Nyiregyhazi

[bebopbob]

I came across two mint Lp recordings of Ervin Nyiregyhazi on Columbia Masterworks from the 1970s. A bit heavy on the keyboard but intriguing.

Any thoughts on these recordings or on this pianist who according to preliminary on-line search had a very promising career but encountered some significant personal and professional hurdles dying in relative obscurity in the 1980s after a brief period of fame with these recordings.

[JSngry]

Haven't heard them, but from your description, I thought he was going to be a younger guy. Not even...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervin_Nyiregyh%C3%A1zi

I'm intrigued by this comment:

Critical reaction to the recordings was sharply divided, with some claiming to hear an authentic 19th-century pianist (Harold C. Schonberg wrote, "some critics wonder if Franz Liszt had been reincarnated"^[15]). Others denounced Nyiregyhazi's "incredibly slipshod" technique, "ridiculously amateurish" fortissimo playing,^[16] "glacial tempos and total dissociation from contemporary performance styles. But Romantic revivalists were enthralled."^[

^{Which begs the questions...who ever heard Lizst play to made this  assessment? OTOH, why should he be "informed by contemporary performance styles"?}

^{I read stuff like this and wonder what is anybody actually hearing. what is really happening, or want they think they want to hear happening?}