Remember Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903-1987), the infamous “skid row” pianist? He started out life as one of the most highly scrutinized and well-documented child prodigies. However, his early adult career ended almost soon as it began, partially due to bad management and bad luck, yet mostly on account of his volatile personality. He lived mostly in cheap hotels where he composed prolifically and drank to excess. He sexual recklessness led to numerous unsavory entanglements, as well as ten marriages. Yet his idiosyncratic, hyper-Romantic pianism elicited serious attention, most notably from Arnold Schoenberg, who heard him play in 1935.
By the 1970s Nyiregyházi had not owned a piano in years and had long since given up on concertizing. However, in order to raise funds for his ailing ninth wife, Nyiregyházi gave a recital at San Francisco’s Old First Church on May 6, 1973. In 1977 Desmar/IPA released an LP containing the two Liszt St. Francis Legendes from the recital plus four Liszt recordings made under studio conditions in 1974, supervised by Gregor Benko. The disc generated curiosity about Nyiregyházi, leading to further studio recordings in 1978, plus an abundance of press and public attention, much of it sensationalistic . By 1980 the fad had run its course, and Nyiregyházi retreated back into the obscurity he preferred, save for a handful of performances in Japan.
May 6, 2023 marks that Old First Church recital’s 50th anniversary, and its first complete publication. The poor sonics are what one would expect from an amateur portable cassette recorder, although Sonetto Classics’ remastering certainly improves upon the umpteenth generation dubbing I’ve had for years on a bootleg CDR. Whether or not one considers Nyiregyházi as a genius, a madman, or both, a bizarre yet arresting musical personality is at work.
Nyiregyházi basically paraphrases music more than he interprets it. He adds octaves at will, he alters not just tempos and dynamics but even notes and, on occasion, entire passages. Portions of the opening Schubert Wanderer Fantasy stop dead in their tracks while the Chopin C-sharp minor Mazurka Op. 6 No. 2 and F minor Nocturne Op. 55 No. 1 move in slow motion as melodies ring out to the rafters, supported by liberally arpeggiated chords.
If you can get past Nyiregyházi’s rhythmic liberties in Debussy’s Pagodes, you’ll be as stunned as I was by the three-dimensional textural variety and soaring inner voices. But the epic and dynamically overloaded Debussy La plus que lente and Brahms Rhapsody Op. 119 No. 4 are frankly heavy going.
As for the encores, Nyiregyházi plows through Leschetizky’s Étude héroique like King Kong in heat, but contains the Schubert/Liszt Am Meer’s climaxes within reason, more or less. However, everything comes together in the aforementioned Liszt Legendes. Nyiregyházi’s expansive shaping of No. 1’s long trills and runs creates a most ethereal atmosphere, while No. 2 evokes not so much rippling undercurrents as the mightiest ocean storm.
The booklet includes an informative biographical and musical essay from Nyiregyházi biographer Kevin Bazzana, plus notes on the restoration process by producer Tomoyuki Sawado. On balance, this third volume of Sonetto Calssics’ live Nyiregyházi trilogy is the most compelling document we have of one of the 20th century’s most difficult yet fascinating piano personalities.
