Ventures
Ventures
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni, the visionary Italian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, has been obsessing me from the age of ten, when I first read a book about him by G. Kogan. Ever since, I have been studying his recordings, reading his writings and letters, learning and performing his music. One of the highlights for me has been playing Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica with Sir Andras Schiff. Here is an excerpt of our performance from the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival a few years ago:
I grew up hearing Busoni’s piano concerto in recordings by John Ogdon and Garrick Ohlsson and it was always on my dream list of pieces to play. A couple of years ago the opportunity came to perform the concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Boston was one of the cities where Busoni taught and it was the starting point of his career in the US. It was particularly significant and heart-warming that Sakari Oramo agreed to conduct. Sakari and I have played together a number of times and he feels close to Busoni’s music. Busoni is important in the history of Finnish music, and the Sibelius academy, where Sakari studied and now teaches, was another place where Busoni mentored.
Our concerts in Boston were captured for the radio. Listening to the recordings some months later I had the feeling that we could publish it as an album. In a studio setting, I couldn’t hope to replicate the concert adrenaline, acoustics of Boston’s Symphony Hall and the luxury of the orchestral sound of the BSO led by Sakari in this most symphonic concerto. myrios classics agreed to release it and also allowed me to put together an 88 page booklet to accompany the physical release. Two Busoni experts, Larry Sitsky and Albrecht Riethmueller kindly contributed articles on Busoni’s piano music and his creative arc, and the Busoni archive at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin provided some previously unpublished photographs and illustrations.
Next season, Garrick Ohlsson and I are touring in the US, and Fantasia Contrappuntistica is again on the programme. In the future seasons, I am planning retrospective series about Busoni and his world in selected cities central to Busoni’s life.
Ferruccio Busoni, the visionary Italian composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, has been obsessing me from the age of ten, when I first read a book about him by G. Kogan. Ever since, I have been studying his recordings, reading his writings and letters, learning and performing his music. One of the highlights for me has been playing Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica with Sir Andras Schiff. Here is an excerpt of our performance from the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival a few years ago:
I grew up hearing Busoni’s piano concerto in recordings by John Ogdon and Garrick Ohlsson and it was always on my dream list of pieces to play. A couple of years ago the opportunity came to perform the concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Boston was one of the cities where Busoni taught and it was the starting point of his career in the US. It was particularly significant and heart-warming that Sakari Oramo agreed to conduct. Sakari and I have played together a number of times and he feels close to Busoni’s music. Busoni is important in the history of Finnish music, and the Sibelius academy, where Sakari studied and now teaches, was another place where Busoni mentored.
Our concerts in Boston were captured for the radio. Listening to the recordings some months later I had the feeling that we could publish it as an album. In a studio setting, I couldn’t hope to replicate the concert adrenaline, acoustics of Boston’s Symphony Hall and the luxury of the orchestral sound of the BSO led by Sakari in this most symphonic concerto. myrios classics agreed to release it and also allowed me to put together an 88 page booklet to accompany the physical release. Two Busoni experts, Larry Sitsky and Albrecht Riethmueller kindly contributed articles on Busoni’s piano music and his creative arc, and the Busoni archive at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin provided some previously unpublished photographs and illustrations.
Next season, Garrick Ohlsson and I are touring in the US, and Fantasia Contrappuntistica is again on the programme. In the future seasons, I am planning retrospective series about Busoni and his world in selected cities central to Busoni’s life.
