A positive review for "Ushinawareta Tensai (the Japanese edition of "Lost Genius") has appeared on the Asahi shinbun newspaper a few days ago. The circulation number of the Asahi Shinbun in Japan is 4~8 millions and so we should see a positive effect.......
-----
2.17.10
1978 CTV & NBC documentaries are on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9_bDhMPoGU&feature=related
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1.20.10
The Japanese edition of "Lost Genius", "Ushinawareta Tensai" will finally appear in the market next week. It is translated by Mr. Keisuke Suzuki and sold from Shunjusha.
When I was looking for a Japanese publisher for this book, Mr. Jun Kinoshita and Dr. Junichi Miyazawa helped me to contact with Shunjusha three years ago. I would like to thank them again.
------
7.5.09
Gordon Rumson, a Candian pianist and composer, has uploaded his performance on "Tonal Drama (composed by EN" on his web page. gordonrumson.org
Kevin Bazzana has been looking for a copy of films where EN's piano performance was potentially recorded (e.g. "Lummox" (1930) , Fashions in Love (1929)). Are there any film enthusiasts who have these materials?
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3.18.09
Two reviews for Music and Arts CD12-2 have appeared.
This is not the story of Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, or North Korea. It's about Britain, where I live.
Recently the British border agency (the Home Office) has drastically altered the immigration policy, now practically discriminating artists based on their nationality and financial situations. Artists from non-EU countries now have to provide fingerprints, the financial information of their bank account, and the detailed travel information, practically putting "artists under constant surveillance". If some orchestra is to play in the UK, each member has to make a travel to the local British consulate to submit his or her biometric information. One can imagine how expensive the total cost would be. In addition, organizations which invite non-EU artists now must pay 400 to 1000 pounds to be an official sponsor. In summary, the new regulation practically prevents any art events where a non-EU artist joins.
A Russian pianist Gregory Sokolov, regarded by many as one of the greatest in the world, has been forced to cancel his UK tour in 2008 due to the alteration of visa regulation. He would have to travel from Verona to Rome to submit his biometric information (e.g. fingerprint), but found intimidating to make such a long distance journey. He was supposed to appear again in London this April, but once again he was forced to cancel his concert. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/22/immigration-arts-gormley
Personally I was deeply disappointed at the news, as I admire Sokolov a lot and was looking for attending the concert. His first cancellation in 2008 was reported in International Piano (the May-June Issue), which also includes the Nyiregyhazi article written by Mr. Jeremy Nicholas .
Sokolov's case is not exceptional. The Chinese artist Huang Xu, who was invited by the October Gallery for his own exhibition in London , was refused a visa to enter the UK. The Russian artist Dimitry Vilensky was also refused to enter the UK due to "bureaucratic reasons". Recently, 12 members of an African jazz band had to travel from Guinea to Sierra Leone in person to apply for entry visa to London, costing 3500 pounds (~$5000)-----and their visas were denied. http://www.rsaartsandecology.org.uk/projects/news/march-2009/mar-03--artists-protest-visa-clampdowns
What is ongoing in the country? In the past, the United Kingdom used to attract and accept artists like Richter, Nureyev, and many other known as well as unknown artists regardless of their nationality and financial status. It was how great high- and sub- cultures have flourished here. London's status wasn't built in a day, and a day with such discrimination is sufficient for destroying Britain's international image. The UK Home office has to realize that.
The New York Times has briefly introduced "Lost Genius" in the Sunday book review.
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10/01/08
Kenneth Hamilton briefly discusses about EN in his recent book, After the golden age (2008). Please see the link .
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9/28/08
Several reviews for the Music and Arts CD have been appeared in the following magazines/pages.
1) Fanfare (by Mr. Peter J. Rabinowitz), Sept-Oct 2008 issue
http://www.fanfaremag.com/content/view/25966/10238/
Available online with subscription. A positive review.
2) Classical Record Collector (by Mr. Colin Clarke), Spring issue
Not Available online. A positive review.
3) American Record Guide (by Mr. Alan Becker), May-June 2008 issue
Not available on line. A negative review.
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9/21/08
The following book reviews have been available.
Lost Genius
a) Cape Gazette [Lewes, Delaware], May 29, 2008 (not online). “Noted music author Bazzana has orchestrated a lucid, revealing and balanced biography of an enormously talented, but deeply troubled mad genius. … The author’s passion and knowledge of music is evident as he is able to convey technical aspects of music in easy-to-understand and interesting terms. Bazzana hits all the right notes in Lost Genius, which is a compelling and entertaining saga.---Gerry Lore”
b) May-June 2008 issue of the International Piano (not online). “It is a superb biography: a Hollywood scriptwriter could not have dreamt up such an improbable narrative. Bazzana reveals in closely researched detail the chain of events that led Nyiregyházi from being potentially one of the greatest pianists in history to becoming a deluded, sex-obsessed recluse living on handouts.---Jeremy Nicholas”
c) June 2008, the American cultural magazine Chronicles (not online). “Bazzana has crafted an improbably balanced book about an impossibly unbalanced man. ... The story as told is a revelation of absurdity, wild humor, and self-imposed suffering—a dialectical ride on the see-saw of degradation and transcendence, an appalling and exalting tour of the mystery of music, and of the heart.---James O. Tate”
Sorry for not updating the site for a long time. I have been quite busy for my relocation to London. There are several news that I would need to post.
