A great success all
round. What better way to start a Busoni
disc than with the Lustspiel
Overtüre (‘Comedy Overture’),
this composer’s equivalent to Mozart’s
Figaro Overture? Lustspiel
bubbles away, busy and ever approachable.
This sets the tone of the disc in performance
terms. It is supremely confident from
all concerned. String definition is
exemplary; wind are pointed - the flute
remarkably agile. Rhythmically on its
toes, the work moves infectiously towards
its bright and breezy C major conclusion,
sweeping aside any clouds that might
have fleetingly passed.
The Indian Fantasy
is perhaps the most famous work
on the disc, and for this Chandos has
elicited the services of the young and
talented Nelson Goerner. Just before
World War I Busoni’s interest in the
music of Native American Indians was
growing, and he used their music as
raw material for the present Fantasy
- premiered by the composer with the
Berlin Philharmonic in March 1914. The
themes come from the music of the Hopi,
Cheyenne, Laguna, Pima and (especially)
the Hopi peoples. Busoni the mystic
surfaces from time to time, spurred
on the inherent pentatonicism of these
tunes. All this is held within a broadly
post-Lisztian remit, explicit mainly
in the piano part, which here under
Goerner’s fingers frequently sparkles.
The Chandos recording is extraordinary
in conveying both Goerner’s tonal richness
and his exuberant virtuosity; try the
cascades of notes around 7’50 in. The
superb pianism on show in the cadenza
finds Busoni moving further towards
the mystic. Although called a Fantasy,
this work has a real sense of logic
and care in continuation of ideas.
The Gesang vom Reigen
der Geister (‘Song of the Spirit
Dance’) was described by the composer
as a ‘study for strings, six wind instruments
and one drum’. He referred to it as
a ‘chorale prelude’, but its material
is again culled from an external source
- a Pawnee song connected with the 1890
massacre at Wounded Knee. Easy to hear
the Chorale Prelude link from the quasi-liturgical
atmosphere of the work’s opening. The
piece possesses a wonderful sense of
inevitability that is extremely well
realised in the present instance.
Finally, the Suite
from Busoni’s first opera, Die Brautwahl
(‘The Bridal Choice’), premiered again
by the Berlin Philharmonic, this time
under Oskar Fried. There are five movements.
The first movement (‘Spukhaftes Stuck’
– ‘Ghostly Piece’) has more than a touch
of the playfulness of Sorcerer’s
Apprentice about it. The second
movement, ‘Lyric Piece’, is warm and
lyrical. The recording really supports
this warmth without losing any of the
detail.
There is also a piano
version of the ‘Mystisches Stück’
(‘Mystical Piece’) that makes up the
third movement. Mystical? Well, it is
dark, certainly. On a performance front,
just listen to the care that went into
the balancing of the wind chords around
2’20. There is a lovely, shadowy dance.
The long melody of ‘Hebräisches
Stück’ includes some lushness before
the happy, spiky, sparkling finale.
Here one can revel in the unanimity
of the BBC Philharmonic’s playing; the
brass in particular is marvellously
together.
A simply superb disc.
Colin Clarke
aNelson Goerner (piano) 
