György Cziffra Improv into Chopin op.10 no. 1 (high quality)

BBC Studio, 5/16/62

[@grzegorztomasiak]

this "I am finished, thank you" was the most epic i have ever heard haha

[@robertstewart614]

The politeness and tone of the studio manager also strikes me of a lost time.

[@rinsim]

Why do people criticize him so much? He is just warming up, it's not a concert or the actual recording. Of course he plays ff and millions of notes to get his hands ready. He doesn't need to be musical to warm up!

[@kitendo9883]

no one criticises him

[@Deniz69567]

@Matifro maybe its because he played it at a very fast tempo and makes it sound bad....

[@Deniz69567]

@Matifro it is because of the fast tempo so people are pissed off

[@Deniz69567]

@Matifro ok

[@dabendan79]

i liked cziffra in thos video but i dont like cziffras nterpretations as various piano pieces

[@davisatdavis1]

He reached Day 5 on simply piano

[@indigoriviera]

The beginning reminds me of Rachmaninoffs little red riding hood etude.

[@eliasblanca2915]

SAME that’s exactly what i thought the second i started it

[@vine2197]

same

[@thibomeurkens2296]

Wow yeah it does sound like etude-tableaux op. 39 no. 6 (I love that name it’s so complicated).

[@Ludwig142]

Cziffra's improvisation on Chopin's Etude Op.10 No.1 "Waterfall", I love how he's just playing this for warm-up purposes. We love you Cziffra, Happy 100th Birthday!

[@gabrieleguercio7208]

It isn't on First etude but Is an ispiration from all Chopin music

[@thedrinkerful]

No matter how many times i see this, the ending when he casually says i am finished thank you just amazes me its like another day in the office for him while improvising and playing like most of us can only dream off. Truly a one of a kind pianist

[@erickfreitas6577]

@Martin Baldwin-Edwards he stopped after death of his son. it seems you really don’t like him 😂

[@thedrinkerful]

@Martin Baldwin-Edwards as the commenter below said, he stopped after his sons death which besides being a POW was probably the last straw for him, Like imagine you live through gulag where the key was always to completely brake the person inside just to have your son (unofficially) commit suicide when you went through hell knows what just to stabilise your life

[@frankromano9064]

@@erickfreitas6577 He did NOT stop playing after the accidental death of his son, took time off. He played in Hungary in 1983 and in the USA and Canada in 1984. He retired in 1988 after a heart attack.

[@frankromano9064]

@Martin Baldwin-Edwards What an ignorant and stupid comment. Reading some of your other comments about actors , again, displays real ignorance. Ever been to a table reading, rehearsal, blocking rehearsal? Perhaps the character is dirty and smelly?

[@frankromano9064]

@Martin Baldwin-Edwards Here are some examples of smelly actors, Brando getting the role of Stanley from Williams , Borgnine getting Marty reading for it in a hotel in the desert wet and stinky.

[@richardrikkon5993]

Maestro Cziffra is Genius His improvisation and interpretation is amazing 😊🎹👏

[@pier-oliviermarquis3006]

Has there ever been another pianist (during the camera era) that had such a level of virtuosity? I've never seen any.

[@TeaKitten]

This man turned "constant switching between pieces while practising" into an art form

[@sucroseboy4940]

Nice to hear a higher quality version of this improvisation. I find it funny that what was just a warmup to him, is gold to us.

[@classicalsheetmusic1986]

"Piano is the easiest instrument to learn, but the hardest to master."

[@evanstaf18]

@@nosojdjos yep

[@davide7541]

Well, every instrument is hard to master

[@elias7748]

I disagree that it’s the easiest to learn. The triangle and xylophone are easier to learn the fundamentals

[@amjan]

@@davide7541 Well, no fucking shit, Mr. Obvious.

[@elias7748]

They are all the hardest to master. It doesn't make any sense to compare the difficulty between these instruments. It's not about the difficulty. It's about the music you produce.

[@stevej061069]

That's arguably the most insane thing I've ever watched.

