Adolf Busch (1891-1952)
Piano Music
Florence Millet (piano)
Vogtland Philharmonie Greiz/Reichenbach/David Marlow
rec. 2022, Neuberinhaus Reichenbach and WDR Köln, Klaus-von-Bismarck-Saal, Germany
cpo 555574-2 [71]

Adolf Busch the performer has pretty much eclipsed Adolf Busch the composer and yet he was prolific enough to have seventy opus number to his name plus unpublished works; his catalogue includes a concerto for orchestra, many chamber works and a violin concerto. The booklet points out that Busch felt that time composing was time he could have been practising the violin so one wonders if it was something he felt compelled to do. His early education included study at the Cologne conservatory and a later influence was Max Reger who he met in 1909. His career as a violinist is well known but it seems that he continued composing alongside that; the final work here dates from the year of his death.

The pianist Rudolf Serkin studied in Vienna with Richard Robert, teacher of Clara Haskil and Marjan Rawicz of Rawicz and Landauer fame. In 1920 he moved in with the Busch family and became part of the family when he married Busch’s daughter Irene in 1935. Busch wrote this concerto for Serkin in 1924 and it was premiered in December of that year with Fritz Busch at the helm. It received critical acclaim though only Serkin’s two piano score appeared in print, published in 1928 by Breitkopf und Härtel while the full score remained in the family archives. It is now at the Paul Sacher Foundation and it is a copy of that at the Max Reger Institute that Florence Millet used for this, the work’s first recording. It feels like a huge piece though some of that is its grand symphonic stature rather than the length, just 35 minutes. I am reminded of the piano concertos of Reger from 1910, Hans Pfitzner, a near contemporary concerto, written in 1922 or even elements of the Romantic Concerto by Joseph Marx. The timbre of passages from Brahms B flat concerto can also be heard, especially in the opening movement. The whole piece has a sweep and grandeur that is appealing; attractive melodies, gorgeous orchestral writing that ranges from the intimacy of chamber music in the winds to huge string climaxes accompanied by flamboyant brass parts. The piano part sounds exceptionally demanding though Millet tackles it all with ease and indeed sounds completely at home in its soundworld. I have to say that it avoids the lengthy and to my mind overly indulgent reflective passages of the Pfitzner that so stalls its drama and I would choose Busch’s concerto over Pfitzner’s any day. The heart of the concerto is the quite short central andante that quickly builds to a climax after the subdued opening and the following light-hearted mood has hints of baroque elegance. The piano introduces the finale’s rollicking dance theme which, along with a sterner second theme, forms the bulk of the movement’s material. Like the first movement this is a large scale symphonic piece, very nearly as long – 14:12 to the opening movement’s 15:39 – and quite similar in style; definitely not a showy, virtuoso send off. Serkin did not keep it in his repertoire so it has languished until now; I hope that this recording will attract other pianists to its undoubted charms.

Millet continues with a selection of Busch’s solo works. Once again Reger and Brahms seem to be the models and this is very clear in the lyrical heart of the piece in A minor which develops out of a sarabande and the agitato of 1909, the year he met Reger upon programming his violin concerto. Even his later works like the allegro vehemente or andante affetuoso show this connection, staunchly late-romantic even in the late 1940s. For me the winner here is the unpublished variations in B flat major dating from 1920. It does not appear on Jakob Fichert’s otherwise complete survey on Toccata Classics (TOCC0245 review) nor apparently are they mentioned in Tully Potter’s 2010 biography. The theme is a stately minuet that undergoes some fairly standard interweaving elaboration but also features a capering, comic scherzo that quickly dissects the theme into little motifs and a bass variation with scampering treble figuration that becomes a slightly hesitant should we do another variation? before deciding that a simple tranquil ending will suffice.

Florence Millet brings these works to light in a compelling way and even if the solo works are for the most part engaging curiosities rather than unfairly neglected treasures the concerto is an attractive work that should have a wider audience, limited though that may be if the Reger and Pfitzner are any example. The sound is excellent and the piano is well balanced with the orchestra even in the densest textures. All in all a very interesting release.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Piano Concerto in C Major Op.31 (1924)
Agitato (1909)
Stück in A Minor BoO 102 Intermezzo (1916)
Variations in B Flat o Op (1920)
Suite Op.60b (1941-45)
Kleines kanonisches Scherzo im alten Stil (1942)
Andante affetuoso BoO.36 (1945)
Allegro vehemente (1946)
Andante espressivo BoO.37 (1952)

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