Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica & Seven Elegies

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Sandro Ivo Bartoli describes [Fantasia contrappuntistica] as “a work of mystical allure and visionary genius”, an assessment borne out by a performance that conquers the music’s supreme technical... — The Telegraph, 15th September 2011 More…

Release Date: 25th Jul 2011
Catalogue No: 94223
Label: Brilliant Classics
Length: 72 minutes

Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica

Work length34:14

Album only

Sandro Ivo Bartoli

Busoni: Elegien, K249

Work length34:03

$8.00

$10.40

Sandro Ivo Bartoli

No. 1, Nach der Wendung

Track length4:37

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, All'Italia!

Track length7:47

$2.00

$2.60

No. 3, Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu dir

Track length7:54

$2.00

$2.60

No. 4, Turandots Frauengemach

Track length4:27

$1.00

$1.30

No. 5, Die Nachtlichen

Track length3:18

$1.00

$1.30

No. 6, Erscheinung

Track length6:00

$1.00

$1.30

Busoni: Berceuse (1909) from Elegien

Work length4:42

$1.00

$1.30

Sandro Ivo Bartoli

About
Reviews
Explore

About

The Italian virtuoso pianist, composer and intellectual, Ferruccio Busoni, is mainly remembered for his magnificent works for piano, which are some of the most ferociously demanding in the repertoire. Devoted to the music of Liszt and later in life to Bach, Busoni wrote much that is beautiful, complex and ground-breaking.

The Seven Elegies put into practice the ideas contained in his controversial pamphlet, the Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music, which highlighted the limitations and fragility of Western music, and promoted a new musical language incorporating avant-garde devices such as bitonality and quarter-tone harmonies.

The Elegies created a furore, with its disorientating tendency to switch between major and minor mode within the same musical phrase, but is a visionary masterpiece. The Fantasia Contrappuntistica, Busoni’s best known solo piano work, is a contrapuntal fantasy on Bach’s last unfinished work, Die Kunst der Fuge, almost a reinterpretation of Bach for the 20th century.

It remains one of the most impressive works in the entire piano literature, a monumental undertaking that stretches the possibilities of composer, instrument and performer to the limit. Sandro Ivo Bartoli is one of the most exciting pianists of his generation, and is a leading interpreter of early twentieth century Italian piano music, particularly Casella and Malipiero, as well as Busoni.

New interpretations of rare, important repertoire by a ‘specialist’ of the genre.

Fantasia contrappuntistica and Elegies are available together for the first time.

Extensive booklet notes by the artist.

Reviews

15th September 2011

Sandro Ivo Bartoli describes [Fantasia contrappuntistica] as “a work of mystical allure and visionary genius”, an assessment borne out by a performance that conquers the music’s supreme technical demands and conveys its epic architecture.

Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica & Seven Elegies

Downloads

Contents

Download queue