[@moccagriselda]

I come back from time to time, but I really envy those fortunate ones, who witness this recording for the first time.

[@kaleidoscopio5]

You know you are in the top when rehearsal is harder that the programme itself 😎

[@johnm.4655]

Truly astonishing playing! One of the greatest that EVER lived!

[@tanincollins2143]

Definitely one of if not the most mechanically skilled pianists to ever live.. No struggle at all. Crazy.

[@pjbpiano]

He lived in the same time as Art and Oscar.

[@lesterrocks2439]

Yeah, Oscar Peterson

[@axsup7g140]

A little sloppy playing imho.

[@jackcurley1591]

@@pjbpiano as great as Oscar and Art were, Cziffra’s technical facility far surpasses theirs - their’s not really any comparison

[@pjbpiano]

@@jackcurley1591, that is only easy to say when you do not really know Peterson and Tatum well. I'm not taking anything away from Cziffra. He was a monster. But there are different types of virtuosity and Tatum/Oscar had more than enough technical abilities to create complex musical lines on the fly and in the instant that they thought of it. It is much different ability that playing high level, technically difficult pre-prepared music.

[@justelynnnjoelle]

That daunting opening sounded like the middle section of the Op. 39 No. 6 Etude of Rachmaninoff

[@craggymcgill]

As a passionate atheist, this is certainly proof of divinity. I’ve never witnessed such profound genius, wonderful and amazing!

[@JG_1998]

why would you be passionate about being an atheist? why is that something you're proud of?

[@tacitozetticci9308]

@@JG_1998 he probably deconverted and he's now passionate because he "made it out".

[@JG_1998]

@@tacitozetticci9308 what a jackass...

[@poly_hexamethyl]

I'm glad this was recorded and preserved! Since it wasn't actually part of the program, it could easily have been ignored or lost.

[@stefanocerato6931]

Great Liszt Intepreter, I LOVE HIS Tecnich and HIs Sound Control, emphatic, powerful,Stunning, Divino!!!!🥰

[@lapamful]

Obviously, György's parents never told him about the dangers of playing with fire when he was a boy. And thank goodness they didn't! 😱😍😂

[@voraciousreader3341]

You should read about his life….that he could even play at all after what he went through in WWII is much more amazing than this!

[@SR-ib4zt]

There’s no one on earth who can play like him

[@vojtaqa7123]

There is Artur Cimirro

[@kbrdmn2]

Yuja Wang

[@pianosenzanima1]

And there will never be. He was one of a kind, alone in his own league.

[@hangologeptelefon]

@@kbrdmn2 booooooooo !!! This is one of the biggest insult you can say about Cziffra. It means you are not able to understand Cziffra's musicality, and you just do not even deserve to listening Cziffra. Better you stick to Yuja...or Marha

[@hangologeptelefon]

@@vojtaqa7123 what ? ha ha ha

[@clarktrent8952]

This artist reminds me of what the famous 19th c. Franz Liszt must have sounded like, with even the bounds and limits of the traditional and modern instruments of the 88-keys not sufficing. Incidentally, and therefore, Liszt commissioned the famous piano-builder Ignatz Bosendorfer to build the 97-key Bosendorfer Imperial Grand, with ***97*** keys... with this expansion, overtones produced an entirely more powerful yet subtle and sweet sound in this actually *plucked* (not hammered like traditional pianos) string instrument. THIS Cziffra fellow, would benefit from owning and playing one. WHAT a facile, almost demon-possessed dynamism, Cziffra has here: He doesn't fail to produce this powerful and yet controlled performance, be it a warmup or a composer extemporizing from brilliant musical-mind this musicality peerless! okay. I'll hunt for other recordings of this awe-inspiring powerful demon of an artist-composer! Out.

[@NickBatinaComposer]

Yo Clark, I suggest checking this dudes bio out sometime, he’s apparently deep vein Liszt schooling from what I remember!!

