• Name: Ferruccio Busoni
• Birthday: 04/01/1866
• Birth Place: Empoli, Italy
• Died: 07/27/1924
• Place of Death: Berlin, Germany
• Period: Modern
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
Percy Grainger, Ferruccio Busoni & Egon Petri	1993
Busoni: Complete Recordings W
Great Composers At The Keyboard: Busoni
The Great Pianists, Vol. 3: Ferruccio Busoni
(4) Turandot Suite, for orchestra, Op. 41, KiV 248	1992
(7) Fantasia contrappuntistica (III), for 2 pianos, KiV 256b	1997
Album vocale, songs (4) for voice & piano, Op. 30, KiV 114 W	2004
Des Sängers Fluch, ballade for voice & piano, Op. 39, KiV 98 W	2004
Reminiscenza Rossiniana, arietta for voice & piano, KiV deest W	2004
Songs (2), for baritone & small orchestra, Op. 49, KiV 277-8 W	2004
(5) Prélude et Etude en Arpèges, for piano, KiV297
(9) Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35a, KiV 243	1952
Abendlied, transcription for clarinet & string quartet (after Schumann Op. 107/6), KiV B107	1994
(8) Albumblatt, for flute (or muted violin) & piano in E minor, KiV 272
(9) An die Jugend, pieces (4) for piano, KiV 254	2007
(3) Andantino from the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 9 in E flat, transcripttion for piano (after Mozart, K. 271), KiV B84	2004
Andantino with 3 Variations, transcription for piano (after Liszt, Venezia e Napoli: Barcarolle), KiV deest	2004
Andantino, for clarinet & piano in B flat major, KiV 107	1994
(2) Aria mit 30 Veränderungen (Goldberg Variations), arrangement for piano (after J. S. Bach, BWV 988), KiV B35	2004
(5) Arlecchino, "theatrical capriccio" (opera) in 1 act, KiV 270, Op. 50 W	1954
Ave Maria, antiphon for voice & orchestra, Op. 35, KiV 190	1990
Ave Maria, antiphon for voice & piano, Op. 1, KiV 67
(2) Barcarolle, transcription for piano (after Offenbach), KiV deest	2004
Berceuse élégiaque, arrangement for 2 pianos (by Egon Petri), Op. 42, KiV 252b	1995
(2) Berceuse élégiaque, arrangement for chamber ensemble (by Erwin Stein), Op. 42, KiV 252c	1994
(16) Berceuse élégiaque, for orchestra, Op. 42, KiV 252a
(9) Berceuse, for piano (Elegies No. 7), KiV 252
Cadenzas (2) for Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20, for piano in D minor, KiV B7	2008
Canonic Variations & Fugue from the "Musical Offering," transcription for piano (after J. S. Bach, BWV 1079), KiV B40
Canto e Valse, for piano (edited by Ronald Stevenson), KiV deest	2008
(2) Capriccio on the Departure of His Beloved Brother, transcription for piano (after J. S. Bach, BWV 992), KiV B34	1991
Chaconne, transcription for orchestra in D minor (after J. S. Bach, BWV 1004; incomplete), KiV B45	2006
(67) Chaconne, transcription for piano in D minor (after J. S. Bach, BWV 1004), KiV B24 W	2008
(7) Chorale Preludes (10), transcriptions for piano (after J. S. Bach), KiV B27	1995
(5) Chorale Preludes (6), transcriptions for piano (after Johannes Brahms Op. 122), KiV B50	2000
(4) Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, arrangement for cello & piano (after J. S. Bach, BWV 903; BBGA 7/7), KiV B38
(6) Concertino, for clarinet & small orchestra, Op. 48, KiV 276
(3) Concerto, for piano & string quartet in D minor, Op. 17, KiV 80
(3) Concerto, transcription for piano & orchestra in D minor (after J.S. Bach, BWV 1052), KiV B28	2008
Danza notturna, for piano in D major, Op. 13, KiV 189
(2) Das Wohltemperierte Klavier: Book I, arrangement for piano (after J. S. Bach BWV 846-869), KiV B25a
(2) Das Wohltemperierte Klavier: Book II, arrangement for piano (after J. S. Bach BWV 870-893), KiV B25b	2008
(2) Die Brautwahl, opera in 3 acts, KiV 258	1993
(2) Die Brautwahl, suite for orchestra, Op. 45, KiV 261	1998
(5) Divertimento, for flute & orchestra in B flat major, Op. 52, KiV 285
(2) Divertimento, for flute & piano in B flat major (arrangement by Kurt Weill), Op. 52, KiV 285a
(6) Doktor Faust, opera in 8 scenes (unfinished), KiV 303
Dopplefuge zum Choral, fugue for organ (or piano), Op. 76, KiV deest	2006
(5) Drei Albumblätter, for piano, KiV 289	2008
(7) Duettino Concertante, arrangement for 2 pianos (after Mozart, Finale from Piano Concerto No. 19, K.459), KiV B88	1982
(3) Duo, for 2 flutes & piano in E minor, Op. 43, KiV 156
(6) Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verdebt (I), transcription for piano (after J.S. Bach, BWV 637; Ten Chorale Preludes No. 7), KiV B27/7
(3) Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verdebt (II), transcription for piano (after J.S. Bach, BWV 705; Ten Chorale Preludes No. 8), KiV B27/8	1999
(5) Écossaisen, concert arrangements (3) for piano (after Beethoven, WoO 83), KiV B47	2000

