Busoni – Fantasia Contrappuntistica, Chopin Variations etc – Peter Donohoe (2024) [24-96]

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Peter Donohoe’s first album devoted to Busoni was enthusiastically received by the critics, and nominated for a BBC Music Magazine award. This second volume offers playing and musicality of the same high standards. His programme opens with two of Busoni’s finest Bach transcriptions, widely seen as a pinnacle of the repertoire for pianistic virtuosity, and much more widely played than Busoni’s own compositions. This is followed by the Variations on Chopin’s Prelude in C minor – a work in which Busoni demonstrates his innate skill of re-interpretation, and his mastery of counterpoint, and a piece he reworked several times. The following works are ‘all Busoni’ – the first and second sonatinas, and the Fantasia contrappuntistica, in the composer’s later adaptation for two pianos. The first Steinway Artist of Indian origin, Karl Lutchmayer is equally renowned as a concert pianist, a lecturer, and a broadcaster. He joins Peter Donohoe in the Fantasia, and also performs the Second Sonatina.