Piano Works Vol.7 : Harden

FERRUCCIO BUSONI (1866-1924) Piano Music - 7

Concert Fantasy on motifs from the opera Merlin by Goldmark
Fantasy on motifs from the comic opera
Der Barbier von Bagdad by Peter Cornelius
Variation-Study after Mozart, No. 1: Canzonetta from Don Giovanni
Wagner, arr. Busoni: Funeral March from Gotterdammerung
Sonatina No. 3: ‘Ad usum infantis Madeline M. Americanae
Sonatina No. 6: Chamber Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen
Five Short Pieces for the Cultivation of Polyphonic

Wolf Harden (Piano)

Recorded at Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk, England, on 15th and 16th June, 2009

The essence of Ferruccio Busoni’s music lies in its synthesis of his Italian and German ancestry, emotion and intellect, imagination and rigour. This seventh volume in Naxos’s highly-praised series brings together several virtuosic operatic transcriptions, paraphrases and fantasies, as well as demanding studies and two piano sonatinas. ‘Wolf Harden is a stupendous pianist who can deliver what Busoni demands and then some’ (American Record Guide on Vol. 2, 8.555699). ( NAXOS )