In the Dark

Back home to the news that Viktor Orbán has been ousted in today’s election in Hungary I thought I’d share something celebratory. Here is a classic recording of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor by Franz Liszt played by György Cziffra. The second is by far the most famous of the 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies Liszt wrote, although it is based on Romanian rather than Hungarian tunes. Many recordings are available – I have three on CD – and this is my favourite. Cziffra was a very talented jazz musician too (here is his take on Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady); Liszt himself was no mean improviser.

I’m not sure of the recording date, but was made in Hungary (when it was still behind the Iron Curtain) so it would have to be before 1956, as Cziffra escaped to Vienna then and eventually took up French citizenship.

This entry was posted on April 12, 2026 at 11:14 pm and is filed under Music, Politics with tags Franz Liszt, György Cziffra, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Hungary, Viktor Orbán. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.