[@moccagriselda]

@@NickBatinaComposer You're right, Cziffra's lineage can be traced back to Liszt, because his teacher was Ernő von Dohnányi, whose teacher was István Thomán, Liszt's favorite pupil.

[@AlexAlcyone]

now there's a comment! We can only imagine Liszt, but from the anecdotes of audience reactions, of which there have never been any greater, we can get a few ideas. "Hear Liszt and die!" They never said this of anyone else.

[@christianjimenez2551]

I just wonder how much of this is years of practice and how much is simple God given virtuosity, the kind no amount of hours can give us mere mortals

[@luiskaj2434]

Astonishing, really, considering the permanent damage to his wrists after being imprisoned to hard labour by the Communist regime 1950-3...

[@davewallace1209]

Virtuosity is not given by anybody. Nobody is born playing like this. It is earned the hard way.

[@Gatapotata]

@@davewallace1209 exactly!

[@aysiiou]

In an interview his says 8 to 12 hours a day, everyday since childhood. He had no choice. He said he had no toys only the piano

[@Sahasrarasmi-Sancodite]

​@@davewallace1209virtuosity is in the mind. The body responds to the neuromuscular responses that are initiated by the thought forms and emotions as they are joined in expressing the expressions of the soul. Cziffra's virtuosity, musical genius are a manifestation of his soul and the soul power to bring into the physical plane exactly what the soul speaks.

[@JoEbY-X]

This man's piano teacher was Liszt's student.

[@derekpintozzi2498]

Fr?

[@pawncube2050]

According to wikipedia he studied with István Thomán, one of Liszt favorite pupils

[@astroneural]

One could say that Liszt was his Grand-teacher

[@salvus7021]

I thought I heard some Liszt at the beginning!

[@JoEbY-X]

@@astroneural I know it gets less impressive the further along, but Beethoven was my great-great-great-grandteacher. :-)

[@cziffra11]

Fascinating to see how much of the time the sustaining pedal is depressed. Somehow the sound never gets smeared.

[@НикаШелекхова]

❤❤❤Уникально. Играет, как дышит....

[@mochdrew3364]

How epic can a warmup be?.. Cziffra:

[@sabrinaschantz]

holy shiiiit. i dont think technical skills get harder than that.

[@borisbrinkmann]

It's partly even in terms of physical laws hardly explainable...

[@sebastian-benedictflore]

@@c05.63 Oh damn so I guess you heard him play yourself, then?

[@donwong3577]

@Octophrator Cziffra was born many years after Liszt's death...

[@donwong3577]

​@Octophrator Bruh, read your own comment. You said "Cziffra or Alkan could make Liszt real nervous in a competition".

[@gdkabsbdkwkwm4187]

I think Liszt couldnt play better because of shit instruments from 1800

[@437composer]

anyway his physicality technique is most effectiveness, powerful, and energetic.. look at that relax his hand and arms when he dosen't press keys(same in katsaris perform) thx for share high quality of this warmup video

[@trevjr]

Incredible!! Just a warm up, wow. I think he played a bit of Rach piano sonata for a minute then veered off.

[@liltick102]

The beginning is absolutely blowing my mind tbh

[@mchetb]

What a genius.

[@Varooooooom]

The way he plays octaves is like the way my hands play sixths…

[@zamarioijean4736]

Improvisation talentueuse ! Je connais beaucoup d'improvisateurs à l'orgue, mais peu au piano. C'est pour moi une découverte !

[@VICTOBERN]

Foolish to make derogatory comments. The experience of hearing him improvise is reward enough. Kind of makes one imagine listening to those early classical composers of the keyboard.... phew!

[@lorenzocarulli]

Just warmed up, and the piano needs to be tuned again

[@christopherbridges7314]

Incredible technique.

[@davidvoykin]

Flying across the keys, amazing.

[@ЕлизаветаЕвсеева-х4б]

Потрясающий, супергениальный пианист!!!

[@rachm06]

simply not human

[@AlexAlcyone]

Chopin once wrote of Liszt "I should like to steal from him the way to play my own etudes." I wonder what he would have said of Cziffra...

