Busoni: Piano Transcriptions [Box Set] [Box set]

Ferruccio Busoni (Composer), Holger Groschopp (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Holger Groschopp
• Composer: Ferruccio Busoni
• Audio CD (May 26, 2009)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Capriccio
• ASIN: B0020MSTRM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,880 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #53 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Forms & Genres > Sonatas

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Praeludium & Fuge, transcription for piano in E flat major 'St. Anne' (after J. S. Bach, BWV 552), KiV B22: Preludio. Moderato maesto

2. Praeludium & Fuge, transcription for piano in E flat major 'St. Anne' (after J. S. Bach, BWV 552), KiV B22: Cadenza

3. Praeludium & Fuge, transcription for piano in E flat major 'St. Anne' (after J. S. Bach, BWV 552), KiV B22: Fuga. Sostenuto e tranqui

4. Kurze Stück zur Pflege des polyphonen Spiels, etudes (5, 6 or 7) for piano (Klavier-Übung I), KiV 296: No. 5

5. Fugue, transcription for piano in C minor (after Mozart KV 546, incomplete), KiV B94

6. An die Jugend, pieces (4) for piano, KiV 254: No. 3

7. Fantasy on Motives from 'Der Barbier von Bagdad,' paraphrase for piano (after Cornelius), KiV B52

8. Fantasia nach J. S. Bach, for piano, KiV 253

9. Mephisto-Waltzer, transcription for piano (after Liszt), KiV B61

10. Klavier- Übung, collection of etudes for piano in 10 volumes, KiV deest: Nach Mendelssohn (after Mendelssohn), BV Anhang 1

Disc: 2

1. Praeludium & Fuge, transcription for piano in E minor (after J. S. Bach, BWV 533), KiV B26: Moderato deciso

2. Praeludium & Fuge, transcription for piano in E minor (after J. S. Bach, BWV 533), KiV B26: Andante tranquillo

3. Ouvertüre, transcription for piano in E minor (after Schubert, D. 648), KiV B104

4. Klavier- Übung, collection of etudes for piano in 10 volumes, KiV deest: Prelude in G major (from Klavierübung Part V, Op. 28 No. 3)

5. Zehn Variationen über das Prelude von F. Chopin Op. 28/20 in C minor, K. 293 (Klavierübung II/1), Op. 22, KiV 213a

6. Canto e Valse, for piano (edited by Ronald Stevenson), KiV deest

7. An die Jugend, pieces (4) for piano, KiV 254: 4. Introduzione e Capriccio (Paganinesco)

8. Drei Albumblätter, for piano, KiV 289: 3. Albumleaf (in the style of a Choral Prelude)

9. Das Wohltemperierte Klavier: Book II, arrangement for piano (after J. S. Bach BWV 870-893), KiV B25b: Praeludium 3 in C sharp major

10. Das Wohltemperierte Klavier: Book II, arrangement for piano (after J. S. Bach BWV 870-893), KiV B25b: Praeludium 21 in B flat major

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Most of Busoni's Piano Transcriptions of Others' Music, June 26, 2009

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Busoni: Piano Transcriptions [Box Set] (Audio CD)

The appellation 'Bach-Busoni' used to appear with regularity on pianists' programs. But a wave of purism swept across the world in the last three decades and Busoni's transcriptions of Bach's music pretty much dropped out of sight. That, fortunately, has been reversed in the last few years and we are not only hearing Busoni's Bach transcriptions again but those he made of music by Mozart, Liszt, Beethoven, Schoenberg (!), and others. This 4CD collection features almost all of Busoni's transcriptions, and includes a few first recordings (e.g., a delightful fantasy on themes from Karl Goldmark's opera 'Merlin', Novácek's elfin Scherzo) as well as a few different versions of better-known transcriptions (e.g. Bach's E Flat Prelude and Fugue, in this case containing a cadenza inserted by Busoni (!) cut from later editions).

There are some pieces that don't particularly come off (Busoni's contrapuntal fantasy on Bach's Art of Fugue [there will be those who disagree with this opinion, I'm sure]) but there are also some that actually sound better than their originals (Busoni's piano version of Liszt's organ fantasy on Meyerbeer's chorale 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam' [in my opinion very nearly as good as Liszt's great B Minor Piano Sonata]). There are some rarities that are delightful (e.g., the Scherzo from the E Minor String Quartet of Ottakar Novácek; three pieces from Busoni's 'Klavierübunge' including the clever and satisfying rewriting of the Serenade from Mozart's 'Don Giovanni' and of Offenbach's 'Barcarolle' from 'Tales of Hoffmann').

There have, of course, been previous recordings of many of these works. Busoni himself recorded a few of them in the infancy of sound recording. Geoffrey Douglas Madge recorded a lot of Busoni's piano works but those performances were largely trudging. The late lamented Kevin Oldham made a good recording of the Ad Nos fantasy. There are others by John Ogdon, Sequeira Costa and, of course, Egon Petri. And there is an incendiary CD by Paul Jacobs.

Holger Groschopp is a pianist new to me. He is a Berliner and appears to be fairly young. He has previously recorded works by Isang Yun (with whom he studied) and some chamber music of Paul Dessau. His playing is variable. He excels in those works in which he appears to truly believe (as the Ad Nos Fantasy, the Bach E Flat Prelude and Fugue 'St. Anne', the lighter pieces like the Novácek and the Don Giovanni Serenade, the 'Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach', Busoni's own version of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Ten Variations on the C Minor Prelude of Chopin, the 'Figaro' Fantasy), but in the rather less brilliant works, his playing can be a bit faceless.

Each of these four discs is available singly, but the price of this box set is a real savings over the single-disc prices. I can give a generally positive recommendation for the set even with the few rather bland performances included.

Scott Morrison