BUSONI: Late Piano Music – Marc-Andre Hamelin (3 CDs) Hyperion

Elegies BV249[34’04]
CD1
1
Nach der Wendung (Recueillement)[4’15]
2
All’Italia! (In modo napolitano)[6’20]
3
Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir (Choralvorspiel)[7’35]
4
Turandots Frauengemach (Intermezzo)[3’22]
5
Die Nächtlichen (Walzer)[3’05]
6
Erscheinung (Notturno)[5’02]
7
Berceuse[4’25]
8
Nuit de Noël BV251[3’52]
9
Fantasia after J S Bach BV253[13’37]
10
Canonic Variations and Fugue BVB40[7’22]
11
Giga, bolero e variazione (Book 3 of An die Jugend, BV254)[3’54]
CD2
12
Sonatina BV257[11’21]
13
Sonatina seconda BV259[8’15]
Sonatina ‘ad usum infantis Madeline M* Americanae’ BV268[7’06]
14
Molto tranquillo[1’31]
15
Andantino melancolico[1’33]
16
Vivace (alla marcia)[0’59]
17
Molto tranquillo[0’53]
18
Polonaise (un poco cerimonioso)[2’10]
19
Sonatina ‘in diem nativitatis Christi MCMXVII’ BV274[7’55]
20
Sonatina brevis ‘in signo Joannis Sebastiani Magni’ BV280[5’45]
21
Kammer-Fantasie über Carmen BV284[7’43]
22
Indianisches Erntelied[2’27]
Indianisches Tagebuch I BV267[10’21]
23
Allegretto affettuoso, un poco agitato[2’29]
24
Vivace[1’29]
25
Andante[3’49]
26
Maestoso ma andando[2’34]
Three Albumleaves BV289[9’28]
27
No 1: Andantino sostenuto[2’31]
28
No 2: Andante[2’00]
29
No 3, (in the style of a chorale prelude): Sostenuto religioso[4’57]
CD3
30
Toccata ‘Preludio, Fantasia, Ciaccona’ BV287[10’00]
31
Prologo BV279[0’51]
KLAVIERÜBUNG, 1925
32
Preludio ‘Allegro festivo'[0’42]
33
Preludio ‘without the third finger, Moderato alla breve'[1’00]
34
Veloce e leggiero[1’33]
35
Vivace moderato, con precisione[2’51]
36
Variations-Studie nach Mozart I[1’30]
37
Motive ‘Allegro risoluto'[1’34]
38
Allegro[2’17]
39
Nine Variations on a Chopin Prelude BV213a[10’03]
Seven Short Pieces for the Cultivation of Polyphonic Playing BV296[19’49]
40
No 1: Preludietto: Allegro[0’33]
41
No 2: Sostenuto – Poco più andante[2’43]
42
No 3: Andante molto tranquillo e legato[1’35]
43
No 4: Allegro[2’09]
44
No 5: Preludio: Andante tranquillo[3’35]
45
No 6: Nach Mozart: Adagio[5’36]
46
No 7, With the use of the third pedal (Steinway & Sons Sustaining-Pedal): Andantino tranquillo[3’38]
47
Perpetuum mobile BV293[3’21]
Prélude et étude en arpèges BV297[7’13]
48
Prélude: Arioso-volante ma tranquillo[3’30]
49
Étude: Allegro[3’43]

‘Hamelin mastered its rising and falling cascades of scales, biting rhythms and thunderous textures as though he was Busoni himself’ (The Birmingham News, USA)

Marc-André Hamelin is indisputably the king of Busoni pianists. He triumphantly masters the extraordinary technical difficulties and contrapuntal complexities this composer presents. This generously priced triple album offers most of Busoni’s mature works and the widest selection of pieces from the Klavierübung so far recorded, many of them for the first time.

(Studio Master: Please note that the recording of the Fantasia after J S Bach included here is taken from Marc-André Hamelin’s 1998 album ‘The Composer-Pianists’ and has been up-sampled to 24-bit 96 kHz.)