[@Spyrine]

those giant cameras

[@miltonmoore2527]

I WAS TOO ENGAGED WATCHING THOSE GIANT HANDS!

[@michaelkollner9710]

atemberaubend, was für ein Talent!!!

[@grisella6034]

Extraordinary!!!

[@thegzak]

First part is Prokofiev, the rest is kind of Liszt meets Chopin

[@eunstern]

Wow! Thank you for this video 🔥🎵

[@tomekkobialka]

Legendary video

[@audrey1358]

His hands move so fast that I thought I had 1.25x speed lol

[@mayiask654]

Just from watching and listening to this warm-up i definitelye got waaaaay more exhausted than the pianist himself...

[@gabriele6596]

His fingers are so much indipebdents and open that looks all break.

[@alainspiteri502]

It's not a false video here as youtubers pianists with theirs numeric piano , j think about Paul Barton Fleurich ; Cziffra is a true pianist , Great of course

[@emmanuelsales149]

Extraordinaire

[@AlexAlcyone]

1. Liszt (probably). 2. Cziffra. 3. everyone else. and this 2:08 = best piano tone ever heard

[@Lwmyoun]

I almost forgot how the original sounds

[@vitaliykuloyans]

Really good, big like for new friend here.

[@anavaleanu6740]

Great pianist

[@carlosmajlis849]

If Chopin could heard that, he'll die again from a heart attack.

[@pianosenzanima1]

Hahahahha

[@Whaijorhujishkomunyk]

He was Liszt incarnation

[@moccagriselda]

From a piano-technical, concert artist, philantropist standpoint, yes indeed, he's the only true heir I know of. But let's not forget, Liszt was a prolific, groundbreaking composer as well.

[@jismo7]

That was fantastic! Just wondering why he was using a chair to sit on instead of the high quality stool next to him? An inspiring performance indeed.

[@pjbpiano]

Posture does not care about high quality. It cares about what fits the body.

[@jeromecoulomb7757]

If you look very carefully, in the end you can see the keyboard smoking ;-)

[@simond19782]

Wonderful!

[@franzliszt5909]

I like the high quality

[@zoltannagy1901]

Köszönöm! 🤔😍😊👋👋👋

[@Daniel-qx6bg]

when the piano teacher says 'play something for me'

[@Fabio-fu6ly]

.....io ho finito... grazie 🎵🎶

[@Rombizio]

Genius

[@kacemchawqi5787]

I am finished too :')

[@pedrozurzica6279]

We are all with this warm up. If you know the entire video, mister Cziffra arrived, took is jacket and just sit-down and started with this 👀

[@qin3104]

it was cziffra and the others

[@thebatman6991]

Don t know he was so big. ..Poor Georges

[@aeroseb1]

A lot of Rachma... a little bit of Chopin. Perfect exemple of pure technique. Chopin wouldn't have been impressed by that.

[@findelka1810]

I believe this is just a warm-up. Cziffra was completely able to play Chopin in a way that Chopin himself would have liked it. Check out the Op.60 Barcarolle, for example.

[@binjobullet]

Amazing

[@lejables7292]

Camera man be like -dafaq im watching right now

[@Johannes_Brahms65]

This leaves me cold though.

[@gingersroc]

Dude, the tie

[@Tommaso-e1o]

Wow

[@nicolasbrup5553]

If you know about classical music you will see all the inspiration

[@pianosenzanima1]

It was Cziffra, and the others.

[@789armstrong]

superhuman

[@ФеликсЖелезный-б3э]

🤔☝️... If you are do it yourself... it's possible...

[@giorgiociomei5030]

Ma Cziffra, sarà stato mica la reincarnazione di Liszt?

[@alessandrorigobello7551]

monster.

[@ФеликсЖелезный-б3э]

🤨no, it's a simple human...playr to pianos...

[@kofiLjunggren]

What Is the original piece at 5:37?

