Customer Reviews

Busoni: Piano Concerto, Op. 39

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This piano concerto could have been written by Mahler. It lasts 72 minutes, has 5 movements,and ends with a men's chorus offstage. This concerto was written by Feruccio Busoni, an Italian composer who is known more by reputation than by the appreciation of his music.The music is a combination of Italian warmth (the fourth movement is a Tarantella) and a Germanic seriousness reminicent of Brahms. This dichotomy confused the audiences of Busoni's day. With Mahler's music being more appreciated, this concerto now can be better understood. This concerto was first recorded by John Ogdon (now availible in the Great Pianists of the 20th Century Series) and has since been recorded by Volker Banfield, Viktoria Postnikova, Peter Donohoe, and Garrick Ohlsson. In fact, it was Ohlsson's recording which put this concerto more in the public eye, a fantastic performance using a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand Piano. His recording emphasised the seriousness of this concerto,and it's dark scoring. Hamelin's recording has more light and shade, however, there are many similarities between the two performances. The choir in the last movement is more in the background, and I am not yet used to it, but it is what Busoni intended. Hamelin and Elder throw more fantasy into the second and fourth movements while Ohlsson sounds more germanic, but in my view, not less valid. I have to call this one a tie-you cannot go wrong with any of these. I own both, but if you have Ohlsson's already, you might want to invest in Hamelin's new Hyperion disc of music by Gyorgy Catoire. Such a wonderful piece, however, can stand two very good performances and that is what these are.

There are a handful of huge works that were composed at the turn of the 20th century that almost only exist in the musicologists museum as mere curiosities rather than works of art. These include Mahler's Eighth Symphony, Scriabin's 'Prometheus', Schoenberg's 'Gurrelieder' and Busoni's Piano Concerto. Histories have been penned which put this genre of work down to 'works of transition' yet as Heraclitus and Hegel said, isn't everything of human endeavour just that, a product of the becoming between being and nothingness? The development of the symphonic structures and sounds of the orchestra which gathered apace during the nineteenth century, were given additional spin by the likes of Berlioz and Wagner and inevitably led to an inflation of length and sonority whose climax came just before the old regime would tear itself apart in the Great War. However, just because a work belongs to this genre, does it mean that its integrity of expression is compromised de facto? A work of genius transcends all these critical pigeon holes and should stand on its own merits per se. Busoni's Piano Concerto is like no other due to the obvious attributions of length and orchestral size but it is so much more than this, so much more! The magnificent work stands alone for the purity of its expression. It is absolute music which happens to be scored for orchestra and piano, Busoni's instrument of which he is probably one of the most able performers in the whole history of music. We are conditioned by our prior knowledge of the particular genre of a piece of music. If you think of Tchaikovsky's concertos or Rachmaninovs, the Schuman or the Grieg, or even Bartok, they all have some common features of expression. It seems they are a showpiece for a soloist to shine against an orchestral background with a certain formula of cadenza and recapitulative expression. The demands on both soloist and orchestra in this work are huge but are entirely different than the other works mentioned here. For me, Busoni was a genuine artist who tried to break the bounds or artistic conventionalities of his day. Busoni did this again in his magnum opus, the opera Doktor Faust, which has always been neglected because of its 'strangeness'. The Piano Concerto attempts something of the same task as the opera, pitting the microcosmic piano against and with the macrocosmic orchestra. The amount of melodic and contrapunctal invention are a tour de force of genius and we are treated here to a magnificent performance by both soloist and orchestra. I have the Ogdon original, considered to be the definitive performance. To be sure, Ogdon is more mind numbing in the muscular regions of the work but this is de minimis. This work will never be in the 'pops' section of the record stores but I believe that it will emerge in history as something more than a musical curiosity with its sister 'Doktor Faust' and become an acknowledged work that will be get a hearing like, for example, Mahler's Eighth. This CD will win many friends for this work. It is all good. Just don't be put off by its initial Germanic, grim, saturnine exterior. Inside you will find a plentitude of beautiful expressive romantic music that is just aching to be listened to. The tarantella sits there happily alongide the north German Brahms sound with the fin de siecle chromaticism of Strauss. The result is brilliant!

John Ogdon was a head case (long before Helfgott made it trendy to be a crazy musician) but boy, could he play! To hear him play would make you forget that there could be anything amiss with his mind. What I especially loved about him was his affinity for zany masterpieces like Sorabji's "Opus Clavicembalisticum," virtually unplayable pieces that nobody else would touch with a 10-foot pole. The Busoni concerto was one of those masterpieces that Ogdon embraced, even though most pianists wouldn't go near it. Even today, you practically count on one hand the number of pianists that include this musical behemoth in their repetoire.

One of those is Marc-André Hamelin, who demonstrates an admirable command of this densely-textured, mammoth piece. Certainly I cannot find any fault in his interpretation, but once again (as has happened all too frequently in this Hyperion series) the orchestra tends to undermine a great performance with a sometimes flat and disengaged accompaniment. That & a curiously unsatifisfying sound quality forced me to lop off a star, despite Hamelins admirable performance. No matter how good the soloist may be, a 2nd-rate orchestral performance really can drag down the overall quality of a recording, and that is the case here.

Nonetheless, Hamelin is great, and this neglected masterpiece --- one of the most remarkable pieces ever written in the 20th century --- is definitely worth soldiering through. Like Nielsen's symphonies, it is not a piece casually approached, so be prepared for repeated listenings before you can fully appreciate the piece.

