Ferruccio Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica auf CD

Ein Wunderwerk an Komplexität

Busoni war nicht nur einer der größten Pianisten seiner Zeit, sondern auch ein Komponist und Musik-Theoretiker von Ehrfurcht gebietender Brillanz. Seine drei Idole waren Bach, Mozart und Liszt und so ist auch das Kernstück dieses Programms das magnum opus Fantasia Contrappuntistica, das als Ausgangspunkt eine Fortsetzung des unvollendeten Schlußes aus Die Kunst der Fuge nimmt und sich von dort aus in völlig unerwartete Richtungen entwickelt, die ganz in das 20. Jahrhundert gehören.

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Busoni was not only one of the greatest pianists of his age but also a composer and theorist of daunting intellect. His three idols were Bach, Mozart and Liszt and this disc presents two transcriptions, and—in the Fantasia contrappuntistica—a colossal re-imagining, each paying tribute to the past while reflecting Busoni’s genius as both creator and re-creator.

The Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ is undoubtedly one of Liszt’s very greatest works yet as an organ piece it could be regarded as rather inaccessible to the general concert goer. Busoni’s magnificent piano transcription allows the work access to the concert hall; it remains a mystery why the piece has not been taken up by more pianists—perhaps its time will come.

In comparison the Mozart transcription is a much more modest, though perfectly realized, piece which gives much needed repose before the onslaught of Busoni’s pianistic magnum opus, the Fantasia contrappuntistica. This work has at its heart a realization of the incomplete final fugue from Bach’s Art of Fugue but seen in terms of twentieth-century harmony. The fugal sections are preceded by a chorale arrangement and interspersed with an intermezzo and variations; Busoni then creates an entirely new fugue on four subjects which Bach is thought to have planned, though he did not live to carry it out. In this work Busoni hoped to create ‘one of the most significant works of modern piano literature’. If its daunting complexity both for pianist and listener never make it a standard of the repertoire, it is certainly one of the most imposing of piano works and in this performance Hamish Milne has certainly created a landmark in his already impressive recording career.

Rezensionen

'Milne, who through his studies with Guido Agosti is a 'grand-pupil' of Busoni himself, tackles this repertoire with a full appreciation of the Classicism that lies behing its Romantic surface, and is especially effective at clarifying the fugal layers in the Fantasia and the Liszt' (Daily Telegraph)

'Arrangements of Liszt and a slow movement from a Mozart Piano Concerto are joined by his mammoth Fantasia Contrappentistica, the 32 minutes of which are dispatched with immense panache by Hamish Milne' (Liverpool Daily Post)

'This daunting and inspired coupling is played by Hamish Milne with an uplifting musical authority. Indeed, aided by Hyperion's superb sound, Milne even surpasses his earlier L'Oiseau Lyre recording of the Liszt / Busoni Fantasy … [ Fantasia contrappuntistica] Milne's performance is of an unfaltering beauty and lucidity' (Gramophone)

Rezensionen

FonoForum 02/09: "Liszts Orgelfantasie "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" verwandelte Busoni in eine zyklopische Transkription, die ihre Herkunft nicht leugnet, dieses Kolossalwerk aber all jenen erschließt, die taub für das Original waren.​ In Hamish Milne gerät es an einen diskreten (und daher unterschätzten!) Übervirtuosen, der nicht bloß im süßen Brei wühlt, sondern auch die Facette geradezu dekadenter Adagio-Zerbrechlichkeit entdeckt.​"