made my day! The playback is wonderful too, with none of the rhythmic "lumpiness" that careless reproduction can introduce. Presumably thsi roll dates from quite early on in the century?

[truecrypt]

Well... it was a mistake on my part!!! ;(

The file source site clearly marked it as:

Mazeppa | Composer: Liszt |

Artist: Eugen d'Albert

On the CD insert it's: Erwin Nyiregházy --Franz LISZT (1811-1886) Mazeppa-- Ampico

[trtnec]

Yes, this recording is like a relic, but why isn't anyone noting that there's an entire section missing? How can it feel exactly right if a very important section is missing? Stop being blinded by the fact that it's a historical artifact of a recording and notice that there's a whole section missing!

[Rohit0406]

could it be because they ran out of piano roll?

[rigel48]

Fantastic. We can hear the gallop of the mad horse bearing away Mazzepa. More recently Lazar Berman gave also a magnificent rendition of this Etude d'exécution transcendante.