This isn't the kind of work that most would appreciate at first hearing (I certainly didn't.) It took me several listenings before I came to fully appreciate this epic concerto. One can enjoy the intense piano pyrotechnics the first time around but the work as a whole might sound confusing until you've listened a few times. The more I hear it, the more I like it - Invest ample time and concentration and Busoni's opus 39 emerges as a deep, complex, and above-all original masterpiece.

I wouldn't say this recording is better than Ogden's benchmark 1968 performance - It's a real toss-up between the two. Hamelin generally plays faster and clearer but Ogden's got that overwhelming power that can penetrate even the loudest orchestral passages (which is often direly needed in this piece). I know Hamelin can play loud enough - the fault probably lies in the balance of the recording - the piano usually sounds a bit weak and distant which is somewhat disappointing. Still, it's Hamelin, so you probably know what to expect - jaw-dropping virtuosity, finely polished musicality and supreme intelligence.

It's a shame that the extreme difficulty both for orchestra and soloist has kept this piece from becoming more famous, because the All' Italiana alone is quite exciting and contains more catchy tunes than I can remember. Other reviewers have said that the music is difficult to understand, I would say the difficulty lies less in the music itself (Busoni typically only uses a few themes in each movement) than the larger structure of the movements and the feeling Busoni put behind it. The intensity Busoni put in this music is less explicit than in more conventional Romantic music. This ties into his admiration of Bach and Mozart and his later exploration of ways forward from Romanticism, as the notes put it. But this is not to say that you can't enjoy it the first time you listen to it, especially the second and fourth movements. And the ends of the first and third movements are very serene and beautiful. Just listen to it carefully a few times and it will all make sense. Busoni intended this piece to sound "Mozartian" and this probably hasn't been pulled off until now (I have not heard other recordings). But anyway, every classical music lover should at least give this a try.

This music is lip-smackingly rich and thick, like a really good minestrone soup. Hamelin is pianism of the first order, busily and sometimes poundingly accompanying the full orchestra through an unusal 8-part "concerto," a daunting 72 minute Herculean opus. After several listenings I still haven't grasped the themes or larger architecture of this lyrical work, a great wall of background sound; it would probably take many more. It seems a generaly upbeat paean to civilization (clearest in the text of the men's chorus), with no hint of the dissolution to come in WW I. However, there is no attempt to imitate or suggest the musics of the three ancient civilizations Busoni invokes (in his frontispiece drawing) as the architectural underpinnings of this sprawling work. The notes (written in 1958) are extremely detailed, but would be more comprehensible if keyed to the timings of each long and busy movement (10-23 min each, slightly faster than "usual").

The length, choral finale, and extreme difficulty of its solo writing for the piano, all on an elaborate symphonic scale or size and integration are all factors guaranteeing this concerto get revived only when all forces involged really mean it, thus explaining its few but consistently high quality performances on record. This stunning interpretation, however, proving just how enjoyable this piece can be, if not topping the rest, at least ties with Ogdon. The heart of this work -- overstatement, grandeur, nostalgia, stark boldness, irony, all combined with self-reflecting bursts of helpless gallows humor -- shows itself through Hamelin's barnstormingly obvious appreciation. Furthermore, Elder shows a fine ear and absolute conviction in his spendidly eloquent full-throated accompaniment of massive forces. An essential acquisition!

This music is lip-smackingly rich and thick, like a really good minestrone soup. Hamelin is pianism of the first order, busily and sometimes poundingly accompanying the full orchestra through an unusal 8-part "concerto," a daunting 72 minute Herculean opus. After several listenings I still haven't grasped the themes or larger architecture of this lyrical work, a great wall of sound; it would probably take many more. It seems a generaly upbeat paean to civilization (clearest in the text of the men's chorus), with no hint of the dissolution to come in WW I. However, there is no attempt to imitate or suggest the musics of the three ancient civilizations Busoni invokes (in his frontispiece drawing) as the architectural underpinnings of this sprawling work. The notes (written in 1958) are extremely detailed, but would be more comprehensible if keyed to the timings of each long and busy movement (10-23 min each, slightly faster than "usual").

I agree with some of the reviews below. Hamelin is incredible but the whole performance is somewhat less than it could be. John Ogdon's amazing performance on EMI is the one to get.

A word on the concerto: this really should be a commonly known piece. Often we find music by less familiar composers that is praised by enthusiasts but ultimately ends up as something below amazing. Not so here and actually not so with much of Busoni's music, especially the operas. It's, well, strange to read people in these pages bubbling over genuinely second rank stuff of little real distinction when we have here a brilliant composer with an immediately recognizable style. Kurt Weill studied under him and his music often sounds like a pale echo of Busoni's angular, distinctly orchestrated, endlessly surprising, frequently hum-able music. Oddly, in an era of grand late romantics, Busoni managed a lean and mean quality with his music that reaches well beyond mere classicism. It also get better the more you listen to it. I've been listening to this wonderful concerto now for nearly 35 years and it still sounds fresh.

This gargantuan piano concert demands a first rate pianist , a great conductor and a virtuosi orchestra to work out .
In the late seventues I acquired the available version in vynil of the key Ravenaugh Ogdon , skillfully performed .
But Hamelin is an extarordinary and best gifted pianist who matchs with Ogdon in musicality and technician equipment . And even the rapport with the orchestra does not reach the intensity of Ravenaugh Ogdon , the result is widely worthable .
Hamelin is one of the giants keyboardists in all the world .
I really expect he makes a close approach to Beethoven , He has the demanded abilties and intelligence to win this challenge .
Acquire this recording to get into Busoni musical universe and enjoying of the superb craft of Hamelin.
Try to find too all you can from Hamelin playing Alkan .