This thirty-year period included many highly successful tours, both in France and abroad – notably Japan –, which brought Cziffra considerable fame, an image in striking contrast with his own modest self-definition as a ‘workman’ aspiring only to share his love of music and the piano. His legendary virtuosity, the outcome of unsparing, almost superhuman hard work, tended to overshadow the inner turmoil of this rather shy man, who suffered personally from Nazi oppression before undergoing the humiliating ordeals inflicted by the post-war Hungarian regime, the accumulated effects of which drove him into exile, where the vicissitudes of human existence brought their own share of suffering.

Cziffra strove for perfection and often rerecorded the same works. It seemed valid to run the risk of redundancy and include all the versions he made of these: though similar, they varied considerably with different moods or new perceptions of the piano’s resources. The dazzling improvisations, paraphrases and transcriptions at the beginning of this collection bear witness to the power of his imagination in response to well-known pieces of music, while giving us a fuller picture of the personal style he deployed in his playing. Unreleased test recordings from the EMI France archives round off the set, making it truly complete. As with all the other recordings, enormous care went into the transfers.