Busoni Concerto Opus XXXIX

[Steven Eldredge]

To get things moving, I thought I would mention that right now I am listening to Marc-André Hamelin's magesterial recording of the great Busoni Piano Concerto. The opening pages of this vast work are so serious and sublime. It's been a while since I listened to it. I might have to get out the John Ogdon recording and give it a go to.

At the gym yesterday on the elipitical trainer I am pretty certain that I was the only person there listening to the Rubinstein 4th Piano Concerto on my iPod. Which reminds me...I should include some Raff in there.

All the best,

[klezmertuba]

I agree, the Busoni Piano Concerto is an amazing work. Busoni was a gifted composer, pianist, and teacher. Kurt Weil was one of his students, and he performed under Mahler's conductiing.
    I am in love with the Korngold  Piano Concerto for Left Hand, particularly the Chandos recording. I think the coda rivals Sgtrauss's Domestica for false starts, or rather false endings! Always surprises . . .


Wesley Lowe (klezmertuba)

[Mark Thomas]

Try as I may, I find the Busoni concerto a real beast. Lovely moments, dreadful half hours. My loss I know, but maybe it's the performances which I have: Hamelin on Hyperion and Ohlssohn on Telarc. I marginally prefer Ohlssohn for the sheer élan of his playing but I still find that my attention wanders. I know that you mentioned Hamelin, Steve, but I wonder whether any body else has can recommend any other interpretation which might provide the Damascene conversion which I so clearly need?

[Gareth Vaughan]

Have you tried John Ogdon, Mark.

[Mark Thomas]

NO. I don't really want to buy another and feel the same. How would you characterise Ogden in comparison with two which I know, Gareth?

[Gareth Vaughan]

Well, I don't know Ohlsson's performance, but Ogdon seems to have more of a line to it than Hamelin's (although I admire Hamelin's account). Ogdon is majestic and perhaps less "flashy" than Hamelin. It's difficult to be precise without getting them out and playing them 'side by side', as it were. I got to know the work in Ogdon's recording (on cassette), which, I think, was the only one available back in the 1970s, and it won me over completely. I loved it straightaway. I'm aware these comments are not particularly helpful, and maybe the work is just not for you... which, of course, I respect.

[Hovite]

the great Busoni Piano Concerto. The opening pages of this vast work are so serious and sublime.

I like this concerto, and I have several recordings of it, and once I even travelled 50 miles to hear a live performance, but for me the finale doesn't work. It fails to bring the concerto to a fitting conclusion. It is like sitting through a long winded shaggy dog story with an inadequate punchline. The work ought to end with a grand contest between piano and orchestra, but the piano ceases to be of any significance, and is ineffectively replaced with a chorus. At the risk of sounding a discordant note, I feel that it is always a mistake to introduce words into orchestral music. The international language of music undermined by the inclusion of a purely local dialect. Furthermore, in this particular case, following the 7 July 2005 bombings, I now regard the choice of words as offensive: "feel near to Allah, observe his work!"

[sdtom]

I have no experience with this Concerto so which recording would one get of the three.
Thomas

[Steven Eldredge]

As per the Busoni, the first movement is in many ways the best part of the piece. I think it is music that either speaks to one or it doesn't. I can't say I am a huge fan of lots of Busoni's music, but this piece and parts of Doktor Faust are amazing. I prepared Doktor Faust at the Met in the early 2000s and it was quite an experience to live with that music day in and day out. Very difficult, though!

Steven in NYC

[Gareth Vaughan]

I agree that the Finale does not work. As soon as the chorus enters, the piano, which should be the star of the piece, is relegated to a supporting role. Raff avoids this trap in Die Tageszeiten - a truly remarkable piece. As it may shortly be recorded we shall all then be able to form our own opinions.
Allow me to add, however, that, appalling as the events of 7 July, 2005 were, they have about as much to do with the teachings of Mohammed as the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition had to do with the teachings of Christ. I can see no reason, therefore, to be offended by the words from "Aladdin" by Adam Oehlenschläger which Busoni sets.

[adriano]

Here all the recorded versions of the Busoni Piano Concerto I have (I was present at the live performance of Boris Bloch's version):

Mewton-Wood/Beecham (1948) Somm
Johannsen/Schmidt-Issersted (1956) Music & Arts
Ogdon/Revenaugh (1967) EMI
Banfield/Herbig (1986) cpo
Bloch/Eschenbach (1986) Aperto
Donohoe/Elder (1988) EMI
Battel/Frontalini (1989) Bongiovanni
Ohlsson/Dohnanyi (1989) Telarc
Lively/Gielen (1990) Koch
Postnikova/Rojdestvensky (1991) Erato
Hamelin/Elder (1999) Hyperion
Thiollier/Schonwandt (1990) Kontrapunkt
Massa/Malzew (2008) Genuin
Cappello/La Vecchia (2009) Naxos
Kolly/Kissoczy (2010)  Zhdk

[vicharris]

Thanks, Hadrianus, a list surely to research and listen to if possible. I lost my Busoni Op. 39 virginity to John Ogdon's performance on an LP 2 disc set which I still have, and, though I have yet to hear any other performance that isn't great--the music, after all!, I love John's version the best, and damned if I know why (for those of you who require a reason). There are several versions on YouTube, of course.

[adriano]

Yes, vicharris, I also put John Odgon at the top, perhaps followed by Donohoe, also because they are both excellently conducted. That black 2-LP EMI album with Boccioni's portrait of Busoni on the cover: I will never forget how I went crazy with joy when it was released! Cannot understand why some people in here find that the Finale does not work... It works in the way the composer wanted, it is not a traditional Finale à la Romantic Piano Concerto, it's a kind of "religious" (anti-Beethovenian) postlude with singing voices, that's why he calls it Cantico, so the voices (Busoni wanted them to be invisible to the audience) are the main performers and the piano is adapting to it. Busoni considered this work a theatrical piece, ending up into music coming out from a Temple/Mausoleum, which the portagonist (the piano) is tributing with devoted ornamenting arabesques, i.e. eclypsing himself into this atmosphere. Before the end, the piano even sustains the lower strings rhythms and before the final Allegro con fuoco ("arditamente") scales, the composer even indicates that the pianist should play "non chiaro", meaning "blurred". Busoni, incidentally, did not wanted the orchestra pausing in-between the work's movements; that's why Donohe's live performance is one of the most authentic ones. The whole Concerto is an "autobiographical celebration", revealing Busoni's multifaced cultural personality.

[vicharris]

Thank you so much for the explanation, Hadrianus, I realize now why it is always a spiritual experience for me to hear this music.

[Phillip Nones]

Everyone is going to have their own personal preference(s) for recordings of this music.  I think I own about a half-dozen, beginning with the John Ogden one on Angel/EMI (on LP).  Ohlsson and Hamelin are very good recordings as well.  My own particular favorite, if forced to choose, would be the Peter Donohoe/Sir Mark Elder recording on EMI.  FWIW.