Kevin Bazzana has won the Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Musical Biography (The Amercian Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) for "Lost Genius". He won the same award a few years ago for his Gould biography. The award ceremony is to be held at Lincoln Center, NY, on December 9th, 2008.
Kevin Bazzana posted the Nyiregyhazi-Einstein information to this site. Please check "Nyiregyhazi and Einstein" section.
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5/16/08
As announced, the May/June issue of International piano has an article on EN, which is written by Mr. Jeremy Nicholas. I have provided a few photos to them. I haven't seen the issue yet, though.
A book review, which is identical to the one that has appeared in Palmbeachpost.com, can be now seen in the Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Guy Rickards in International Piano writes a one page- review on the M&A release: He admires EN's Liszt and Chopin, and concludes that the CD offers EN's "exalted, exasperating, and exciting playing" and provides a view on "the shadowy career of a true but flawed" great artist. Please see their March/April issue for more details.
Richard Gwyn's book wins the prize (http://www.thecharlestaylorprize.ca/news.asp). Kevin has received $2,000 as a finalist. We all congratulate him, regarldess of the final decision.
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2/29/08
Last night I watched a documentary film called Note by Note. It is about the making process of one Steinway piano named L1037. The most interesting part of the whole thing was that you can play the L1037 piano after the film. I played it for 20 min and found that it is a wonderful instrument (it's like a fine sports car). If you would like to touch it, there will be opportunities in Portland and Waterwille.
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2/27/08
Forbes interviewed Kevin. Here is the link to the article.
There will be a short review for "Lost genius" in the "American Record Guide" in January/February 2008 issues.
A paperback version of "Lost genius" will appear at the end of February. The cover is shown here.
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1/8/08
The American Hungarian Federation introduces Kevin's book on their cultural news section. The author mentions his personal encounter with EN.
Here is an article about an interesting encounter between Glenn Gould and Ervin Nyiregyhazi. In 1982, Gould was asked to play in EN-style by an engineer during one of his recording sessions (Brahms). He laughed loudly and said "I haven't studied his style!". The engineer said "I'll send you a number of records". GG replied "No, no, I have them. That's why I haven't studied them...".
According to Kevin, GG owned one of EN's masterworks LPs, but he had never opened it.
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12/23/07
"Lost Genius" has won an award from a British magazine (The International Piano Awards 2007: Book of the Year). The citation says:
“‘The curious and tragic story of an extraordinary musical prodigy’ is this book’s accurate sub-title. The prodigy in question is Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903-87), whose astonishing life story is too improbable for fiction. Bazzana tells his story in a fluent, assured, and immaculately researched biography that reads more like a novel.”
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12/20/07
The ending of CTV documentary. EN was drinking during the sequence.
""Maybe I am even a greater man than a pianist"......if you said that to me, I will just kiss you!"
I've just heard that the release of M&A CD 1202 has been delayed again. It's not a major delay, though. We will probably see the product before the end of this month. Let's be patient.
---------------
12/7/07
Music and Arts officially anounced the CD (CD-1202(2) ERVIN NYIREGYHÁZI IN PERFORMANCE: LIVE RECORDINGS, 1972-1982.) on their web site.
The site also mentions the Japanese edition of "Lost genius", which I have not talked here yet. The Japanese edition will appear from Shunjusha, a prestigious publisher in Japan. I was involved in finding the publisher. Junichi Miyazawa, a famous Gould researcher, helped the process, too.
----------------
12/6/07
EN's photos, taken by Yoshimasa Hatano in 1982, are added to the Archive and "Nyiregyhazi and Japan" section.
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12/5/07
Schott, one of the largest and the most influential sheetmusic/music book publishers in the world (also publishes "Lost Genius" in Germany), has reached agreement with the Nyiregyhazi Foundation. Schott plans/considers to publish EN's compositions and recordings and reprint Revesz's book and EN's pre-published works. They also hope to publish TV documentaries.
It is likely that we will have a good year in 2008.
"Lost Genius" was named one of the best books of 2007 by The Grobe & Mail and The Washington Post. If you would like to read book reviews, please visit the Archive section.
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11/28/07
M&A CD will be on sale from HMV Japan on Dec 27, 2007.
It's only in German. Acording to Kevin, a sentence says "it reads like "the best fiction", even like a detective novel"........
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11/7/07
Two photos of art works related to EN are added to the archive section. These arts were created right after EN moved to the states. You could imagine how popular he was then.
