Busoni’s literary education and keen intellect allowed him to write the text of his operas himself, to correspond with the greatest figures of his time, and to publish some essential works, of which the most significant is the Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst (Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music) (1907), in which he describes pioneering intuitions, such as the dodecaphonic system, microtonality, and new notation systems, and even makes predictions about electronic music. He was the inspirer of a new piano construction, namely the Imperial model of the Viennese piano manufacturer Bösendorfer, which was also used for this recording.

Giuseppe Mariotti- piano

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During those years, the arcane disciplines began to exert a significant influence on Busoni. He attended séances and became interested in occultism, spiritualism, and clairvoyance. He developed theories on the ability to see ghosts: humans could supposedly see— for brief moments—into the future or the past. “…It would be nothing more than a fleeting, uncertain glance cast—into the present or the past. Everything proceeds in the form of a circle, and so it must be for clairvoyance. It is a phenomenon similar to what happens at a radiotelegraphic station, which transmits to the same distance in all directions…”

Similarly, he explained his beliefs in extrasensory perceptions: we can therefore reasonably deduce that Busoni believed in the existence of entities and forces that are not rationally or empirically explainable but might nonetheless be known and perhaps mastered, in his case, also through musical experience. During his American tours, Busoni came into contact with Theosophical doctrines developed in the United States at the end of the century. They advocated a path of ethical and spiritual evolution that, through the progressive purification of motives and works, culminates in achieving an ideal of mystical perfection rich in all attributes of wisdom, serenity, beauty, and power: the aesthetic foundations of the “New Classicism” (Junge Klassizität), in other words, the return to simple, clear, and beautiful compositional patterns, are fully expressed in the Sonatina on the Nativity of Christ MCMXVII.

Giuseppe Mariotti- piano

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Arnold Schoenberg, for example, who succeeded him as teacher of the composition class at the Berlin Academy of Music, found great support in his work through Busoni. Busoni’s literary education and keen intellect allowed him to write the text of his operas himself, to correspond with the greatest figures of his time, and to publish some essential works, of which the most significant is the Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst (Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music) (1907), in which he describes pioneering intuitions, such as the dodecaphonic system, microtonality, and new notation systems, and even makes predictions about electronic music.
He was the inspirer of a new piano construction, namely the Imperial model of the Viennese piano manufacturer Bösendorfer, which was also used for this recording.

Giuseppe Mariotti- piano

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The character pieces of the Macchiette Medioevali clearly take Schumann’s Album für die Jugend (Album for the Young) as their model. They reflect the late-Romantic idealization of the people who lived at court in the Middle Ages. In the Astrologo (The Astrologer) there is a certain mystical atmosphere and a polyphonic compositional style modelled on Bach. These elements are also frequently found in Busoni’s late works.
1910 saw the publication of Busoni’s greatest and most significant piano composition: the Fantasia Contrappuntistica, which draws on J. S. Bach’s Art of the Fugue. The variations on the chorale “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr” open the piece. These are followed by three fugues from the unfinished Contrapunctus XIX, which Busoni however altered and expanded. An intermezzo of mystical and visionary character leads over to three variations, that reintroduce the main themes. A cadenza consisting of broad arpeggios prepares the fourth fugue, in which all the themes are taken up and combined once more. The Choral from the beginning of the piece sounds out again transfigured, and turns into a stretta that leads to the magnificent and powerful finale. The artist here deliberately avoided pure transcription, the form for which he was unfortunately far better known than the composer Busoni. His unique musical personality shaped a kind of contemplation and rediscovery of the aspects of Bach’s work.

Giuseppe Mariotti – piano

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Alongside the piano music of Liszt, the music of Ferruccio Busoni has been a guiding light for the young, eclectic pianist. Here Chiyan combines Busoni’s kaleidoscopic arrangement of Bach’s famous Goldberg Variations, which celebrates the powerful sonority and range of the modern concert grand, with Bach’s timeless original.

Chiyan’s ‘dazzling technical finish’ (Gramophone) and luxuriant sound are on full display in Busoni’s arrangement of Bach’s famous Chaconne, a classic in the genre. Inversion, mirroring and variations are also idiomatic devices in Busoni’s Sonatina ‘in diem Nativitatis Christi MCMXVII and Chiyan’s own ‘composition etude’, Inversion of Variation 15 (Canone alla quinta), which complete this one-of-a-kind programme.

Chiyan Wong, Piano

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