Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Ervin Nyireghazi
Thanks to YouTube I can get an instant musical affirmation/illustration of the very strange and completely over-the top pianist Ervin Nyireghazi, who I am reading about in Kevin Bazzana's biography Lost Genius.
I met some old friends in the book: Richard Kapp, a record producer and pianist who died recently, told me about "discovering" Nyireghazi years ago. I also "met up" with one of my favorite American writers, Theodore Dreiser with whom Nyireghazi shared a friendship and a girlfriend. The tabloid escapades of celebrities of today pale to those of Nyireghazi. It is still shocking to read about the details of his disfunctional childhood, his ten marriages, his addictions, his grandiosity, and his enormous musical personality (which you can hear above).
From reading about the contours and crevices of Nyireghazi's bizarre personality, I can understand why he would have identified with Dreiser's characters, particularly the main character in The "Genius". I can also imagine why Dreiser would have been drawn to him: he was (while he was alive) like a Dreiser character that had suddenly come to life.
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3 comments:
i'm glad you're learning about nyiregyhazi - one of the greats of all time, even in his ruins. the youtube you posted of his second liszt -legende- is my nominess for the most viscerally thrilling musical performance of all time. he completely eclipses horowitz's 1947 transcription. i'm working to try and recover video footage of e.n.in collaboration with one of his record producers - i want to see and hear all i can of this enigmatic man. you'll find more of interest on him at http://www.fugue.us/
for some reason the www messes up the previous URL - instead, use http://fugue.us/
Thank you Michael! I am thrilled to have access to the PDF files of his compositions.
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