Cziffra has always mostly been a basis of comparison for me with virtuoso jazz pianists, oddly enough. My first favourite pianists consisted of Bobby Enriquez and Art Tatum, who were known to play quickly and, to many, virtuosically.
However, after hearing Cziffra's "Flight of the Bumblebee" I suffered a severe re-questioning of my current idols. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but sometimes, when we get introduced to some world; the movie world, the music world, the sports world, etc., we get to develop biases for certain characters or figures, and it's hard to accept that there are others equally good (or better), once we discover these new "challengers".
Now I think the question of virtuosity/technical command is a rather hard question to consider. Would today's pianists have better technique than of yesterday's? They usually play faster, I think. But then, yesterday's pianists seem to be usually more creative in how they perform, with apparently deeper ideas on tonal color, expressive nuances, etc. Could this be considered a technical advantage? Etc. Things like that.
Once I put the "competition" aspect into piano music, it becomes like this. It's like Palpatine vs. Voldemort, Batman vs. Spiderman again. Whichever character you were into first, of course, is the one you feel should win (deja vu; I think I remember deja-vuing over this before, so that makes it a Double Deja Vu. Anyone felt this before?).
EDIT: I had typed the above response BEFORE I read this one by arensky.
I live in more than one musical world, I play classical and jazz piano. I was interested to hear Cziffra's jazz to see if it was real or just a classical pianist screwing around with jazz as an amusement. Well, Cziffra was a jazz pianist, not a faker. The only faults are that his swing feeling could be more swinging but he makes up for it with his own Czardas style of stride swing; and after all self expression and individuality are a big part of jazz, and he has these in abundance.
I wish there were more recordings of him playing jazz. I know only, as far as American jazz goes, of recordings of him improvising through Tea for Two and Sophisticated Lady. He mentions in his book that he could jam with a big band, and even impressed their leader so much so that he was told to maybe exceed even Tatum in how he improvises.
He was clearly influenced by Tatum, who he exceeds in digital dexterity but not in jazz style, and suprisingly Cziffra's LH was not as astonishing as I though it would be in jazz. But this is looking for spots on the sun...
Unfortunately for me (as I am a Tatum fan) there are many times I think Cziffra exceeds Tatum technically. This is because, from my observations, Cziffra has a lot more use of differing textures, colors, etc. (which he used to his advantage, resulting in performances that, in my opinion, seem to sound more "exciting" and "virtuosic" than Tatum, actually). You could say that this was because he was a classical concert pianist, while Tatum on the other hand did verbally deny being a concert pianist.
In defense of Tatum, I would say Art could and did play maybe as fast (in terms of dexterity) as Cziffra (anyway, I've heard many people play "faster" than Cziffra - I myself can if I force myself, but this kind of discussion is useless, speed is not really technique). It's just that I think Cziffra had an overall better control of piano textures/colors/nuances.
As for the LH, Tatum is freaky in that respect (have you heard "I Wish I Were Twins"? It's nuts!) but Cziffra could play very fast LH also. The crazy last section of his "Trisch Trasch" polka, with the very fast stride-like figure, is proof of this.
The only one from jazz whom I feel could "match" Cziffra in terms of "sheer technique" (as far as
the ability to make rapid runs sound virtuosic and intimidating go) would probably be
Oscar Peterson, whom I feel maybe has "better technique" than Art Tatum. Maybe Oscar was classically trained. Strangely enough, after listening to Oscar and then to Tatum, I feel that Tatum is slightly superior still. It's kind of a rock<paper<scissors<rock thing (Tatum<Cziffra=Peterson<Tatum).
Cziffra is as or more inventive than many modern jazz pianists; his renditions of "Sophisticated Lady" "Blue Skies" "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Honeysuckle Rose" look back to the 1930's but are very modern in conception, frequently avoiding tonality or obscuring it ala Cecil Taylor or Lennie Tristano.
Where did you get all these recordings?! Are they on YouTube? I only know Sophisticated Lady and TF2!
Oh yeah, the technique ... scary 
. He seems to enjoy a certain Tatum device, that of passagework running up or down in a wall of sound on a transitional or "weak" harmonic progression, followed by a restatement of the tune. What he does with this is astonishing, it's like Tatum with 3 or 4 hands.
Isn't that a Lisztian device? I'd like to hear what "device" you're mentioning. Could you cite a specific example from a recording where he uses this?
I do know though that he uses a similar device as Tatum's - it's a quick ascending figure using two (in Tatum's case) or three (in Cziffra's case) chromatic notes and an upper note a third higher than the first note;
here's Cziffra doing this, as compared to
Tatum doing it.
true, but his 80s rec is very slow compared tobhis previous recs, i have one from the 40s i think, at around 1 46 or so, and the famous 50s rec - part of the complete set - comes in at 1 40
Which recordings are these? Are they on YouTube? Are you referring to the 1962 one?
Topic: The Cziffra Appreciation Thread