Busoni: Piano Concerto, Op. 39

Back when the film Shine was popular, Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto became all the rage as a work making nearly suicidal demands of its soloist. But one mountain of challenges to the virtuoso you're not likely to encounter in live performance is the Piano Concerto of Ferruccio Busoni. Its dimensions are Guinness Book material: Lasting over 70 minutes and cast in five epic movements, it not only uses a gargantuan orchestra but calls for an invisible male chorus singing a mystical hymn of stunning beauty in the finale. But the concerto isn't just about grandiosity. Its complex, symbolic architecture gives the work a searching intensity more akin to the trajectory of a Mahler symphony. In his preoccupation with synthesizing elements from North and South, incorporating contrapuntal complexity and flowing Italianate lyricism, introspective gloom and fevered excitement, Busoni sounds something like a character out of Thomas Mann.

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin--who has made a specialty of neglected masterpieces--performs with a tremendous range of expression and theatrical flair, clearly holding his own against the earlier celebrated account of John Ogdon. The sui generis nature of the piece requires an unusually high degree of sensitive interaction from the conductor. Mark Elder shows a magnificent grasp of Busoni's architectonic sensibility and his sculpting of musical space, as well as of the score's kaleidoscopic orchestration. Busoni may be bidding farewell to an entire tradition here, but it's his over-the-top originality that is likely to captivate you. --Thomas May Amazon.com

Dull & Uninspired Work played with cool pianism

I bought this cd excited by ecstatic reviews like "as if Mahler wrote piano concerto" or "super human virtuoso." It turned out to be a disappointment. The work is one huge mass of uninspired themes and developments. It is an offence to Mahler to compare this dull piece to his great creations.

Hamelin's playing has amazing precision and ease, but somehow lacks fire and grandeur of the Russian masters. Critics are lavish in praising Hamelin's 'super-human' technique, but listen to young Rubinstein playing Villa-Lobos or Richter's early recordings of Prokofiev or Liszt concertos (Urania). Hamelin's virtuosity would seem tame in comparison! September 4, 2007

Not topping Ogdon

I agree with some of the reviews below. Hamelin is incredible but the whole performance is somewhat less than it could be. John Ogdon's amazing performance on EMI is the one to get.

A word on the concerto: this really should be a commonly known piece. Often we find music by less familiar composers that is praised by enthusiasts but ultimately ends up as something below amazing. Not so here and actually not so with much of Busoni's music, especially the operas. It's, well, strange to read people in these pages bubbling over genuinely second rank stuff of little real distinction when we have here a brilliant composer with an immediately recognizable style. Kurt Weill studied under him and his music often sounds like a pale echo of Busoni's angular, distinctly orchestrated, endlessly surprising, frequently hum-able music. Oddly, in an era of grand late romantics, Busoni managed a lean and mean quality with his music that reaches well beyond mere classicism. It also get better the more you listen to it. I've been listening to this wonderful concerto now for nearly 35 years and it still sounds fresh. April 4, 2006

Superb performance !

This gargantuan piano concert demands a first rate pianist , a great conductor and a virtuosi orchestra to work out .
In the late seventues I acquired the available version in vynil of the key Ravenaugh Ogdon , skillfully performed .
But Hamelin is an extarordinary and best gifted pianist who matchs with Ogdon in musicality and technician equipment . And even the rapport with the orchestra does not reach the intensity of Ravenaugh Ogdon , the result is widely worthable .
Hamelin is one of the giants keyboardists in all the world .
I really expect he makes a close approach to Beethoven , He has the demanded abilties and intelligence to win this challenge .
Acquire this recording to get into Busoni musical universe and enjoying of the superb craft of Hamelin.
Try to find too all you can from Hamelin playing Alkan . August 31, 2004

Bland orchestra keeps this from being 5 stars for me

John Ogdon was a head case (long before Helfgott made it trendy to be a crazy musician) but boy, could he play! To hear him play would make you forget that there could be anything amiss with his mind. What I especially loved about him was his affinity for zany masterpieces like Sorabji's "Opus Clavicembalisticum," virtually unplayable pieces that nobody else would touch with a 10-foot pole. The Busoni concerto was one of those masterpieces that Ogdon embraced, even though most pianists wouldn't go near it. Even today, you practically count on one hand the number of pianists that include this musical behemoth in their repetoire.

One of those is Marc-André Hamelin, who demonstrates an admirable command of this densely-textured, mammoth piece. Certainly I cannot find any fault in his interpretation, but once again (as has happened all too frequently in this Hyperion series) the orchestra tends to undermine a great performance with a sometimes flat and disengaged accompaniment. That & a curiously unsatifisfying sound quality forced me to lop off a star, despite Hamelins admirable performance. No matter how good the soloist may be, a 2nd-rate orchestral performance really can drag down the overall quality of a recording, and that is the case here.

Nonetheless, Hamelin is great, and this neglected masterpiece --- one of the most remarkable pieces ever written in the 20th century --- is definitely worth soldiering through. Like Nielsen's symphonies, it is not a piece casually approached, so be prepared for repeated listenings before you can fully appreciate the piece. June 14, 2004

Great concerto, monotonous performance

Busoni's piano concerto is a colossus with a wonderful sphere throughout, a wide range of moods and, not surprisingly, enormous technical demands. You might need more than one listen to get into the piece, but if you take some effort the results are very rewarding: it is a great masterpiece. Few pianists perform it, for the simple reason that it's so long and difficult. Not surprisingly, Marc-Andre Hamelin is one of the exceptions: after all, he's one of the most technically gifted pianists in history. And indeed, he tackles the concerto as if he's walking in the park. Yet it all seems a bit too easy, too detached to really catch fire. At times, you can't help but think that Hamelin is merely going through the motions, especially in the (admittedly amazingly virtuosic) Tarantella. Elder and the Birmingham team do not provide the most arresting of accompaniments, either.

The sound quality is also a drawback: Hamelin's instrument is excessively dry and sometimes sounds as if it's standing in the gallery of the studio instead of inside (especially in the 5th track, where the thundering piano sound is sometimes hardly audible!). Hamelin has a wonderful tone which saves the sound a little, but it's nevertheless frustrating to hear a piano that never really rises to a full and satisfying sound. Sure enough, the booklet is very nicely done, with an interesting programme note on the piece by Ronald Stevenson, who wrote this note for John Ogdon's recording of the concerto from the sixties, on EMI. The latter is a much more powerful, energetic performance of the piece than Hamelin's and therefore I'd recommend trying out that one. Besides, it's much cheaper too. Before sounding like an all-round negative, I would like to add that I've seen an internet video of Hamelin playing the concerto with Osmo Vanska (live) that was significantly better than this recording.
April 2, 2004

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