Busoni: Transcriptions for Piano after J.S. Bach, Vol. 1

Album review

Is there no end to the transcriptions Ferruccio Busoni made of the music of J.S. Bach? There must be: after all, Busoni did take time off from transcribing to become one of the most celebrated pianists -- as well as one of the least appreciated composers -- of the fin de siècle. But when it comes to recording Busoni's own works, pianists are far more likely to choose a selection of his viscerally virtuosic Bach transcriptions than his intensely cerebral Fantasia contrappuntistica. So it is here in the debut recording by Italian pianist Maurizio Baglini. There's the titanic three-movement Toccata in C major; then the demonic Toccata and Fugue in D minor; then the four selected Chorale Preludes opening with the epiphanic "Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland" and closing with the ecstatic "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"; and then, finally, the alpha and omega of the art of transcription, the transcendent Chaconne. And Baglini is consistently up to the challenge. He has the big tone, the virtuoso technique, and the total command Busoni's transcriptions require, plus the subtle phrasing, the soulful balances, and the spiritual intensity Bach's originals demand. While there have certainly been great recordings of many of these works before -- one thinks of Horowitz's C major Toccata, Kempff's Chorale Preludes and, above all, Michelangeli's magnificent Chaconne -- Baglini's deserves to heard by anyone who enjoys virtuoso piano transcriptions. Tudor's digital sound is a bit clangorous at first, but settles down as the disc progresses.
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