COMPOSERS: Liszt
LABELS: EMI
WORKS: Hungarian Rhapsodies; Les années de pèlerinage
PERFORMER: Georges Cziffra (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: CMS 7 64882 2 ADD (1968, 1975-77)
Cziffra has always been one of the most fiery of Lisztians, and nowhere is this more evident than in his electrifying account of the Rhapsodies which, thanks to an audacious use of rubato, rightly sound as if they are being improvised on the spot. Some may find his Années too indulgent, but Cziffra communicates his broad sense of the imaginative scope of Liszt’s transcendent journeyings. The recording, though, slightly lacks resonance. William Humphreys-Jones
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies; Les années de pèlerinage
Cziffra has always been one of the most fiery of Lisztians, and nowhere is this more evident than in his electrifying account of the Rhapsodies which, thanks to an audacious use of rubato, rightly sound as if they are being improvised on the spot. Some may find his Années too indulgent, but Cziffra communicates his broad sense of the imaginative scope of Liszt’s transcendent journeyings. The recording, though, slightly lacks resonance. William Humphreys-Jones
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:31 pm