Ervin Nyiregyházi in PerformanceLiszt, Brahms, Schubert Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin Debussy, Chopin and Rachmaninov Digitally remastered in 2007 |
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Ervin Nyiregyhazi, child prodigy pianist and composer, performed extensively between 1909 and
1930. His 1920s Carnegie Hall debut is said to have received a much more enthusiastic
response than that of Vladimir Horowitz a few years later. Following a lawsuit against
his manager (R.E. Johnston - who, to judge from accounts in Andre Benoist's "The
Accompanist", may not have had a performer's best interests at heart), Nyiregyhazi's
performing career dissipated. He participated in some movies, was juror at a piano competition
in which one of the participants was Raymond Lewenthal (whom Nyiregyhazi voted for - but who
also did not win the competition), and composed. A live broadcast during the 1940s of him performing
Ferenc Liszt's (or, Germanized, Franz Liszt's) second piano concerto, has never surfaced as having
been recorded. Similarly, a 1960s private recording of Liszt's B Minor Sonata, has remained elusive.
To defray his ninth wife's medical expenses, Nyiregyhazi gave a number of recitals in the 1970s,
primarily of repertoire by Ferenc Liszt, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Claude
Debussy and Theodore Leschetizky, which led to a Desmar LP ("Nyiregyhazi Plays Liszt") produced under
the auspices of the International Piano Archives, and a Columbia Records two-LP Liszt set that was
Stereo Review's record of the year in 1978. Following this, Nyiregyhazi was offered return concerts
at Carnegie Hall, but Nyiregyhazi declined. He continued to compose, performed in Japan in 1980
and 1982, and died of colon cancer in 1987.

RIGHT CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
A .MP3 (AUDIO) FILE OF ERVIN NYIREGYHAZI'S "ANDANTE, ETHEREAL" (5.57 mb)
pianist Michael Sayers
Coe College, Sinclair Auditorium
October 13, 2002
U.S. Steinway D piano


Audio and video files from this
performance of Ervin Nyiregyhazi compositions
will be available here and at these linked addresses:
http://www.myspace.com/michaelsayerservinnyiregyhazi
a>
http://www.youtube.com/user/PianistMichaelSayers

CLICK HERE TO REACH
MCCLELLAND'S CATALOGUE ENTRY
FOR KEVIN BAZZANA'S
BIOGRAPHY OF ERVIN NYIREGYHAZI
Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick
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ERVIN NYIREGYHAZI LINKS |