Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
Piano Music Volume 13
Wolf Harden (piano)
rec. 2023, Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK
Naxos 8.574613 [64]

With this release Wolf Harden completes his survey of the complete original piano music and transcriptions of Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. As complete as can be that is; Busoni edited lots of music and some of the annotations he made almost spill into the world of transcription. Harden has chosen to include Liszt Mephisto Waltz but not the Paganini études for example which considering the differences in the latter between Liszt’s originals and Busoni’s versions seems strange but decisions have to made. There also appear to be early works that Holger Groschopp recorded in his Capriccio set (Capriccio C5416 review) that are not present among Harden’s 13 CDs.

In this final volume there is a slight odd and sods feel with a selection of the unrecorded sections of his Klavierübung, the piano tutorial that he worked on in his final years as well as a couple of works from the other end of his life and two transcriptions. The largest item here is the Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, one of Bach’s earlier works played here in the edition that Busoni prepared in 1914. Its short sections are devoted to this departure and the attempts by friends to thwart it; thus the opening arioso – friends gather to try and dissuade him from departing or the fugato that follows – they picture the dangers which may befall him. After lamenting and acceptance Bach concludes with the postillion’s aria and a fugue based on the postillion’s call. Busoni’s concert version fills out the textures of the work though Harden omits some of what appears in my score. For instance the alla marcia where friends gather to bid him farewell seems to lie part way between Bach’s original and the elaborations in my copy; after the opening chord Busoni places octaves to fill until the chord on the final beat which are missing here and the textures generally are not always as full. Performance wise Harden is elegant and charming though I feel that the coach ride and merry postillon’s song are a little gentile for my liking; I recall a recital with Hamish Milne playing that was rather more energetic and invigorating.

The early Prelude and Fugue was written when Busoni was 12 and ably demonstrates his affinity for contrapuntal writing even at that tender age. The menuetto capriccioso followed a year later and is a deft little dance number, gracefully lilting with what sounds like a rather convoluted and awkward central section, the kind of thing that would have been ironed out had the composer returned to the piece later in life. It is entertaining nonetheless. Busoni made his concert transcription of Beethoven Ecossaises in 1888 and they were once quite popular; Busoni himself recorded them as did his pupil Michael von Zadora and legendary pianist Josef Lhévinne. They are modestly transcribed and make no great demands though they are an engaging bauble; Harden isn’t perhaps as light and lively as Busoni calls for, though Busoni’s breathless performance goes to the other extreme. To complete this series of Busoni CDs Harden has assembled a collection of the more musical items among the many exercises from his Piano Tutorials and Preludes, published in its entirety in 1922. He is wise in this; even in a complete collection there can be few who would want to sit through the sort of scale exercises that open part 1 even when they segue into pertinent excerpts from Liszt’s Totentanz. Lots that follows is of a purely mechanical if often fearsomely difficult nature but there are exceptions and Harden presents just over 40 minutes worth of them. There is a rather interesting little waltz kicking off proceedings and a prelude that sets choral writing alongside sinuous chromatic lines and is quite hypnotic but we also hear an allegro festivo that is only just this side of a straightforward study – and, at least here, is not really allegro or festivo to be honest. Some versions of other composers music from these exercises have been heard on earlier volumes such as the wonderful version of Mozart’s Gigue or the serenade from Don Giovanni but there are some more modest tributes here too; part of Liszt’s tarantelle from Auber’s la Muette de Portici sitsin the repeated note section and a study in balancing inner voices between the hands is formed from Offenbach’s Barcarolle; Schubert, Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Gounod/Liszt also make brief appearances.

Earlier volumes in this series have been praised; thus volume 8 (Naxos 8572845 review) or volume 9 (Naxos 8573751 review). I did enjoy the disc though with the reservation that nothing really stood out and it occasionally sounded a little workmanlike; the shimmering excerpt from the Gounod/Liszt Faust waltz for instance is quite four-square. That may be because it is played out of context but its notes do come across more like an exercise than the delicate cascades that should be heard. That said Harden should be given credit for the grand achievement that this series is and can hardly be faulted if the highlights of Busoni’s wonderful piano catalogue have already appeared.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Prelude and Fugue In C Minor Op.21 BV.85 (1878)
Menuetto Capriccioso in C Major Op.61 BV.124 (1879)
Klavierübung in fünf Teilen (first edition Pub. 1918-1922)
Part 1 Sechs Klavierübungen und Präludien
Part 2 Drei Klavierübungen und Präludien
Part 3 Lo Staccato No.6a after Mendelssohn
Part 5 Variationen, Perpetuum mobile und Tonietern
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother BWV.992 (1704, arr. Ferruccio Busoni)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)Six Écossaises In E flat major WoO.83 (1806)

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