Ferruccio Busoni was
one of the greatest musicians of his
time, whether as composer of operas
and vast concertos as well as of piano
music, as arranger/transcriber, as teacher
or as pianist.
His visit to my home
town of Doncaster in December 1908 when
he played Chopin, Liszt and his own
transcription of Bach’s Prelude and
Fugue in D, was reckoned noteworthy
at the time. To a present-day researcher
this seems to be an occasion to conjure
with. It is a pity that in our day,
some technically well-equipped pianists
have no particular interest in Busoni’s
music and that several who are attracted
to it do not quite have the technique
to match their aspirations. Luckily
there are some who do. I have heard
some fine Busoni from James Kirby, for
example, while, on the strength of this
CD, Murray McLachlan is most certainly
a major Busoni advocate.
The recording is of
a live recital given at Chetham’s Fourth
International Summer School and Festival
for Pianists (2004). This included four
works, two of them mighty pillars of
Busoni’s output: his transcription of
Bach’s Chaconne for solo violin and,
also based on Bach’s example, the even
more monumental Fantasia Contrappuntistica
in the 1910 Definitive Edition. Both
are majestic; Bach viewed through the
eyes of late Romantic pianism but with
a grasp of counterpoint which is astonishing.
Mr. McLachlan’s formidable
technique is equal to the huge demands
made on it, his booklet note is helpful
and the recording is more than adequate,
with little or no distracting background
noise, despite this being "live".
If sometimes the bass register seems
to emerge particularly strongly, this
is perhaps no bad thing – these are,
after all, contrapuntal essays and in
the Chaconne, both in Bach’s original
and Busoni’s transcription, indeed in
all chaconnes, the bass is especially
important.
Two shorter and more
relaxed, though far from slight, pieces
separate these colossi. Turandot’s Intermezzo,
Elegy No.4 (of seven, 1907-8), frames,
in its 3½ minutes, a richly harmonised
version of Greensleeves with
bravura figuration. The Fantasy on themes
from Carmen is no commonplace
potpourri but a pianistic - and of course
virtuosic - extension of the main themes
of the opera.
All told, the recital
represents a valuable introduction to
Busoni’s output for his own instrument
and I am pleased to recommend it as
such.
Philip L. Scowcroft
see also review
by Colin Clarke
Murray McLachlan (piano) 
