Description

FERRUCCIO BUSONI (EMPOLI, ITALY 1 APRIL 1866 – BERLIN, GERMANY 27 JULY 1924)

 

 

 

 

Ferruccio Busoni was the only child of two professional musicians: his Italian/German mother a pianist, his Italian father a clarinettist. They were often touring during his childhood, and he was brought up in Trieste for the most part. He was a child prodigy. He made his public debut on the piano with his parents, at the age of seven. A couple of years later he played some of his own compositions in Vienna where he heard Franz Liszt play, and met F. Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Anton Rubinstein. Ferruccio Busoni had a brief period of study in Graz before leaving to Leipzig in 1886. He subsequently held several teaching posts, the first in 1888 at Helsinki, where he met his wife, Gerda Sjöstrand. He taught in Moscow in 1890, and in the USA from 1891 to 1894 where he also toured as a virtuoso pianist. In 1894 he settled in Berlin, giving a series of concerts there both as pianist and conductor. He particularly promoted contemporary music. He also continued to teach in a number of master-classes at Weimar, Vienna and Basel, among his pupils being Claudio Arrau and Egon Petri. During World War I, Ferruccio Busoni lived first in Bologna, where he directed the conservatory, and later in Zürich. He refused to perform in any countries that were involved in the war. He returned to Berlin in 1920 where he gave master-classes in composition. He had several composition pupils who went on to become famous, including Kurt Weill, Edgard Varèse and Stefan Wolpe. Ferruccio Busoni died in Berlin from a kidney disease. He was interred in the Städtischen Friedhof III, Berlin-Schöneberg, Stubenrauchstraße 43-45. He left a few recordings of his playing as well as a number of piano rolls. His compositions were largely neglected for many years after his death, but he was remembered as a great virtuoso and arranger of J.S. Bach for the piano. Around the 1980s there was a revival of interest in his compositions. He is commemorated by a plaque at the site of his last residence in Berlin-Schöneberg, Viktoria-Luise-Platz 11.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

439 BACH-BUSONI – Chorale-Prelude “Rejoice, Beloved Christians”

440 CHOPIN – Polonaise, Op. 53, Ab “Heroic”

441 CHOPIN – Nocturne, Op. 15, No. 2, F#

442 DONIZETT-LISZT – Valse-Caprice on Motives from “Lucia di Lammermoor”

443 BEETHOVEN-LISZT – Adeläide, Op. 46

444 LISZT-BUSONI – “Paganini” Etude No. 3, g# La Campanella

445 VERDI-LISZT – Paraphrase on Themes from the Opera “Rigoletto”

446 SCHUBERT-LISZT – Hungarian March

1319 CHOPIN – Prelude, Op. 28, No. 15, Db “Raindrop”

1320 LISZT – Polonaise No. 2, E

1321 LISZT-BUSONI – Fantasie on Themes from Bellini’s “Norma”

1322 BEETHOVEN-LISZT- Fantasie on “The Ruins of Athens” Op. 113

1323 MOZART-LISZT- Reminiscences on Themes from “Don Giovanni”