davy10tunes: I must disagree. His playing could be called "lifeless" if anything (just a sec before you jump off the chair... OF COURSE I'm speaking for myself). And you got stuck with the fact that I pointed out he was self-criticistic (huh?). I didn't mean it resulted in him not being a good piano player, but his OVER-self-criticism did have a bad impact on his confidence, and that DID affect his mood and via mood just about everything. He was TOO perfectionistic, if you ask me. I don't feel like arguing about such thing as "how good do YOU think HE played?" anyway. I'm sure we can agree here. (agree to disagree)
Frederic: Seriously how do you know how good Rachmaninoff was? Read about it? I did too, and when Liszt has been said to be unbelievably energetic and how when he played the piano the room filled with mysterious atmosphere and direct transfering of emotions from his part to the audience, Rachmaninoff has mostly been said to be accurate and fast. I'm sure he did enjoy music, but not really his own when hearing it from himself. Rachmaninoff was not a virtuoso in the same sense as Horowitz or, YES, Cziffra. Cziffra is fast ok he's all that crap, unbelievable technical abilities and accuracy and whatever. To add: he's energetic, thoughtful, temperamentic and one of my favourite interpreters. His playing is rich in colour and mood changes. Too many times I have to agree with his interpretations of pieces, he simply is <insert a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious word>. Just because he is technically <insert a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious word> it doesn't mean one has to suspect his spiritual side. Anything he plays sounds so deep AND he has the ability to make almost anything sound easy. Have you really listened to many of Cziffra's recordings? I've heard a couple of Rachmaninoff's and well, too bad the recording technology was crap at the times, but they aren't really very enjoyable. To me it seems you think too little and agree too much. That is, of course, just my personal view based on the profile I've drawn of you without really knowing you. Stay on the chair.

p.s. I'll look for Rachmaninoff's records still. Of course I want to hear how a person like him played music. I'll be sure to let you know if I find a good recording, maybe even something that could prove him to having had virtuousic abilities.