1. A bust (probably made by Charles Andrew Hafner, around 1920-21). The photo was taken by Nicholas Haz.
2. A mask (by "Grace Marion Browne" (possibly Grace Marion Brown, a graphic artist), around 1920-21).
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11/6/07
Two EN's photos taken in 1920's are added to the archive section. These are from the Library of Congress. #1, #2. The former photo is also used in Wikipedia.
Thanks for your information, Kevin.
---------------------
11/2/07
Music and Arts CD "Live Recordings 1972-1982" can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com. Here is the tracklist.
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11/1/07
The recording of Liszt: "Il Penseroso" is added to "Live/Studio Recordings (1972-85)" section. This was recorded on the R. Antonioli's house in July 29th, 1973 .
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10/30/07
Here is the top 10 download files of this month. To access to each file, you could type it after "www.fugue.us". (e.g. www.fugue.us//WAVE.mp3)
According to G. Revesz's "The Psychology of a Music Prodigy" (1913), Ervin had complete absolute pitch when he was at 7. He hardly made a mistake regardless of the difficulty of listening tests that Revesz conducted.
EN gave perfect answers to the first and second chords after listeing them just once. He needed to hear the third chord twice, and he missed only 3 out of 13 notes. But he did not point out a wrong note.
Here is the review posted in the Washington Post. Very positive one ("Lost Genius offers much more than the elegance of the Vienna Philharmonic and the fun of the Boston Pops...........").
Also, here is some film footage showing Henry Daniell, who appeared as Liszt in a 1947 film "Song of Love". EN doubles his performance sequence (Mephisto Waltz No.1 and Schumann's Wildmung) in that movie. EN's appearance was very similar to Daniell then. Unfortunately, EN is NOT on the soundtrack again (Arthur Rubinstein plays the music). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxCZthMsxEQ
For more details, please check ""Lost genius".
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10/5/07
I've made the "1987-present" section in the Nyiregyhazi Archive. Cover photos of Kevin's book and M&A CD information are posted.
A film footage of EN's performance in "Soul of a Monster" will be posted next week. You will be able to see it only for a few days. So, please don't miss it. Please check Recording fragments from films and a promotinal LP (1929-46) early next week.
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10/4/07
When Gould died, it was just days after I bought his new version of Goldberg variation. 25 years! I can't believe it.......
A book review for Lost genius is available in the New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/article/63851
Additional reviews will be available in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Wall Street Journal soon. I will keep updating the information here. The November-December issue of International Piano also will discuss on "Lost Genius".
The US and German editions of Lost genius can be ordered through Amazon.com. The latter (Pianist X) will be launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
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10/2/07
A part of "Beast with five fingers", where EN's left hand plays Bach, is posted in Youtube.
Peter Lorre!! I think the Special effect is wonderful for that period, too. The great Luis Bunuel was involved in this film before he moved to Mexico and Europe.
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10/1/07
I added one photo of EN (1920's) to the archive section.
I heard that M&A CD arrival will be delayed now and it will come out in November or December. Let's be patient.†
Here is the top 10 list of downloaded mp3 files (9/1-9/31).
P.S. ....People tend to listen to only the first movement of Brahms Sonata, probably due to the position in the page. But please don't forget about the 2nd movement. It is a mesmerizing performance, although the recording sonority has some problems.
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9/28/07
Sorry for changing the page design frequently. This may take a while until I find the one I like.....
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9/25/07
I posted EN's unpublished recording of Chopin: Mazurka (Op6). This was performed right after the "Wave" in the Old first church concert in 1973. Please visit "Live/Studio recordings".
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9/18/07
EN (actually, his left hand) appeared in 1946 film "Beast with Five Fingers". He was on the soundtrack (his performances of "Chaconne" (Bach=Brahms) can be heard in at least three sequences). Please check "Recording fragments from films and a promotinal LP (1929-46)" to listen to them.
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9/12/07
I uploaded Wagner: "Liebestod" from "Tristan und Isolde". This was recorded in 1978 for a Canadian TV documentary. Only a part was used in the actual documentary.
I regard this an impressive performace, capturing the spirit of the work, despite the wrong notes. There is one more unpublished recording of "Liebestod", taped probably in 1982. The 1978 version is technically better.
Ford Foundation, which financially supported EN in late 1970's, describes their involvement with EN on their web page. Their support generated two Masterworks LPs.
Pavarotti died. I loved his early recordings, including "che gelida manina", recorded with von Karajan.
I posted EN's performance of Liszt: La Lugubre Gondola, which was composed when Wagner died. This was recorded at Forest Hill Club house in 1973. This recording does not have the first 27 seconds.
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9/4/07
I posted the recording of Liszt: Eglogue in the "Live/Studio recordings" section. This was recorded on Dec 17, 1972, at the century club.
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9/1/07
The current issue of "Piano" discusses on Nyiregyhazi. The writer is a famous pianist, Mr. Anton Kuerti. You could get more information from a publisher's page.
I heard that this site is referred (I provided a photo) but I have not read the magazine yet.
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8/31/07
For whom do not know how to pronounce "Nyiregyhazi":
The speaker is EN himself.
