This CD contains a spoken word track with excerpts from a talk Busoni gave at Harvard in 1965.
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Ferruccio Busoni's birth, in 1941 the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York performed and broadcast an all-Busoni program. For the first time in any format, this program has now been released. The conductor, Dimitri Mitropolous, and the two soloists, pianist Egon Petri and violinist Joseph Szigeti, had all been professionally and personally associated with Busoni, and their knowledge and commitment to his music make for some first-rate performances.
This is not a disc for those intolerant of historical recordings--the sound quality, while never unbearable, is highly variable. Still, the high level of the performances does shine through, with Szigeti's playing in the Violin Concerto especially fine. The program makes for an interesting cross-section of this eclectic composer's music. From his arrangement of a Mozart overture we proceed to the 'Indian Fantasy' with its attempt to represent both noble and "barbaric" elements in his interpretation of Native American culture. The solid late-romantic Violin Concerto is preceded by the wholly personal and idiosyncratic "Sarabande and Cortége," reflective and ambiguous orchestral studies drawn from his opera 'Doktor Faust.' As a composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and theorist, Busoni was an influential figure, and this program remains a fitting tribute to him.