Composer: Ferruccio Busoni
Performer: Peter Donohoe
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Chandos
Catalogue: CHAN20237
Release: 2021
Size: 1.09 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Toccata in A flat minor, K287
01. I. Preludio. Quasi presto, arditamente
02. II. Fantasia. Sostenuto, quasi adagio
03. III. Ciaccona. Allegro risoluto
Elegien, K249
04. No. 1, Nach der Wendung
05. No. 2, All’ Italia! In modo napolitano
06. No. 3, Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir
07. No. 4, Turandots Frauengemach
08. No. 5, Die Nächtlichen. Walzer
09. No. 6, Erscheinung. Notturno
Elegien, BV 252
10. No. 7, Berceuse. An Johan Wijsman
11. Sonatina No. 6 (Chamber Fantasy on Themes from Bizet’s Carmen)
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major (Bach BWV 564)
12. I. Toccata. Preludio, quasi improvvisando
13. II. Adagio. Intermezzo
14. III. Fuga. Moderatamente scherzando
Peter Donohoe CBE studied at Chetham’s School of Music and Leeds University before going on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Derek Wyndham and in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. He is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He first came across the works of Busoni in the early 1980s and, as he states in his booklet note, ‘Busoni’s contribution to the musical history of the twentieth century is inestimable, and I feel very much enriched by the several decades of my exposure to it.’ The programme he has chosen includes three of the pinnacles of Busoni’s virtuosic output: the Toccata, BV 287, the seven Elegien, and the Sonatina on Bizet’s Carmen, alongside the much earlier Bach transcription of which Peter Donohoe writes: ‘The Toccata, in particular, has always struck me as one of the most joyous pieces in the history of instrumental music, and Busoni’s transcription certainly brings out that joy.’