Ferruccio (how could I not like a guy with a name like
that?) Busoni (1866-1924) was an Italian pianist, writer, teacher, editor,
conductor, and, almost lost among his other endeavors, composer. After his
death, with the possible exceptions of his Piano
Concerto, his Turandot Suite, and
his opera Doktor Faust, the
popularity of his compositions went into serious decline, but in the 1980’s
conductors began to rediscover him. This is the case with Maestro Francesco La
Vecchia, who seems to be on a mission to resurrect as many overlooked Italian
composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries as possible. On the
present album, we find six of Busoni’s shorter orchestral works, all of which
display a charm and wit deserving of reconsideration.
The program follows Busoni’s music more or less
chronologically, beginning with the earliest piece, Eine Lustspielouverture, Op. 38 ( “A Comedy Overture,” 1897). The
composer called this piece “Mozartian” in style, but you’d hardly notice.
Mendelssohnian perhaps. Still, there are not the sweet melodies you’d hear in
either Mozart or Mendelssohn, although there is a lively, cadenced thrust
throughout that Maestro La Vecchia seems to enjoy about this “comedy overture.”
Following that, we find Gesang vom Reigen der Geister, Op. 47 (“Song of the Spirit Dance,”
1915). Scored for chamber-orchestra
forces, the work couldn’t be more different from the opening number. It is
somber and intimate, part of a trilogy and recalling the Indian massacre of
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890.
Next is Rondo arlecchinesco,
Op. 46 (“Rondo harlequinesque,” 1915). Again, it’s something different, this
time relatively light and amusing, a martial procession of instruments
featuring a heap of mock heroics. La Vecchia has fun with it, as does tenor
Granluca Terranova at the end.
Then comes the centerpiece of the album, the Clarinet Concertino in B flat major, Op.
48 (1918). Like the “Spirit Dance” it’s
scored for chamber forces, and it does sound Mozartian in its way, with
clarinetist Giammarco Casini making a delightful soloist.
After that is the Divertimento
for flute and small orchestra, Op. 52 (1920). Under conductor La Vecchia
and with flautist Laura Minguzzi, the piece sounds more varied and mercurial
than the preceding clarinet work. There are, indeed, passages of lively wit and
others of exquisite beauty. It is among the best things on the program.
Finally, the album concludes with Busoni’s Tanzwalzer, Op. 53 (“Dance Waltz,”
1920), which reminds us that Busoni was of German ancestry on his mother’s
side; the composer dedicated the music to the Austrian waltz king Johann
Strauss II. However, the music takes a while to get around to its waltz themes,
and then don’t expect quite the bracing, lilting rhythms found in Strauss.
Nevertheless, it’s an agreeable piece, and La Vecchia does his best with it.
There is nothing about any of the music on the disc that
cries out as “classic” in the sense that future generations may cherish it. The
music is not imaginative enough, inventive enough, memorable enough, or
rhapsodic enough for that. But it does take us on a journey from the lingering
Romanticism of the late nineteenth century to the beginnings of modernism in the
early twentieth century. And a fascinating journey it is, reminding us that
some of Busoni’s students and followers were Percy Grainger, Kurt Weill, Edgard
Varese, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Dimitri Tiomkin, Rudolf Ganz, Philipp Jarnach, and
many others.
Naxos recorded the music between 2008 and 2011 at the
Auditorium Conciliazione and ORS Studios, Rome. The sound displays a healthy
dynamic range and impact, a fairly natural if slightly thick midrange, and
reasonably good bass and treble extensions. While orchestral breadth and depth
seem a tad limited, the lightly resonant acoustic helps to make up for it.
Overall, the sonics are warm and smooth, with a light, pleasant hall ambience
that makes it easy on the ear.
JJP
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