Word: busoni
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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America's poet of the piano plays 15 of Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte (literally, Songs Without Words), plus eight Bach-Busoni and Schubert-Liszt transcriptions. The hand injury that threatened to sideline Perahia only a few short years ago is now nothing but a fast-fading memory: the poise and lyricism of the exquisite playing heard on this meltingly beautiful CD are worthy of comparison with any of the century's greatest pianists. His tone is warm and inviting, his interpretations quietly romantic. Vladimir Horowitz--who once gave Perahia a few pointers--would have reveled in the results...
...latest from a young man who is without question Russia's most exciting pianist, this recital disc pairs two romantic masterpieces, the Bach-Busoni Chaconne and Schumann's Kreisleriana, plus a pair of shorter pieces by Beethoven (Rondo for Piano in G Major is one). These spectacular performances--big-boned and expansive, yet piercingly direct whenever they need to be--rank among the very best on record. Not since Vladimir Horowitz was in his absolute prime have we been privy to classical piano playing quite as bold, quite as ambitious as this...
...keyboard pyrotechnics lit up concert halls during the first 40 years of this century. He is fascinated by the piano's expressive range, its ability to produce almost orchestral varieties of sounds and colors, seemingly bound only by the performer's own limitations. These varied works--by Rachmaninoff, Alkan, Busoni, Godowsky and others--are wickedly difficult, yet Hamelin plays them, often at dazzling speeds, with color, power, a long line and unfailing elan. He also performs three of his own witty, equally difficult etudes inspired by Chopin and Rossini...
Though "Bach-Pratt" may never achieve the hyphenated ubiquity of "Bach-Busoni," the pianist's realization of the organ music was good, particularly in the translation of pedal points and high-register fireworks. In the Passacaglia, his loud, turbo righthand octaves were sensational, though there seemed to be some rhythmic slipping and sliding. The first fugal episode was marvelous, and it was interesting to consider just how well the Hall worked as church space. Sometimes the texture of the fugue became too dense or blurred for comprehension, but the forceful, toccata-style ending was astonishingly clear...
...Habanera," but also because the piano sounded fantastic. The Steinway trilled and sang under Haefliger's fingers, projecting pianissimo lines that were clear no matter how loudly the orchestra played. But the lowest registers were almost over-responsive: Haefliger's loudest octaves sounded like they belonged in Liszt or Busoni, not Mozart...