Who knows this pianist ?

[fwifepoop1]

That could be a young bugs bunny.

[DasKindespiel]

de que año es el disco?

[Katamanteuomos]

Ignaz Friedman?

[FlyingBlackAndWhite]

feels like cziffra.......

[ferocel]

It sounds like a young Horowitz.

[looney1023]

could it be cziffra?

[chaussonaph]

@looney1023 That can not be Cziffra. He made​two or three 78rpm just Hungary and MHV SZK 3575

SZK MHV 3576. His first recordings for HMV are four rhapsodies of 1956. Moreover, we do not recognize that Cziffra was boundless imagination much more than a pianist.

[steinwaygrande1]

To me for what its worth it sounds like a very early Cziffra recording - who knows for sure ?

[kasyapa]

okay, EtrofOnaip, if you're serious about identifying the pianist, answer our questions. ;)

[MrRicksStudio]

Can you tell what make or brand the record is? Can you give us any information in the margin around the label? Matrix, take number, etc. I am something of an authority on old 78 records of pianists, but this one eludes me. The pianism reminds me of Alfred Grunfeld.

[kasyapa]

a blow up of the unreadable label would help. where did you find it?

[gerardbedecarter]

I would have to say - I don't know!

[ReturnOfTheStienway]

no idea... it doesn't sound like cziffra at all... Michaelowski or Rosenthal is my best guess... whoever is playing has a monstrous technique!!!

[perry1559]

I think it's Tatum screwing around, it doesn't sound like any of the big names of the era like Hoffman or Lhevinne. Any possibility it's JellyRoll?

[madlovba2]

I think it's early Cziffra, improvising on Strauss, possibly from those days he worked as a bar pianist (since 1926), improvising on tunes given by the audience. It's in Cziffra's style, and also you mentioned slavonic elements, what can be related to Hungary and Cziffra. At 0:04, when he starts play I can hear a Hungarian sentence "Várjál még!", which means "Wait a minute!".

[a1s2d3f4g5q1w2e3]

@madlovba2 You mean Cziffra started working in a bar when he was 5 years old?

[madlovba2]

@a1s2d3f4g5q1w2e3 Well, I know that he made his debut in Budapest at the age of 5, improvising on popular tunes in the Budapest Circus. Even if he didn't start working in a bar at that age, he started improvisation then.

[pianotonton]

Joli canulard ! C'est un enregistrement récent auquel on a rajouté de bruit de fond pour faire penser à une vieille cire après l'avoir enregistré avec un micro placé devant une enceinte pour avoir un son nasal !

[FlyingDutchman65]

Who owns this album? Would be most interested to analyze this recording and it's history.

[ellandelachapelle]

At first I thought it must be some jazz pianist. (Art Tatum was quite good at classical music too.) Then I settled for - Liberace! (virtuoso but kind of sloppy.) (trying to SOUND like the old piano heroes.) I wonder what Alfred Brendel would say? (he would certainly know the difference between a fake and the real thing.)

[lasalista1000]

richter...pure technical brilliance.

[88alan8800]

this is really quite something.

[Inspectorul1]

i think its hamelin.

[antoinezygfryd]

Peut-être Simon Barère.....

[30inventionman]

It is Richter playing a Franz L. piece in E Flat Major in the 1940's.

[szreter]

It's not Sauer, Friedheim, Rosenthal, Hofmann, Friedman, Leschetizki, Ansorge (too frivolous for him), Godowsky, D'Albert or De Greef. After a long time listening to old pianists I reckon this is someone on the sidelines - maybe Niedzielski (?) though the technique is a bit clearer. It also reminds me a bit of Szreter but I have all of his Strauss transcriptions.

It doesn't sound like a Michalowski transcription - a bit too Hollywood and his recorded repertoire was pretty limited.

[aardvaark069]

Michaelowski perhaps?.....

[dorfmanjones]

@aardvaark069 Michaelowski is the best guess so far, at least in terms of the approach. Also their is facility but not refinement or color. That's why it cannot be Hofmann. The personality in the playing does not suggest a major artist, a Rosenthal or Friedman. It's basically a salon player.

[driemaaldrommels]

I would love to know who this pianist is....personaly I think it is someone like Rosenthal..this is just as virtuoso as his strauss transcriptions!

[shilloshillos]

the extreme virtuosity and the dryness of the phrasing almost reminds me of Josef Hoffmann. What do you think?

[EtrofOnaip]

I personly didn't think of Joseph Hoffmann, but together we will find out !!

[AulicExclusiva]

It sounds like a transcription from the radio. Not that old either. 1940s-50s.

[ReverendWayne]

Let's have the matrix and side numbers from the runout. Otherwise, I'm calling shenanigans.

[BarNuun]

Perhaps this is Vladimir de Pachmann, very fluent and seems almost like a Liszt composition. Rather early...

[felix0911176727]

Let me guess... Ignaz Friedman? Actually... this made me think of the improvisation of Georges Cziffra, but you know... he is not so "old" ~haha

[Noshirm]

It is certainly the playing of a virtuoso pianist...let's work on this one, people! (:-D)

[EngSciPianist]

Hmm... I don't think it's Rosenthal. If you listen to all the Rosenthal recordings on youtube, he always uses plenty of rubato, whereas this recording has less of an explicit slowing-down-speeding-up feel.

Great recording though!

[fredslu]

I wish I could tell you who played this. This pianist is great. I'm sure it isn't Godowsky or Leschetizky or Paderewski. Not many of the old pianists played with such awesome technique on records.

[EtrofOnaip]

Tatum had such technique, when you listen to his Chopin Waltz....

[adiah]

Tatum, Garner or Peterson???