Ferruccio Busoni was the son of an Italian clarinet virtuoso who was a harsh and demanding pedagogue. Under the thumb of his father, Busoni developed a virtuoso keyboard technique that is in itself the stuff of legend. He began composing early, adding opus numbers to his works from the beginning. Reaching Opus 40 at age 17, Busoni decided go backward to number 31 and start over, causing no end of grief to scholars who attempted to edit his works later.

From an early age, Busoni pursued a serious interest in the music of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt. Although Busoni's reputation as a piano virtuoso of the first rank was established in Europe by the end of the 1880s, he first made his mark as an editor of Bach's keyboard music. While today these editions are regarded as among the most intrusive and heavily marked Bach scores ever made, Busoni's marginal remarks about Bach's thought processes and the analytic value of these comments influenced Bach scholars and composers for generations.

In 1896, Busoni found his mature compositional voice in the Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 36b, which takes a theme of Bach and submits it to a complex series of variations. In 1904, Busoni followed that with his huge piano concerto. Cast in five movements, it runs 90 minutes and contains parts for a chorus. In 1907, Busoni published a series of writings as -Sketch for a New Esthetic of Music. This book proposes a wide variety of new compositional techniques then relatively uninvestigated in Western music, such as microtonal scales and electronics. By 1912, Busoni had composed his first entirely non-key centered composition, the Sonatina seconda. The basis for his definitive style is to be found here; it is neither wholly tonal nor completely atonal, but is placed in a sort of harmonic netherworld in between. In the years left to him, Busoni composed four operas, Die Brautwahl (1912), Arlecchino (1915), Turandot (1917), and Doktor Faust (1924). His major keyboard work is the Fantasia Contrappuntistica (1911-1922), a piece that concludes with a massive fugue built out of the unfinished Contrapunctus XXIV of Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge.

Busoni conducted master classes in composition and taught piano. Among his composition students, Kurt Weill made perhaps the most masterly use of Busoni's Apollonian approach to opera and his quirky sense of harmony. Another Busoni pupil, Otto Luening, helped pioneer the use of electronics in music. As a piano teacher, Busoni also started off an international school of super-virtuosos. Claudio Arrau and Egon Petri are good examples of what Busoni wrought in terms of pianists. As to Busoni's own playing, there are some phonograph records of him made in 1919 and an enormous number of piano rolls. The records only hint at what his playing might've sounded like, but some of the better rolls offer a more generous sample of his artistry at the keyboard.

After his death, Busoni was regarded as a great piano virtuoso whose own music was seemingly incomprehensible. Busoni's thinking would have a more decisive impact on later composers, such as John Cage and Morton Feldman, and in the early '80s, his music experienced a small-scale revival of interest. There is little reason to be afraid of Busoni, as his best music is tremendously exciting, accessible, and endlessly thought-provoking. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide