FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866-1924): Piano Music, Vol. 10 - Transcriptions: Bach:  Fantasia, Adagio e Fuga, BWV 906 and 968, B. 37, Mozart: Andantino from Piano Concerto No. 9, K271, B. 84, Johann Baptist Cramer (1771-1858): 8 Etudes, B. 53, Brahms: 5 Chorale Preludes for Organ, Op. 122, B. 50, Liszt: Mephisto Waltz, S110/2, B. 61.

Description: Busoni embodied an essentially recreative approach to the music of the past. His Bach transcriptions reveal an absolute command of intricate polyphony and a limpid clarity. Mozart stood as an aesthetic and technical exemplar while Cramer’s little-known Etudes are adapted for modern piano technique. Busoni preserved the Lutheran austerity of Brahms’s Chorale Preludes whereas in the Mephisto Waltz he augments Liszt’s heady writing with a super-virtuosity of his own. Wolf Harden (piano).