[@allthingspiano5705]

Glances de woronince

[@darkhafgor]

This one kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXSnlGife7eXY5I

[@joshyman221]

It’s a Chopin polish song, published after his death. I think the first of the 19

[@birgirkarl]

He started the etude at 3:21 and was finished by 4:35. One minute 14 seconds!!!

[@chiupiano]

But he started in the middle of the piece (page 2), an a minor chord

[@birgirkarl]

​@@chiupiano You are correct. He skipped the first 16 bars. Total 77 bars in the etude so the interpolated length is 1 minute 23 seconds. Still remarkable :)

[@chiupiano]

@@birgirkarl nope, it’s like 1min34seconds, 74seconds for 61 bars in the video (1.21seconds per bar) now times 77bars you get ~ 94 seconds, equals to 1 min 34 seconds, fast but Freddy Kempf, Arrau, Turini plays around that speed too, you can try to have a listen, remarkable speed but for clarity I will go for Turini, and he did it in a live concert

[@birgirkarl]

@@chiupiano Again, you are correct. I miscalculated 😀

[@birgirkarl]

@@chiupiano Wow, I just listened to the Turini live recording from 1961. Incredible performer! I had never heard him before! Thank you for pointing me to him.

[@GIOBODAN]

Intitolerei questo video così: "le corde infuocate".

[@nicolageorgiev4350]

Can someone tell me what he's playing at 1:39. Is that a piece or is he making that up on the spot?

[@mr2loser]

It has the sound to me of late Liszt. Maybe Hungarian Rhapsody 18 or 19 or a Czardas?

[@thienthao4326]

so cool😎

[@rufuso4022]

it sounds amazing and everything due to the virtuosity, however as a commoner I can hardly understand anything he is playing except the part with Chopin's etude, all the stuff he played has intense and fast technique and stuff, but it doesn't sound as beautiful IMO

[@BostonBum15]

I think it’s more of a clever warmup... he’s using bits and pieces of the other Chopin etudes and a plethora of famous classical pieces

[@bendeguztakacs756]

The title isn't perfectly correct. This was "just a warm-up" right before a studio recording.

[@johannpetersen3637]

Agree

[@lmh651]

That’s because most of you only listen to pop music or romantic music. You don’t know how to enjoy modern music. And it’s even just a warmup.

[@rufuso4022]

@@lmh651 i play classical music myself and i cant bring myself to enjoy this

[@kellydreamy5036]

Fascinating

[@severinbalzer5367]

hero!

[@kuuderepiano2988]

2:05 Name of the piece?

[@Daniel-qx6bg]

I actually Shazamed that section and it came back : "Improvisations on Original Themes by Gyorgy Cziffra

[@RosaGoldstein-m1x]

Price Course

[@lostpianist]

…….I should really practise my arpeggios.

[@ethandeister6567]

Sorry, I cracked my knuckles at 2:55

[@fielaZartnel]

One day when I am big

[@jenniferbate9682]

What is this????

[@creationfied]

how do you improvise something like that lol

[@andrewc9643]

Transition at 3:20

[@republiccooper]

Never knew he was so portly. Hmm

[@maxfreeney7943]

That's because he's from hungry

[@derekpintozzi2498]

@@maxfreeney7943 lol nice pun

[@carlosguaymas6507]

En la primera parte parafrasea el scherzo y marcha de Liszt

[@luisfernandotapia451]

gracias por el dato!!

[@cervegetariano]

Quem veio aqui por causa do vinheteiro dá um salve 🎹😮

[@Bampaloudu64]

Liszt is here in the last two minutes.

[@joanka34]

No, 4:52 it's not Liszt, it's Polish folk song "Gdybym ja była"/If I were", adapted by Chopin

[@Bampaloudu64]

@@joanka34 Thanks for the information !! I just thought it was Liszt's style.

[@darkhafgor]

It was Liszts transcription of Chopins Chant Polonais kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXSnlGife7eXY5I

[@Bampaloudu64]

@@darkhafgor Thanks !