Busoni: Works for Piano and Orchestra (Music & Arts)
Ferruccio Busoni completed 150 works by the age of 14. His Piano Concerto Op 17, written in 1878 at the age of 12, shows the influence of various 19th-century styles, all permeated with the flavour of one of the major influences throughout his life, Bach. The Concertstuck, Op 31a, which won the first prize in the Rubinstein competition in St Petersburg in 1890, is shot through with Brahms. The not quite successful Indianische Fantasie of 1914 - a work which gave the composer a lot of trouble - uses American Indian folk tunes. Busoni was drawn to the Indians as "the only cultured people who will have nothing to do with money". Carlo Grante is an inspired and individualistic soloist. The support from I Pommeriggi Musicali under Marco Zuccarini is sympathetic but variable.
Michael Dervan