Church Auvers-Sur-Oise
by Vincent Van-Gogh
2017
In the church immortalised by Vincent van Gogh
Pascal Amoyal pays tribute to Georges Cziffra,
acclaimed in this very spot thirty years ago.
In memory of my virtuoso friend Gyorgy Cziffra
the greatest performer of Liszt.
One of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.
He was one of the revered giants of the piano, a dizzying virtuoso.
In 1981, the death of his son, a pianist and particularly a conductor, burnt alive in a fire in his house, shattered Georges Cziffra’s career. The tragedy brought him to his knees: “The mere sight of a piano made me want to vomit…”.
For three years, he drank two bottles of whisky and vodka a day.
His son György conducted the orchestra many times in concerts with his father. From 1981 onwards, Georges Cziffra never performed with an orchestra again.
In 1984, he decided to get his life back and his great comeback occurred in Paris in 1986. Nowadays, we can but marvel at the fabulous technique that avoided the pitfalls of Liszt virtuosity like no other (except perhaps Horowitz).
Georges Cziffra, the pianist of the century, and reincarnation of Liszt.
Michèle Friche.
When I met Georges Cziffra, it was 1984. He was staying in the mountains with his wife. I fell in love with him as a person. I didn’t know that he was one of the greatest concert performers of this century or what he had just suffered, with the unbearable death of his beloved son.
Every day he would practise on a kind of keyboard to maintain his dexterity, he told me. Now I know his life. So when I see this photo again where, sitting next to me, he takes my hand in his and squeezes it, I realise that it was in some ways the hand of his beloved son that he was clasping at that moment.
Since then György Cziffra has had, and will always have, a place in my heart.