Just reading up on this mofo. Not heard of him before.
Schoenberg had this to say
How much exists? I’ve found a bit of Liszt so far. He was a direct descendant through Dohnanyi and d’Albert.
Nyiregyhazi’s life and career began very promisingly, but for whatever reason things never came to be, and he ended up at the very bottom of society instead where he lingered in obscurity for decades before eventually being rediscovered as a wrecked drunkard in San Francisco in the early 1970s. The story of this is somewhat apocryphal - word is that a well-known SF taper at the time essentially saw this Nyiregyhazimofo was about to play in a church he walked past and, always carrying a tape recorder in case any great forgotten pianists should appear, he slipped in and taped it. Impressed, or at least perplexed, he sent the recording to some friends from where word about him began to spread. However, when I talked to this taper around the turn of the century, he was as surprised as I was to hear the story, and could not come up with a tape of the concert, which I supplied him with instead.
In any case, this Old First Church recording exists, along with maybe ~20 more private tapes, ~six studio sessions from which CBS released a few LPs, and a documentary Greg Benko convinced the CBC to produce - all this from the 70s and 80s - along with a few broadcasts and film soundtracks from the 30s and 40s (I don’t have access to my list at the moment, but can soon paste in what I have - which is most of what’s around, but not everything). However… if you ask me at least, that EN was a great pianist is as much humbug as that Sorabji was a great composer. In both cases the only evidence we have to go by sound absolutely awful, and we’re told by their proponents it’s so advanced it’s beyond human comprehension to fully appreciate it. In my opinion there’s just nothing there - there’s zero musical value to any surviving recording we have of him, and while he certainly was a prodigy with a good deal of talent… he was a prodigy which, as things would unfortunately turn out, never amounted to anything. At least not effectively, from what we can appreciate today. Still, the story is fascinating, the hype overwhelming, the playing at least “original”, if one is interested in that for its own sake, and every pianophile will go through a period of intense EN exploration to try to figure him out.
I agree with xsdc. He seems to have a lot of cult followers. In the beginning one is fascinated by the story and by his explosive sound and extreme expression, but soon one is bored by this playing. There is a video of him playing a recital in Japan and the playing is absolutely dreadful/one-dimensional. Kevin Bazzana wrote a book about him. IMO he was not as much a victim of American (mis)management, but more the victim of his own lifestyle and addictions. He was a remarkable child prodigy for sure, but at that period in Eastern Europe there were many of those talents.
The earliest surviving recording (I mean not a piano roll) is this Chopin Etude, which is extremely fast, but also rather unmusical:
youtube.com/watch?v=OZlqZM-xofY
My DASDC skills are low this morning. I can’t seem to add an attachment? Here’s a Ctrl+V instead -->
I should also add that almost all dates for Nyiregyhazi’s recordings have been disputed, and I was clearly off with those 20 private tapes. 12, is probably closer to the actual number (again, I don’t have everything that’s around with him).
==================================================================================================
Ervin Nyiregyházi
Commercial & non-commercial recordings in chronological order
Current EN-number: 007 (C003)
(2013-04-20)
EN-C#001. 1937(?): Los Angeles, California (Studio Recordings)
-
? -
• McPherson: 2nd mvt from Piano Concerto No.2 (The Deserted Garden) -
Modest Altschuler / Los Angeles Federal Symphony Orchestra
∞ | (1937?) | ?-? | R -
Test Pressing -> Private CD-R
-
This was probably recorded for use as a movie soundtrack. The location has been inferred from the name of the orchestra.
EN#002. December 17, 1972: Century Club, San Francisco, California (Audience Recording | FLAC)
• Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5
• Liszt: Aux cyprès de la Villa d’Este (Thrénodie I), S.163 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage III)
• Liszt: Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, S.163 No.4 (from Années de Pèlerinage III)
• Liszt: Eglogue, S.160 No.7 (from Années de Pèlerinage I)
• Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1, S.514
Encores:
• Chopin: Mazurka in C-sharp minor, Op.6 No.2
• Chopin: Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op.28 No.10
• Chopin: Mazurka in F minor, Op.63 No.2
• Chopin: Mazurka in B minor, Op.33 No.4
- Brahms’ Op.118 No.6 and Debussy’s Pagodes might have been played as the final encores (at least one collector list them).
