Busoni the Visionary III – Piano Music
Jeni Slotchiver
Centaur CRC 3396
This CD continues American pianist Jeni Slotchiver’s Busoni the Visionary series. Her wonderful playing and program notes challenge the image of Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) as a chilly intellectual composer of contradictory, strange works. We have instead a well-rounded Busoni: piano virtuoso; extraordinary composer; key figure in modern music. Included is Busoni’s piano transcription of Bach’s “St. Anne” Prelude and Triple Fugue for Organ. But the Fantasia nach Johann Sebastian Bach (1909) shows innovative re-thinking of possibilities in Bach chorales, while Nuit de Noël (1908) imitates actual bells with their dissonant overtones. Slotchiver plays both with intimacy and fine gradations of touch.
Busoni’s style evolved rapidly. Of the late works Ten Variations on a Prelude of Chopin (1922) is most accessible and varied, with shifts in tonal centre that create kaleidoscopic effects. Slotchiver is virtuosic in the middle and ending variations, and equally capable of projecting abrupt mood changes in one variation or quirky waltz style in another. She captures the mystic opening in Prélude et Etude (en Arpèges) of 1923, then conquers the etude’s wild arpeggios and acrobatic hand-crossing. In Toccata (1920) she emphasizes motifs from his operas, including the contemporaneous Doktor Faust. With a road map the listener can sort out this rich assemblage. Relax and remember: Busoni’s music does not resolve the contradictions encompassed by his genius (Italian and German, 19th century and modern, concertizing pianist and exploring composer), but plays with them masterfully.
