Ferruccio Busoni

about

Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, music teacher and conductor. The majority of Busoni's works are for the piano. Busoni's music is typically contrapuntally complex, with several melodic lines unwinding at once. Although his music is never entirely atonal in the Schoenbergian sense, his later works are often in indeterminate key. In the program notes for the premiere of his Sonatina seconda of 1912, Busoni calls the work senza tonalità (without tonality). Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Liszt are often identified as key influences, though some of his music has a neo-classical bent, and includes melodies resembling Mozart's. Some idea of Busoni's mature attitude to composition can be gained from his 1907 manifesto, Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music, a publication somewhat controversial in its time. As well as discussing then little-explored areas such as electronic music and microtonal music (both techniques he never employed), he asserted that music should distill the essence of music of the past to make something new. Many of Busoni's works are based on music of the past, especially on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He arranged several of Bach's works for the piano, including the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (originally for organ) and the chaconne from the D minor violin partita. To create a viable work for Romantic piano from an original solo violin piece required a person of Busoni's boldness, inexorable feeli

top songs

albums

Bach - Busoni: Goldberg Variations & Other Works

Busoni: Piano Works

Busoni: Piano Music, Vol. 7

Busoni: Piano Music, Vol. 11

Soundtrack "Amour"

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6 Chorale Preludes, BV B 50/Herzlich tut mich verlangen, Op. 122/10

Busoni, F.: Piano Transcriptions

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Bach - Busoni - Beethoven

Revolution for Cembalo

An Amadeus Affair

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Bach / Busoni

Busoni: Late Piano Music

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