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by Chang Tou Liang |
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In today's "dance" music obsessed world, this could have been called Busoni: The Dance Album, but in all earnestness, it contains a major Bach transcription, an important solo work (the Indian Diary) and forty-minutes of dance music, mostly assorted chippings from a master’s work desk. The imposing Toccata, beloved of all organists, has received many fine recordings not least by a certain Mr Horowitz who performed it – warts and all – in his 1965 Carnegie Hall comeback recital. The German pianist Wolf Harden (from the Trio Fontenay) matches and even surpasses him in all fronts technically, especially in the virtuosic outer movements. And he does not drop the memorable clinkers that Volodya did. However the reading is short of nuance and subtlety that would have made it a great performance. The lovely Aria, for example, could have done with the less plodding and more colour. The best original music here is the four-movement Indian Diary Book I, which includes quotes from native American music dressed up in Busonian harmonies (always interesting) and sonorities (always welcome). There are hints of pentatonic melodies in the Cheyenne-inspired Song of Victory and a typically cowboy feel in the Bluebird Song. There’s enough interest in these 11 minutes to warrant getting the entire disc. The early Three Morceaux, a scherzo, prelude and fugue, exhibit the young Busoni’s mastery of counterpoint and fugue-writing. Although fairly interesting, these are hardly vintage Busoni. The remaining music - Ballet Scenes and Dance Pieces - is high on technique but considerably less so in charm and originality. Even Harden sounds more dutiful than inspired in these, a pitfall of having to record any composer’s complete oeuvre. A must for completists, but the casual listener may pass this by.
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Unnatural Acts of Opera - by La Cieca