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8/29/07
Kevin said the US and the Candian editions are the same book with minor changes in the source notes and typos. The cover and the subtitle are different obviously.
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8/28/07
The US edition of "Lost genius" is available from Amazon.com today.
Kevin, are there any alterations from the Canadian edition?
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8/21/07
I heard that Music and Arts CD (track) will appear at the end of September as scheduled. I will keep you informed about this.
I posted an ad for his 1982 concert in Tokyo (click) in the Archive and Japanese sections.
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8/16/07
Since there are significant numbers of recording tracks in my site now, I created the "Chef's choice" page so that new visitors would know which one they should listen to first. The choice will be changed, depending on my mood.
I posted the final movement of Brahms Sonata.
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8/14/07
Here is a recent book review published in Library Journal.
Bazzana, Kevin. Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick.
Carroll & Graf. Sept. 2007. c.384p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN
978-0-78672-088-0. $27.99. MUSIC
In this well-documented biography of little-known Hungarian pianist and
composer Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903-87), Bazzana (Wondrous Strange: The Life
and Art of Glenn Gould) draws on Géza Révész's 1925 Psychology of a Musical
Prodigy but expands the canvas to cover an entire lifetime. Through
interviews and the examination of primary sources, Bazzana traces the
pianist's formative years in Europe from his grade-school-age concertizing
to his popular world tours, distressing relationships with managers and
promoters, difficulties with alcohol and sex addiction, and encounters with
contemporaries, including actors Béla Lugosi and Harold Lloyd and even
gangsters Al Capone and John Dillinger. One empathizes with Nyiregyházi as
he careens from superstar to penniless drudge to adored advocate of
romanticism and back to homelessness, all within a few years. Nyiregyházi's
ten wives and affairs with luminaries such as silent screen star Gloria
Swanson make his relations with women prime territory, but it is unfortunate
that Bazzana concentrates so much on this and chooses crude, off-putting
language to describe the pianist's sexuality. The contemporary photographs
and facsimiles of musical scores add interest, and the comprehensive index
is useful. Recommended, with the above caveats, for all collections.
- Barry Zaslow, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH
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8/08/07
I uploaded EN's 1972 performance, Brahms Sonata No3 ( the 3rd and 4rth movements). I will update the final movement later on. This sonata was performed in the Century club. Please visit "Live/Studio recordings".
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8/07/07
"Piano", British magazine from Rhinegold Publishing, will discuss about Nyiregyhazi in the Aug/Sep issue, which will appear at the end of this month. I have provided a photo image to them, but I don't really know how the detail will be. Please check their web site (www.rhinegold.co.uk) after a few weeks. I will update the information here, too.
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8/4/7
I uploaded EN's 1973 performance, Liszt: Au lac de Wallenstadt. This was recorded in at Mr. Antonioli's home. Please visit "Live/Studio recordings".
7/30/7
One of the greatest artists whom I have admired died.........
I uploaded an ad for the 4th international high school music and fine art competiton ("Nyiregyhazi competition).
Here is the top 10 downloaded files of the month (7/1~7/30/07).
1) Liszt: Dante Sonata
2) Liszt: Two legends: Wave
3) Brahms: Piano Sonata mov.1
4) Debussy, La pluse lent
5) Liszt: Faust Gretchen
6) Schubert: Am Meer
7) Debussy: Pagodes
8) Brahms: Sonata Mov2
9) Liszt: Funeral March
10) Brahms Rhapsody Op119-4
______________________
7/26/7
One more recording from the Forest hill club recital (1973)------"Sunt lacrymae rerum" by Liszt. Please check the Studio/Live recording section. His performance in this recital is more technically stable than the others and the recording sonority is decent. Unfortunatelly, "two legends" were not recorded due to EN's request before the performance (see "Lost genius" for details).
Mr. Sekikawa, a famous Satsuma-biwa (Japanese guitar) player who invited EN to Japan in 1980 and 1982, told me that when EN played this work in Takasaki in 1980, EN specifically told him to change the title to "Chi-no-youna-Namida=Blood-like tears". The altered Japanese title was also used in a LP set "Messengers of Peace"(Toshiba).
-----------------------
7/24/07
I posted a first page of "A Soldier of Fortune (1939)" in the archive section. Please check "Rhythmic Notation" at the bottom of the score. You will be amused.
----------------------
7/22/07
Kevin Bazzana writes a review for "Life and Death of Classical music" By Norman Lebrecht. I read the same book a few months ago and completely agree with Kevin's view. I have written a review about this book and NL's on-line articles. If you can read Japanese, please visit the Japanese edition of fugue.us (Intermezzo).
A part of 1978 CTV EN doumentary is posted to Youtube. The guy with beard is, I believe, Mr. Benko.
-----Error correction: I was told that this documentary was actually from the NBC documentary "the lost genius" (7.29.07)
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7/19/07
EN's 1973 live performance "Rhapsody Op119-4 (Brahms)" can be heard in the "Live/Studio Recordings" section. This was performed in Forest Hill Club house.