EN#003. July 29, 1973: Home of Ronald Antonioli, Novato, California (Audience Recording | FLAC)
- Private Recital -
• Brahms: Intermezzo in E-flat minor, Op.118 No.6
• Debussy: Pagodes (from Estampes)
• Liszt: Tarantella, S.162 No.3 (from Venezia e Napoli)
• Liszt: Au lac de Wallenstadt, S.160 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage I)
• Liszt: Concert Etude in A-flat major, S.145 No.1 (Waldesrauschen)
• Liszt: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, S.161 No.6 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
• Liszt: Il Penseroso, S.161 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
• Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia, quasi Sonata), S.161 No.7 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
Encores:
• Liszt: Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, S.163 No.4 (from Années de Pèlerinage III) [only part recorded]
• Brahms: Ballade in G minor, Op.118 No.3
• Leschetizky: Etude Héroïque, Op.48 No.3
EN#004. November 6, 1973: Location Unknown (Audience Recording | FLAC)
• Schubert: Fantasy in C major, D.760 (Op.15) (Wanderer)
• Liszt: Two Legends, S.175
o 1. St. François d’Assise – La prédication aux oiseaux
o 2. St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots
• Debussy: Pagodes (from Estampes)
• Debussy: La plus que lente
• Brahms: Rhapsody in E-flat major, Op.119 No.4
Encores:
• Leschetizky: Etude Héroïque, Op.48 No.3
• Schubert/Nyiregyházi: Am Meer, D.957 No.12
EN#006. November 1974: Location Unknown (Private Home Recording | FLAC)
• Beethoven: Adagio [abbreviated] from Piano Sonata No.29 in B-flat major, Op.106 (Grosse Sonate für das Hammerklavier)
EN#005. 1978 (TV Broadcast | Mp4480p)
• CBC documentary on Nyiregyházi (34 minutes)
- Also an audio only copy
EN-C#002. January 1978: San Francisco, California (Studio Recordings)
- International Piano Archives -
• Liszt: Funérailles, S.173 No.7 (from Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses)
• Liszt: Il Penseroso, S.161 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: Hamlet (Symphonic Poem)
• Liszt: Nuages gris, S.199
• Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.2, S.515
• Grieg: Seven Lyric Pieces
o Waltz, Op.12 No.2
o Watchman’s Song, Op.12 No.3
o Solitary Wanderer, Op.43 No.2
o Scherzo, Op.54 No.5
o French Serenade, Op.62 No.3
o From the Days of Youth, Op.65 No.1
o Salon, Op.65 No.4
• Rachmaninoff: Prelude in B minor, Op.32 No.10
• Liszt: Vallée d’Obermann, S.160 No.6 (from Années de Pèlerinage I)
∞ | (1978-01-08) | Baldwin Piano | ø | R? - Private CD-R
• Debussy: La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Préludes, Book II No.2)
• Liszt: Mosonyis Grabgeleit, S.194
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: Benedictus from the Hungarian Coronation Mass, S.11
∞ | (1978-01-10) | Baldwin Piano | ø | R?
- Private CD-R
• Debussy: La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (Préludes, Book II No.2)
• Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum (Suite), S.186
o 9. Abendglocken
o 11. Ungarisch
o 12. Polnisch
• Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage I (Suisse), S.160
o 8. Le mal du pays
o 9. Les cloches de Genève – Nocturne
o 3. Pastorale
∞ | (1978-01-10) | Steinway Piano | ø | R? - Private CD-R
• Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage III, S.163
o 2. Aux cypress de la Villa d’Este (Thrénodie I)
o 1. Angelus! (Prière aux anges gardiens)
• Liszt: Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, S.173
o 1. Invocation
o 8. Miserere d’après Palestrina
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in C major, Op.57 No.5 (She Dances)
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in E major, Op.62 No.6 (Homewards)
∞ | (1978-01-11) | Steinway Piano | ø | R?
