RE: GG: the murderer/ Nyerigyhazi

[Thayer A <A.Thayer@rhbnc.ac.uk>]

Hmm. Its certainly an interesting article. What a complete bunch of twaddle.
As I remember the magazine was indeed a down-market kind of thing, focussing
mostly on jazz and pop music, with only a small amount of classical related
articles.

	While I'm here, I remember that a while ago the pianist Nyiregyhazi
was mentioned. I recently got the opera transcriptions recording and was
most surprised at what I heard. I have to say that on the whole I find it
quite obscene to listen to (the end of Pagliacci is truly insane
piano-bashing) yet I find myself drawn to it over and over again. According
to an internet news-site, with a discussion on his playing, he was found on
a park-bench (after the death of his 9th wife) shortly before the recording
was made. Apparently he was taken to a piano shop where he proceeded to
break a number of strings while drinking heavily. His recordings followed
soon after, even though he had not done any real practice or played for
years. Each piece was recorded in one single take and he had not played or
even seen most of the pieces for years (or in the case of the opera
transcriptions they were genuinely improvised). Apparently he had a bottle
of Jack Daniels on the piano throughout the sessions and the more he drank
the louder he played.
		While much of the playing is genuinely horrible, there is
something truly incredible about the tone which Nyerigyhazi produces in the
quieter passages. I can't think of a more sonorous tone by any pianist.
There are many moments which could easily be mistaken for Horowitz including
some of the lyrical sections in Othello and Il Trovatore, which are very
touchingly played. I get the impression that had he continued his career as
a serious pianist, instead of retiring so early, he could have been one of
the all-time greats of romantic performance (I'm sure GG would have hated
him even more than Horowitz). In these recordings one senses that his
technique must have incredible, considering how little he played before
them, although it is far from what it used to be. There are many wrong notes
and smudges (I presume his hands must have been enormous like those Anton
Rubinstein) and the control is not really there. Musically, I think that he
must have lost most of his powers but there are still some moments which
come across very well. While Nyerigyhazi has been compared to Helfgott, his
playing still shows signs of genius, unlike that of Helfgott who was never
more than a talented student anyway. 
		If anyone has heard his live Liszt LP (where he apparently
sight-read a series of scores he hadn't played for 50 years, in public, to
raise money for an operation on his wife) I'd really like to know what you
think. I've been working on the 2nd Ballade a lot recently, and I'm
intrigued to know how he plays it. Having only heard his transcriptions, I
wonder what his treatment of original music is like. Does anyone know of any
sources for obtaining his recordings, other than the CD release?

	Andrew

	PS There's a good website on him but I've forgotten the address.
I'll post it again sometime