Also, Kevin Bazzana sent me a book review appeared in Booklist (August 1, 2007).
“Playing the piano and composing at three, performing publicly at six, Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903–87) mastered the romantic repertoire, especially Liszt, very early. Isolated from age mates because of his gifts, he grew up to be sexually insatiable and married 10 times. Infantile in personality, he depended on others to promote his career and manage his life. Famous as a teen playing in Europe and the U.S., he was forgotten at 25 and settled in California. He thereafter played in movies, serving as a hand double, but seldom performed in public. Shy and retiring, he feared performing though his technique was loud and powerful. Rediscovered in the 1970s, he made several studio recordings. He composed constantly, though little of his work was published or performed. As in his biography of Glenn Gould, Wondrous Strange (2004), Bazzana bares the soul of his subject and reveals a musician who should be remembered as the peer of such contemporaries as Arrau, Horowitz, and Rudolf Serkin. Rather than waxing and waning twice, his star should have shone constantly.”
— Alan Hirsch
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7/16/07
You can find a music manuscript of EN's earily work "Mephisto Fantasie" (1919) in the Archive Section.
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7/12/07
I posted EN's recording of Liszt: Funeral March "In memory of Maximillian, Emperor of Mexico"(Marche funebre (In magnis et voluisse sat est), which was performaned and recorded at Forest Hill Club in 1973. It is one of the most gigantic performances without showing technical decline. Please visit Live/Studio recordings.
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7/9/07
I posted the first pages of scores of "Grande Sonate Heroique" (1917) and " Trimph!" (1919) in the archive section. I am not sure if I will update the entire scores of these works in the future, but those can also be found in the Library of Congress and probably in the IPA.
_______________
7/6/07
Kevin Bazzana sent me an image of German (Click) edition of "Lost genius" cover page. Very interesting title!
EN's unpublished recording "Am Meer"(Schubert-Liszt) has been posted. Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section. I like this recording a lot.
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7/3/07
I posted a music manuscript (unpublished) of "Longing for America" (1931). Please check the Nyiregyhazi Archive section.
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6/2907
I posted EN's unpublished recording "Dante Sonata" (7/29/1973). Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section.
The cover of US edition of Lost genius US can be seen here (click).
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6/2507
I posted music manuscripts (unpublished) of "The Truncated Life-Task (No.I)", "The Laughters of the Murderer". Please check the Nyiregyhazi Archive section. Both works were composed in April, 1986.
_____________
6/2207
I posted EN's unpublished recording "Pagodes" (5/6/1973). Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section.
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6/1307
I posted EN's unpublished recording "Brahms Sonata No.3 (1st and 2nd movements)" (12/17/1972). Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section.
---------------------------
|6/10/07
I posted musicmanuscripts of two unpublished works, "Japanese Monody" (June 1980) and "Untitled (Allegro Moderato)(June 1970). The former material, which was provided by Mr. Jun Kinoshita, was composed after his 1980 concerts in Japan. Please check Nyiregyahzi Archive section or Nyiregyhazi and Japan section.
Also, new book blurbs from two critics working for major newspapers has just arrived. They sound very positive.
"Kevin Bazzana, whose biography of Glenn Gould managed the
extraordinary feat of doing full justice to a complicated genius, here takes
on a very different challenge. Even those who don't yet know the name of
Ervin Nyiregyházi (let alone how to pronounce it!) will find this latter-day
saga of a lost pianist wrenching, beautifully told and, on occasion, grimly
hilarious. Nyiregyházi comes off as a cross between Mozart and Charles
Bukowski--a person endowed, in equal measure, with enormous gifts and an
appalling drive toward self-destruction--and this 'riches-to-rags' chronicle
of a life that encompassed performances in European palaces and a long
residence on 'skid row' in downtown Los Angeles is one of the great musical
biographies."
-- Tim Page, music critic, The Washington Post6/7/07
"As a child prodigy and young touring virtuoso, Ervin Nyiregyházi
won the admiration of crowned heads, critics, and some of the greatest
musicians of his era. In later decades, his “lost genius,” his uniquely
mesmerizing mastery of the keyboard, was as repeatedly rediscovered as the
pianist himself repeatedly disappeared into skid-row obscurity. In a
chronicle crowded with colorful charactere--a famous novelist, a
prize-fighter, unscrupulous managers, divas, whores, and even Count Dracula,
Bela Lugosi--the most colorful and conflicted figure of all is Nyiregyházi
himself: he never did anything that anyone else wanted him to, if he could
help it. The tragedy of musical genius deflected developed in counterpoint
to the triumph of remaining true to himself, no matter what the cost. His
life was a bizarre and unpredictable 'Symphonie fantastique' in many
contrasting movements. Kevin Bazzana’s enthralling biography conducts us
through it with compassion, insight, humor, humanity and a proper degree of
amazement.