-
Private CD-R
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in E major, Op.62 No.6 (Homewards)
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in E minor, Op.71 No.1 (Once Upon a Time)
• Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.3 in B-flat minor, S.244 No.3
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: March of the Three Holy Kings from Christus, S.3
∞ | (1978-01-11) | Baldwin Piano | ø | R? -
Private CD-R
-
Excerpts from this session appeared on CBS LPs
EN-C#003. March 1978: San Francisco, California (Studio Recordings)
-
International Piano Archives -
• Schubert/Liszt: Der Doppelgänger, D.957 (S.560 No.12)
• Schubert/Liszt: Der Wanderer, D.489 (S.558 No.11)
• Schumann/Nyiregyházi: Overture to Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, WoO 3
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: From the Cradle to the Grave (Symphonic Poem), S.107
• Tchaikovsky/Nyiregyházi: Why?, Op.6 No.5
• Nyiregyházi: Medley of popular songs & pieces from the 1920s
∞ | (1978-03-19,20,21) | Unknown Piano | ø | R? -
Private CD-R
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Wagner’s operas Rienzi and Lohengrin
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Verdi’s opera Un Ballo in Maschera
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Verdi’s opera Otello
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci
∞ | (1978-03-19,20,21) | Unknown Piano | ø | M? -
VAI/IPA 1003
-
Excerpts from this session appeared on CBS LPs
EN#001. April 30, 1978: Home of Ronald Antonioli, Novato, California (Audience Recording | FLAC)
- Private Recital -
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: A Faust Symphony, S.108
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: Tristis Est Anima Mea from Christus, S.3
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: Pasticcio from The Legend of St. Elizabeth, S.2
EN#007. May 31, 1980: Takasaki Junior College, Takasaki, Japan (Videotaped Audience Recording | WMV1.84GB)
• Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage III, S.163
o 5. Sunt lacrimae rerum (en mode hongrois)
o 4. Les jeaux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este
• Schubert/Nyiregyházi: Das Wandern, D.795 No.1
• Rachmaninoff: Prelude in B minor, Op.32 No.10
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: Music from the oratorio The Legend of St. Elisabeth, S.2
• Nyiregyházi: Paraphrase on themes from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin
• Tchaikovsky: Waltz in A-flat major, Op.40 No.8
• Chopin: Mazurka in A minor, Op.posth (B.140)
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in B minor, Op.43 No.2 (Solitary Wanderer)
• Brahms: Intermezzo in E-flat minor, Op.118 No.6
• Liszt/Nyiregyházi: The Three Gypsies, S.320
- This was Nyiregyházi’s first concert in Japan
EN#000a. Dates & Locations Unspecified (Audience Recordings | FLAC)
• Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia, quasi Sonata), S.161 No.7 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
• Liszt: Eglogue, S.160 No.7 (from Années de Pèlerinage I)
• Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No.1, S.514
• Liszt: Au lac de Wallenstadt, S.160 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage I)
• Liszt: Concert Etude in A-flat major, S.145 No.1 (Waldesrauschen)
• Liszt: Aux cyprès de la Villa d’Este (Thrénodie I), S.163 No.2 (from Années de Pèlerinage III)
• Liszt: Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, S.163 No.4 (from Années de Pèlerinage III)
• Liszt: Tarantella, S.162 No.3 (from Venezia e Napoli)
- Some or all of this might duplicate material listed elsewhere
EN#000b. Dates & Locations Unspecified (Audience Recordings | FLAC)
• Liszt: Two Legends, S.175
o 1. St. François d’Assise – La prédication aux oiseaux
o 2. St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots
• Liszt: En rêve (Nocturne), S.207
• Liszt: Ballade No.2 in B minor, S.171
• Liszt: Sunt lacrymae rerum (En mode hongrois), S.163 No.5 (from Années de Pèlerinage III)
• Schubert/Liszt: Abschied, D.957 No.7 (S.560 No.5)
• Liszt: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, S.161 No.6 (from Années de Pèlerinage II)
• Debussy: Pagodes (from Estampes)
- Some or all of this might duplicate material listed elsewhere. According to the cover to this disc the Liszt Legendes were recorded on May 6, 1973 in San Francisco, while En rêve, Ballade No.2, Sunt lacrymae rerum & the Schubert/Liszt Abschied were taped in Los Angeles in September 1974. The first 6 items apparently originates from Desmar/IPA 111 [LP].
