Word: nyiregyh
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...Says Nyiregyházi, "It was just like reading a book." He became friends with sev eral stars, among them Gloria Swanson...
Spurred on by his ambitious mother, Nyiregyházi became a performer. He made his orchestral debut with the Berlin Philharmonic at the age of twelve, playing Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, then completed a string of European tours over the next five years. Along the way, he happened upon the work of Liszt, then out of fashion. The great romantic, perhaps the most dramatic pianist of all time, became Nyiregyházi's mentor and model. "It was like discovering a new world," he says. "Such lyrical and dramatic intensity, such emphasis on the grandiose and imperial...
...Nyiregyházi drifted to Hollywood, where for two years he sight-read orchestral scores submitted to United Artists as music for movies. It was a feat few pianists could equal, since it involved reading ten or so musical lines simultaneously...
...Nyiregyházi's record and tapes fascinate: in an age of precision playing, they are passionate. His slow tempos, like Liszt's, are funereal; each note seems weighted. He repeats at will sections that he finds lyrical. When he is loud, he is very, very loud, and often the great rushes of sound are overpedaled into a blur...
...Nyiregyházi refuses to ride the new wave of publicity. He rules out concert appearances. Always a nervous performer, he is now terrified by audiences and can only play when in a sort of in spired trance. He fears criticism, to the point that he records only less-known romantic works and his own transcriptions of symphonic and operatic works. "Musicians have always disapproved of my style as too emotional, too idiosyncratic," he says. "So now I prefer to record works where no one can compare me to anyone else. I want to do only what I want...