-- Richard Dyer, music critic, Boston Globe
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6/6/07
I posted EN's unpublished recording "La Plus Que Lent" (5/6/1973). Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section.
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6/3/07
An unpublished manuscript of a composition (1945) was added to the Nyiregyhazi archive section.
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5/31/07
EN performed "Faust symphony" at the Robert Antonioli's home. I posted the recording of "Gretchen (2nd movement)", which is quite lovely. Please check the "Live/Studio recording" section.
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5/27/07
I posted Nyiregyhazi's 1927&1984 composition "Amongst the Ruins of the past". Please check the N archive section. There is a sound file, too.
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5/23/07
I start posting Nyiregyhazi's recent recording (1 recording per week or 10 days). They are mainly unpublished ones that wouldn't be included even in Music and Arts release; however, I feel I should start from this, even though it will be included in M&A CD.
List Legendes No.2, "St. Francois De Paule Marchant Sur les flots" ("Wave").
___________________
5/22/07
I posted EN's 1982 Japan tour program with his handwritten note. This is from a friend of mine, Jun Kinoshita (Piano music CD selection (Japanese language only)). The program is quite big (22 pages) and thus I posted only a part of it. You could also find Nyiregyhazi's music manuscript of "Ninety Five Years Ago", which was composed on 7/31/1981. Please check the "Nyiregyhazi and Japan" or the "Nyiregyhazi Archive" section.
I am informed that two renowned artists greately endorse "Lost Genius"-------Stephen Hough (http://www.stephenhough.com/) and David Dubal (http://www.daviddubal.com/). These blurbs, forwarded by Kevin, will be put on the back of US edition of "Lost genius":
" Passionate, level-headed, scrupulously detailed, affectionate,
this is a wonderful biography about an intriguing and difficult figure, whom
Bazzana handles with supreme delicacy. As a student, I still remember
Nyiregyhazi's opening bars of 'Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este' on the CBS
record, which I heard with open ears, mind, and mouth. It was staggering and
deeply inspiring."
- Stephen Hough
______ D. Dubal's blurb is taken out on 5/22/07, as it is written only for the jacket. Sorry!
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5/21/07
I updated the "Nyiregyhazi and Japan" section a bit. The section will have all materials related to his concert tours in Japan (photos, programs, and hopefully compositions in near future). Programs of 1982 recitals will be uploaded soon.
Please check the following link. One of EN's performances in 1982. As Kevin admires in his book, this is one of the most beautiful EN's performances. http://www.savefile.com/files/611701
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5/15/07
Mr. Jun Kinoshita (Piano music CD selection (Japanese language only)) provided me copies of 1980 (Takasaki) and 1982 (Tokyo) concert programs written by Nyiregyhazi himself. I upoladed those of Takasaki recitals. See the Nyiregyhazi Archive section .
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5/7/07
Mr. William Shatner (http://imdb.com/name/nm0000638/) appears to love Kevin's "Lost genius".
This makes Kevin very happy. I didn't know that he likes "Star Trek".
I started uploading Nyiregyhazi's concert programs between 1950's to 80's. There will be some interesting materials. Please check the Nyiregyhazi archive section constantly for a while.
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5/4/07
Kevin Bazzana appeared on a CBC program. Check below. http://www.cbc.ca/nxnw/
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4/26/07 Music & Arts CD "tentative" tracklist
The above sheet, which was generated by Kevin, is a tentative tracklist of Music & Arts CD 1202. I'll update this whenever it's renewed.
I uploaded photos showing Nyiregyhazi's hands (his last years). Please check the Nyiregyhazy archive section.
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4/24/07
A new book review appeared. http://www.thestar.com/article/202513
Two reviews from Quill and Quire and Gramophone will be available soon.
Also, I uploaded Nyiregyhazi's passport photos (#1-#5). Please check the Nyiregyhazi Archive section.
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4/3/07
I have been uploading Frederic Lamond's recordings in the "Ervin's Master's Voice" section (they are nice). He was Ervin Nyiregyhazi's teacher.
Kevin Bazzana provides me the following note about his book and short summary of Nyiregyhazi's life .
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Lost Genius:
The Story of a Forgetten Musical Maverick
By Kevin Bazzana
Ervin Nyiregyhazi (1923)
Lost Genius is a biography of the Hungarian-American pianist and composer Ervin Nyiregyházi. His name (pronounced “air-veen nyeer-edge-hah-zee”) is little known today, except among historical-piano buffs, yet the testimony of fellow-musicians, critics, and other reliable witnesses, and of what documents and recordings survive, reveals that he was one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic performers of the twentieth century, as well as a prolific composer in a strange, very personal idiom. Moreover, he was astonishingly eccentric, and his bizarre life and personality would make for a fascinating biography even had he not been an exceptional artist. (His story has caught the interest of movie companies over the years—as recently as the mid-1990s.) The book explores Nyiregyházi’s life and art in detail, and makes a case for him as a geniune lost genius of twentieth-century music.