EN#000c. Dates & Locations Unspecified (Audience Recordings | FLAC)
• Debussy: La plus que lente
• Brahms: Intermezzo in E-flat minor, Op.118 No.6
• Brahms: Piano Sonata No.3 in F minor, Op.5
• Brahms: Ballade in G minor, Op.118 No.3
• Brahms: Rhapsody in E-flat major, Op.119 No.4
- Some or all of this might duplicate material listed elsewhere
EN#000d. Dates & Locations Unspecified (Audience & Studio Recordings | FLAC)
• Schumann: Waldszenen, Op.82
o 1. Eintritt
o 2. Jäger auf der Lauer
o 3. Einsame Blumen
o 4. Verrufene Stelle
• Grieg: Lyric Piece in G minor, Op.54 No.1 (Shepherd Boy)
• Tchaikovsky: Waltz, Op.40 No.8
• Tchaikovsky: Romance, Op.5
• Blanchet: Au jardin du vieux Sérail (Adrianople), Op.18 No.3
• Bortkiewicz: Travel Pictures
o Poland (Mazurkas)
o Venetian Gondola Song
o In Spain
• Leschetizsky: Étude Heroïque, Op.48 No.3
• Chopin: Nocturne in F minor, Op.55 No.1
• Chopin: Mazurka, Op.6 No.2
• Chopin: Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op.28 No.10
• Chopin: Mazurka, Op.63 No.2
• Chopin: Mazurka in B minor, Op.33 No.4
- Some or all of this might duplicate material listed elsewhere
Dude was married like 9 times.
Talk about a sucker for punishment!
Or a firm believer in marriage before sex 
He only slept with 9 chicks? 
dependent personality disorder (DPD)
Hahaha
Now, is there any more stuff from the 30’s 40’s and 50’s?
In da book, they talked about some acetate home recordings and the Liszt concerto from 1937 - now lost!
Ok, so he played a lot of Liszt. Shame there’s not so much of the early recs.
Certainly had a dramatic life. What piqued my interest was “Harold C. Schonberg wrote that “some critics wonder if Franz Liszt had been reincarnated””. Might do some investigating.
Also, married 10 times apparently.
Do we know if Schonberg actually heard him or is he just reporting what others said?
I haven’t heard much from Nyiregyhazi but what I heard didn’t leave a positive impression I’m afraid.
I have a friend who used to be obsessed with him. Apparently he had one of the loudest sounds and caused his fingers to bleed on occasion.
I have a couple of videos. But yeah he was married numerous times, lived rough on the streets etc. Listening to his playing makes me uneasy.
imagine if the only recz we had of the Ho were from 1978 until the 1983 Jap disaster 
I’m convinced that da Nignazi was a fucking 
level virtuoso mofo
in his prime.
That’d still leave an awesome Humoreske though, and some pretty good Clementi and other Schumann too.
well, da Nignazi has a pretty gud Brahms 3rd Sonata pozz 
Perhaps oddly, I find his quiet playing far more persuasive than his loud playing. Then again it wouldn’t surprise me if he was drunk during some performances, his octaves in some Liszt are ridiculous and not in a good way. I have memories of his Vallee d’Obermann descending into utter farce towards the end.
I think most of his octaves turn to 9ths with added notes in between
Don’t forget the sevenths 
:Scrib:
These recitals seem amazing, xsdc. His live recordings are generally worth listening.