In part 11 of this Busoni series, pianist Wolf Harden once again shows how Busoni made piano arrangements to organ and harpsichord works by the great Bach. Busoni did this in several ways. Sometimes he more or less faithfully followed the original. Such as in the piano arrangement of Bach's Prelude, fugue and allegro. The arrangements of a dozen Bach chorale arrangements (including Wachet auf &
Ich ruf 'zu dir) already sound much more like re-creations. But Busoni's passion for editing also faced more intellectual challenges. Such as in the Sonatine brevis (no.5), in which Busoni reinterprets the Fantasy and fugue BWV.905 according to his own style insights. The most ambitious is Preludio al corale e fuga sopra un frammento di Bach. This is Busoni's commentary on the unfinished Fugue from Die Kunst der Fuge. Busoni made several attempts to bring Bach's supposed swan song to a successful conclusion. The 1910 version was entitled Fantasia contrappuntistica, edizione definitiva. This version of more than half an hour could already be heard on the first edition of Wolf Harden's Busoni series. However, there is also a shortened version of the same work (1912). It is this less known 'editione minore' that Wolf Harden performs on the new CD. (HJ) It is this less known 'editione minore' that Wolf Harden performs on the new CD. (HJ) It is this lesser known 'editione minore' that Wolf Harden performs on the new CD. (HJ)more
