[Cziffra György] De Falla: Ritual Dance of Fire for Piano

Manuel de Falla(1876-1946)
Ritual Dance of Fire for Piano

Piano: Cziffra György(1921-1994)

[RhiannonRaven]

I first heard this piece of music when I was 7 years old on an old tape recorder. It was played by Alicia de Larrocha. I have never been able to get it out of my head since.

[randamagdy]

De Falla: Ritual Dance of Fire for PianoIwant sheet music

[ralfsteinhage]

ja auch da wurde gezählt und wehe man war nicht im takt

[TheShon]

where can i find the sheet music for this?

[ChrisBreemer]

Not generally being a great Cziffra fan (too much of the circus artist for me), I was pleasantly surprised by his comparative restraint here. Despite the maybe slightly too fast tempo this is actually a performance in good taste and style. But a pity he - typically - could not resist pimping up the final pages with extra notes and longer runs. As if they're not exciting enough the way Falla wrote them. Interesting to hear him in Spanish music, thanks for the upload.

[JohnSmith-qywm]

Way too fast, among other things. Sounds like it was playing his interpretation of it from memory or something.

[mikesmovingimages]

Musically it's a simple dance, it's themes do not develop, a lot of repetition of uninteresting ideas. The orchestra has the advantage of the color of the instrumentation to cover up some of the banality. The piano has to emphasize the rhythmic aspects to keep up interest. De Falla's transcription is rather unimaginative - what would Lizst have done with this? de Laroccha gives some idea. The repeat of the A section is note-for-note, and therefore a bit dull. The finale begs for some enhancements, "sanctioned" or not. Whatever its role in the original ballet story, as a stand-alone piano piece I think it should have a sense of the unhinged about it, come across as manic and unpredictable, ultimately succumbing to an all-consuming conflagration. Most conductors and pianists are too polite. Cziffra here does a pretty good job of suggesting that wildness, as does AdL and Rubinstein.

[marksmith]

I'm a big fan of Cziffra but I don't consider this a successful performance. It's not distinctive and personal like his best playing

[danielhughes]

Cziffrra is obviously a great technician. But I find him to be mechanical and oddly arrogant in his playing. He constantly adds things into the score that are not there (which is HUGELY cocky to do). I can admire his prowess. But that is not the only aspect to what makes an artist great.

[sergeysecret]

the sound and tonality of the piano is so disgusting that it's time to ban this piano player