*
Born in Budapest, in 1903, Ervin Nyiregyházi was one of the most remarkable child prodigies in music history. In fact, a book devoted to his gifts was published when he was just 13: The Psychology of a Music Prodigy, by Geza Révész. (It remains a classic in the field of child psychology.) He studied at the local academy of music, and word of his gifts spread quickly. His parents exploited his talent, presenting him before countless local and visiting aristocrats, intellectuals, businessmen, and cultural figures (including composers like Lehár and Puccini and many of the great performers of the day). At 6, he gave his first public recital; at 8, he played for the nobility in London and for the royal family at Buckingham Palace.
Everywhere he earned praise and patronage, though being an idealistic and strong-willed child he chafed against the prodigy life. Ultimately, his anger at his parents’ exploitation and control, his shame of his family’s lower-middle-class status, his experiences of anti-Semitism, and his mother’s particular abuse all left lasting psychological scars.
During the First World War, he studied in Berlin (his piano teachers were Dohnányi and Lamond), and at 12 he made his concerto début with the Berlin Philharmonic. In his teens, he gave concerts throughout central Europe, playing often huge programs featuring the most difficult solo works and concertos, in performances that amazed audiences, critics, and musicians.
In the fall of 1920, at 17, Nyiregyházi made a sensational New York début, and for three seasons he attracted much publicity across America, becoming a bona fide (albeit controversial) celebrity. His career was poorly handled, however, and in 1924 he sued his manager; the case was settled out of court (not to his advantage), but he was effectively blacklisted in the music business.
Thrown onto his own resources, he proved to be hopelessly incompetent at coping with day-to-day life. He had been sheltered and infantilizd by his parents, to the point that when he arrived in America he still could not tie his own shoelaces or cut his own food (to the delight of the tabloids). Soon he was destitute, sometimes going without food and sleeping on the subway or a park bench. He was reduced to playing in hotel orchestras, at Sing Sing prison, in private recitals for gangsters, in concerts organized by the Hungarian community—anywhere he could earn a little money.
Nyiregyhazi as "Mr.X"
In 1928, with six dollars in his pocket, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he did musical odd jobs for film studios. He performed in some early talkies (Fashions in Love, The Lost Zeppelin, Lummox) and performed or served as a “hand double” in piano sequences in such later films as A Song to Remember, Song of Love, Soul of a Monster, and The Beast with Five Fingers. Through the thirties and forties he remained in poverty, became a drunkard, and spent most of his time composing, in an idiosyncratic late-Romantic style. (He began composing at 3, and had written more than a thousand works by the time he died.) He still performed, sometimes with local W.P.A. orchestras, sometimes in private recitals.
Despite his low profile and poverty, his talent and personality won him many fans. His circle of friends and admirers reads like a who’s who of early-twentieth-century America: Rudolph Valentino and Harry Houdini, Gloria Swanson and Bela Lugosi, Jack Dempsey and Theodore Dreiser, as well as many leading musicians of the day. But he was a tormented and self-destructive person, and despite the efforts of influential persons, and occasional trips to New York and Europe, he could not revive his career. With time, he became increasingly neurotic about performing in public. In 1946, he agreed to give a recital in L.A. only if permitted to appear disguised by a silk hood; he was advertised as “Mr. X—Masked Pianist.”
After the Second World War, his career as a pianist effectively ended. He lived in cheap lodgings, drinking and composing; he did not own a piano, did not practice, seemed unconcerned about the loss of his concert career. He travelled often—to New York, to Texas and Mexico, to Europe—sometimes in search of companionship, sometimes to relive better times, sometimes simply because he was restless. He was voracious sexually; his life was replete with long-term mistresses and one-night-stands (many with married women), as well as prostitutes, masseuses, and occasional male partners. He married ten times, rarely successfully. One wife abused him, and their separation was fodder for the tabloids (“SLAVE MAN BATTLES SUIT”). He divorced another wife shortly after their wedding because she yawned during a concert; another sought psychotherapy in Vienna with Freud; yet another was deported for prostitution, and, out of spite, stole the book of essays he had been compiling under the (characteristically grandiose) title The Truth at Last.
In 1972, a group of historical-piano aficionados rediscovered Nyiregyházi, and he gave a few public concerts. Word of his rediscovery spread, and in 1974 and 1978 he made some recordings for the International Piano Archives. When they were released, his unique and powerful piano style, and colourful life-story, inspired a barrage of public and media interest: interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, TV documentaries. There were sensational headlines (“HOBO PIANIST REDISCOVERED IN TENDERLOIN”), and much controversy among musicians and critics, but Nyiregyházi, uncompromising when it came to his artistic ideals, was unwilling to milk the publicity for the sake of money or status or fame. He refused lucrative offers to play in in Carnegie Hall, and refused to abandon his down-and-out lifestyle.
By 1980, the fad was over—except in Japan, where he found a public that respected his artistic ideals. In 1980 and 1982, he gave concerts in Japan, where he was lionized, but he returned to L.A., to the obscurity he seemed to prefer. He died there, of cancer, in 1987.
