Sunday Classics postscript: In addition to fixing the Liszt "Hungarian Fantasia" screw-up, we get some bonus goodies

After Isabelle Cziffra, the daughter of the conductor György Cziffra Jr. (c1943-1981) and granddaughter of the Hungarian-French pianist Georges Cziffra (1921-1994), recalls her father, who died an apparent suicide, we see a clip of her grandfather playing, with her father conducting, the finger-twisting final romp of Liszt's Hungarian Fantasia during a return to their native Hungary.

by Ken

As I mentioned the other night, I was horrified to discover that in last Sunday's post on Liszt's works for piano and orchestra, the audio clip of Sviatoslav Richter's 1961 live performance in London was missing the thrilling climax I wrote about -- in terms of both a mess of dropped notes and an irresistible hurricane-like force. A corrected file is in place for the original post, but I thought the least we could do was to hear it here -- along with some bonus compensation goodies.

LISZT: Hungarian Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra

Sviatoslav Richter, piano; London Symphony Orchestra, Kiril Kondrashin, cond. Live performance, 1961

I considered mentioning on Sunday that the musical materials of the Hungarian Fantasia were recycled by Liszt into the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 -- which achieved yet a third incarnation when it was orchestrated (i.e., dispensing with the piano entirely). Here's the solo-piano version.

LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14 in F minor

Georges Cziffra, piano. EMI, recorded 1958

Besides the Hungarian Fantasia, Liszt wrote another fairly frequently performed work for piano and orchestra, the Totentanz (Dance of Death), a paraphrase on the tune of the Dies irae (which we last heard underpinning the concluding "Dream of a night of witches' sabbath" of Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique). I had thought about including it too last week. Now here it is.

LISZT: Totentanz (Dance of Death) for Piano and Orchestra

Krystian Zimerman, piano; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, cond. DG, recorded April 1987

Boris Berezovsky, piano; Philharmonia Orchestra, Hugh Wolff, cond. Teldec, recorded December 1994

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