Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Piano Concerto, Op 39 BV247 (1904)
David Lively (piano), Freiburger Vokalensemble, SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden / Michael Gielen
rec. 1990, Hans Rosdbaud Studio, Südwestfunk, Baden-Baden
SWR Classic SWR19141CD [72]
Busoni’s massive piano concerto hovers on the fringe of the repertoire, waiting for a pianist with the technique and stamina to tackle it. It is in five movements, rather than the usual three. It lasts well over an hour. The opening movement is titled Prologo e Introito and is introductory in nature. There follows a scherzo, titled Pezzo giocoso. There is a slow movement, Pezzo serioso, then another scherzo, wilder than the first, titled All’Italiana, which is a tarantella. Finally, there is a slow finale, in which a male voice chorus – which in live performance should be invisible, according to Busoni’s instructions – enters with a hymn to Allah. This sets a German translation of the closing scene from the first version of the play Aladdin by the Danish writer Adam Oehlenschläger. There is therefore some resemblance to Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, which is also a piano concertante work with a choral finale, but the spirit of Busoni’s work is closer to Liszt, particularly the Dante Symphony, which has a choral finale.
The idiom is not as adventurous as in Busoni’s later works, and the spirit of Brahms seems quite near. There is, however, some of that alternation of minor and major which is so characteristic of the composer’s later works. The solo part, which requires great stamina as well as agility, is decorative, ornamental and virtuosic but rarely carries the theme; to put it more crudely, it doesn’t often have the tune. It is, however, wonderfully resourceful in terms of piano technique, and there are many cadenzas and other solo passages.
The orchestral part is not one of those which plays itself. It is somewhat Brahmsian, but it needs a brighter top than Brahms, and the conductor must bring out the woodwind lines and also keep the work moving along. It also requires a really first-rate orchestra.
This recording is a reissue of one which first appeared in 1990 on the Koch label, though there is nothing in the documentation to tell you that. The soloist is David Lively, who was born American but settled in France in his teens. He has a considerable discography, with an emphasis on contemporary and unfamiliar repertoire. He has certainly mastered the Busoni concerto and I particularly noted and admired the fluency and agility of his passage work. He also has the power for the often hefty chordal writing.
The orchestra is in the hands of Michael Gielen, who excels in music of the early twentieth century and has recorded a fair amount of Busoni. He starts well, keeping the opening moving along and bringing out the colours. The Pezzo giocoso is lively, but I feel he somehow seems to lose momentum in the Pezzo serioso, which rather drags, and All’Italiana, which tends to be brash and noisy anyway, seems to go on too long. The finale, with the chorus, is, however, suitably grave and moving.
I don’t want to be too negative about this recording. To play the work at all is a considerable achievement. However, though it does not often appear in concert programmes, it has been fairly often recorded. The pioneering version by John Ogdon and Daniel Revenaugh may now be regarded as superseded, and there are two versions in particular, which I think are preferable to this one. One is that by Garrick Ohlsson with Christoph von Dohnányi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus on Telarc, which is my benchmark for this work. The other is the remarkable live performance by the elusive Pietro Scarpini – who avoided making records – with Rafael Kubelik conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on BR Klassik. This dates from 1966 but nevertheless sounds excellent. Compared to either of these, David Lively and Michael Gielen fall short.
Stephen Barber
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