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Track Listings
| 1. I. Prologo E Introito (Allegro, Dolce E Solenne) |
| 2. II. Pezzo Giocoso (Vivacemente, Ma Senza Fretta) |
| 3. III. Pezzo Serioso: Intro (Andante Sostenuto, Pensoso) |
| 4. III. Pezzo Serioso: Prima Pars (Andante, Quasi Adagio) |
| 5. III. Pezzo Serioso: Altera Pars (Sommessamente) |
| 6. III. Pezzo Serioso: Ultima Pars (A Tempo) |
| 7. IV. All' Italiana (Tarantella) (Vivace; In Un Tempo) |
| 8. V. Cantico (Largamente) |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Back when the film Shine was popular, Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto became all the rage as a work making nearly suicidal demands of its soloist. But one mountain of challenges to the virtuoso you're not likely to encounter in live performance is the Piano Concerto of Ferruccio Busoni. Its dimensions are Guinness Book material: Lasting over 70 minutes and cast in five epic movements, it not only uses a gargantuan orchestra but calls for an invisible male chorus singing a mystical hymn of stunning beauty in the finale. But the concerto isn't just about grandiosity. Its complex, symbolic architecture gives the work a searching intensity more akin to the trajectory of a Mahler symphony. In his preoccupation with synthesizing elements from North and South, incorporating contrapuntal complexity and flowing Italianate lyricism, introspective gloom and fevered excitement, Busoni sounds something like a character out of Thomas Mann. Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin --who has made a specialty of neglected masterpieces--performs with a tremendous range of expression and theatrical flair, clearly holding his own against the earlier celebrated account of John Ogdon. The sui generis nature of the piece requires an unusually high degree of sensitive interaction from the conductor. Mark Elder shows a magnificent grasp of Busoni's architectonic sensibility and his sculpting of musical space, as well as of the score's kaleidoscopic orchestration. Busoni may be bidding farewell to an entire tradition here, but it's his over-the-top originality that is likely to captivate you. --Thomas May END
Review
EDITOR'S CHOICE ' A dazzling disc. If any pianist can clarify and define this bewildering work it is Hamelin, with his razor-sharp reflexes, a technique that knows no difficulties and, even more important, a ready sympathy for Busoni's abrupt changes of pace and direction ... a spine-tingling experience.' --Gramophone
'The biggest blockbuster of them all. Mark Elder and the CBSO support Hamelin to the hilt and the result does full justice to one of the mightiest epics of the piano repertoire' --The Times
'Hamelin's account is quite extraordinary, especially in the cadenza, in which the virtuosity he unleashes reaches barely credible heights ... one of his finest achievements to date.' --International Piano Quarterly
'The biggest blockbuster of them all. Mark Elder and the CBSO support Hamelin to the hilt and the result does full justice to one of the mightiest epics of the piano repertoire' --The Times
'Hamelin's account is quite extraordinary, especially in the cadenza, in which the virtuosity he unleashes reaches barely credible heights ... one of his finest achievements to date.' --International Piano Quarterly
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The massive piano concerto by Ferruccio Busoni has not had many champions. Five massive movements, a chorus, technical challenges aplenty for all involved...for these reasons and more if it has not languished in undeserved obscurity then nor has it ever been a repetoire staple choice. This type of work lives or dies on the advocacy of its performers. The benchmark recording is the justly-celebrated John Ogdon performance from thirty years ago with the RPO and Daniell Revenaugh. Over the years to my ears this has only been rivalled by Garrick Ohlsson and the Cleveland Orchestra with von Dohnanyi. Well now we have a performance which trumps both of these. Whether in the gyrations and fulminations of the fourth movement, the introspection of the third, or the restraint of the fifth, there is a palpable sense of occasion and belief. The order of pianism on display here simply silences criticism, as it usuallu does from this artist. The orchestral and choral contributions are excellent, and the recording sumptuous. Enjoy!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
So Gustav Mahler might have said about the Busoni Piano Concerto. I don't know if he ever conducted it but I wouldn't be surprised. There was mutual admiration. And as is rightly expressed in the sleeve-notes for this 1999 recording from Hyperion, this is more of a symphony with piano obbligato.
Writing the above puts me in mind of Berlioz's Harold In Italy (viola obbligato). Unlike Paganini, I can't imagine Liszt would have rejected the Busoni as unworthy, had he commissioned it. Liszt is a pertinent reference, beyond his legend as the greatest of piano wizards, because there is something faustian about this work, with its vast slow movement followed by an intoxicating scherzo - shades of Gretchen-Mephistopheles, in my imagination.