His life reads like a soap opera, but Nyiregyházi was no charlatan. Even after he dropped out of the public eye, his playing could astonish the most informed ears. The composer Arnold Schoenberg, after hearing him play privately in 1935, wrote (in a letter to Otto Klemperer) that Nyiregyházi was “something utterly extraordinary,” a pianist of “incredible originality and conviction” with an “astonishing” and “unparalleled” technique and “power of expression I have never heard before.” “The sound he gets out of the piano is unprecedented,” Schoenberg wrote. “I have never heard such a pianist before.”
Photo (C) Yoshimasa Hatano
Nyiregyházi made some Ampico piano rolls in the 1920s, but no recordings when he was in his prime. Still, the recordings he made in the 1970s, despite his deteriorated technique, reveal a pianist with a rich singing tone, an unparalleled dynamic range, a contrapuntal and “orchestral” approach to texture, a very flexible sense of rhythm, and (most controversially) a free, creative, improvisatory approach to interpretation. He was a genuine Romantic adrift in the modern age; even when he was a child, critics referred to his style as “old-fashioned.” In fact, his playing was said to resemble that of Liszt, according to former Liszt pupils who heard him play. He was a ferociously individual artist—his heroes were Liszt and Wilde—and his deeply personal musical interpretations scandalized many. Yet, he may be considered a sort of “missing link” to a bygone species of Romanticism that existed before the recording era. His eccentricities and the faddish nature of his rediscovery notwithstanding, he was musician of considerable historical importance.
*
Lost Genius is the product of ten years’ research, and the story it tells has never fully been told before, not even during the Nyiregyházi “renaissance” of the 1970s. The book is based on archival material gathered from institutions and individuals all over the world—most important, Nyiregyházi’s own posthumous papers and those of his tenth and last wife, who conducted hundreds of hours’ worth of interviews with him covering every aspect of his life. The author also interviewed and corresponded with almost all of the principal figures personally connected with Nyiregyházi in the 1970s and 1980s, in the U.S., Japan, and elsewhere, and with surviving family members in California. The research received support from institutions directly associated with Nyiregyházi, including his estate (the International Ervin Nyiregyházi Foundation, in The Netherlands), the Takasaki Art Center College (in Japan), the International Piano Archives at Maryland, and the Ford Foundation (in New York).
First published by McClelland & Stewart (Toronto) in February 2007, Lost Genius was is due to be published in the U.S. by Carroll & Graf (New York) in the fall of 2007.
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The following message is from Kevin Bazzana, posted to the Yahoo discussion group on Feb 2007. He forwarded this to me.
This note is directed to anyone interested in the Hungarian-American pianist and composer Ervin Nyiregyházi (1903-1987). I am writing to announce the forthcoming appearance of a book and a CD release devoted to Nyiregyházi.
The book is a biography by me, "Lost Genius: The Story of a Forgotten Musical Maverick" (383 pages, ISBN 978-0-7710-1100-9, $36.99 in Canada). The publisher is McClelland & Stewart, in Toronto (www.mcclelland.com), and the official release date is February 27, though the book has already been printed and is being offered for pre-order at Amazon.ca (and .com) and the like. Publishers/distributors outside Canada have not yet been finalized, but until that time, I believe, anyone in the U.S. or elsewhere who wants the book can order it directly it from the publisher or online. "Lost Genius" is the first biography of Nyiregyházi, and is the product of 10 years of research.
The CD release is a two-disc set on the Music & Arts label (CD-1202), tentatively titled "Ervin Nyiregyházi in Performance: Live Recordings, 1972-1982". It will feature performances from Nyiregyházi's public and private recitals in San Francisco and Novato, California (1972-73, 1978), and from his public recitals in Japan (1980, 1982); a bonus track offers the five-minute recording of a piano-orchestra work by an American composer that Nyiregyházi made in 1936 for the Federal Music Project (the only surviving studio recording of him playing in his prime).
The other repertoire will include about an hours worth of Liszt (including the legendary 1973 performances of the 2 "Legendes"); Scriabin’s Sonata No. 4; a Chopin group; two Schubert songs; pieces by Debussy, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Grieg; and Nyiregyházi's solo version of the whole slow movement of Rachmaninov's C-minor concerto. This 2-CD set, produced with the cooperation of the International Ervin Nyiregyházi Foundation (which represents his estate), will be available by September 1 at the latest; see the Music & Arts website (www.musicandarts.com) in the coming months for more details.
Anyone interested in knowing more about either of these projects, or about Nyiregyházi generally, is welcome to contact me directly. Many thanks for your attention.
KEVIN BAZZANA
Brentwood Bay, B.C., Canada
kevinbazzana( at )shaw.ca
The Japanese edition of "Lost Genius", "Ushinawareta Tensai" will finally appear in the market next week. It is translated by Mr. Keisuke Suzuki and sold from Shunjusha.
Anton Kuerti, a famous Austrian pianist, wrote a book review for the Globe & Mail. 