Hyperion index the slow movement, which lasts more than twenty minutes, across four tracks, making eight in total. The Brahmsian qualities of the concerto are well rehearsed, but I was picking up allusions to still more contemporary works: symphonies, Sibelius' 2nd and Bruckner's 9th. But this is a piano concerto that seems to have everything in it, and for all of its gargantuan length I was never bored. Calling it 'mahlerian' would surely be wrong, unnecessary: Busoni is in some respects a kindred spirit, however, and this is definitely an inspiration from Mahler's world. It deserves to be much better known.
Fortunately, there are several recordings in existence, starting with the pioneering Ogdon (EMI). My research before buying indicated that Ohlsson (Telarc) is equally highly regarded, and had it been available I might have been tempted by the live thrills of the Donohoe/Elder broadcast (EMI), but it was watching Hamelin play this on YouTube which decided me. The recorded sound is excellent, especially when I cranked up the volume. If you get a chance to sample, make it the fourth movement, the Italia scherzo, especially if you ever heard Joie du sang des etoiles (Messiaen) and got blown away.
Very special.
Writing the above puts me in mind of Berlioz's Harold In Italy (viola obbligato). Unlike Paganini, I can't imagine Liszt would have rejected the Busoni as unworthy, had he commissioned it. Liszt is a pertinent reference, beyond his legend as the greatest of piano wizards, because there is something faustian about this work, with its vast slow movement followed by an intoxicating scherzo - shades of Gretchen-Mephistopheles, in my imagination.
Hyperion index the slow movement, which lasts more than twenty minutes, across four tracks, making eight in total. The Brahmsian qualities of the concerto are well rehearsed, but I was picking up allusions to still more contemporary works: symphonies, Sibelius' 2nd and Bruckner's 9th. But this is a piano concerto that seems to have everything in it, and for all of its gargantuan length I was never bored. Calling it 'mahlerian' would surely be wrong, unnecessary: Busoni is in some respects a kindred spirit, however, and this is definitely an inspiration from Mahler's world. It deserves to be much better known.
Fortunately, there are several recordings in existence, starting with the pioneering Ogdon (EMI). My research before buying indicated that Ohlsson (Telarc) is equally highly regarded, and had it been available I might have been tempted by the live thrills of the Donohoe/Elder broadcast (EMI), but it was watching Hamelin play this on YouTube which decided me. The recorded sound is excellent, especially when I cranked up the volume. If you get a chance to sample, make it the fourth movement, the Italia scherzo, especially if you ever heard Joie du sang des etoiles (Messiaen) and got blown away.
Very special.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is a monster work. 5 movements, 70 minutes and one of only two piano concertos I know requiring a choir! It is a veritable Mount Olympus to climb for the pianist, which is perhaps why it remains off the map in terms of live performance, and nearly so in terms of discography. Ogden put it on the pianistic map in 1967 with Daniel Revenaugh (although Noel Mewton Wood recorded it in 1948. This was released in 2003 and is probably one for the Busoni enthusiast on account of recording quality and Beecham's manifest lack of interest).
Hamelin's reading is breathtaking. In his hands the second movement - which can relegated to a simple filler between the broad allegro opening and the colossal third movement takes on, and almost pre-figures the fourth movement. The pezzo serioso third movement is genuinely monumental, and the next, while almost unbelievably virtuosic, is not simply that - there being an untercurrent of risus sardonicus reminiscent of Ravel's La Valse premiered some 16 years later.
The broad finale brings the work full circle with restatement of several themes, most notably from the first movement, and there is a real sense of the completion of a journey at the end. This is an outstanding reading and unequivocally recommended.
Hamelin's reading is breathtaking. In his hands the second movement - which can relegated to a simple filler between the broad allegro opening and the colossal third movement takes on, and almost pre-figures the fourth movement. The pezzo serioso third movement is genuinely monumental, and the next, while almost unbelievably virtuosic, is not simply that - there being an untercurrent of risus sardonicus reminiscent of Ravel's La Valse premiered some 16 years later.
The broad finale brings the work full circle with restatement of several themes, most notably from the first movement, and there is a real sense of the completion of a journey at the end. This is an outstanding reading and unequivocally recommended.
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