Hyperion Records | The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 22

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CDA67143

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: June 1999
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Release date: November 1999
Total duration: 71 minutes 44 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

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GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE
CLASSIC CD 100 GREATEST DISCS OF THE DECADE

'Sensational … Anyone who has the slightest doubts about Busoni's stature as a composer will surely be won over by this magisterial recording' (Piano International)

'Dark, turbulent, horribly difficult to play, very long - and probably my disc of the year … This fine new recording does full justice to every aspect of the work. [It] will surely help to establish Busoni as an unarguably major composer' (Classic CD)

'Busoni makes ridiculous demands on pianists, but in Marc-André Hamelin's hands, it all sounds perfectly reasonable. It isn't: it's noble, hilarious, impressive and gloriously over the top.' (BBC Music Magazine)

'The biggest blockbuster of them all. Mark Elder and the CBSO support Hamelin to the hilt and the result does full justice to one of the mightiest epics of the piano repertoire' (The Times)

'As piano concertos go, they certainly don't get bigger than this; and as recordings go, they don't come any better' (The Scotsman)

'Hamelin's account is quite extraordinary, especially in the cadenza, in which the virtuosity he unleashes reaches barely credible heights ... one of his finest achievements to date.' (International Piano Quarterly)

' A dazzling disc. If any pianist can clarify and define this bewildering work it is Hamelin, with his razor-sharp reflexes, a technique that knows no difficulties and, even more important, a ready sympathy for Busoni's abrupt changes of pace and direction ... a spine-tingling experience.' (Gramophone)

'Like no other performance that I've heard it proves what a richly enjoyable piece it is' (Gramophone)

'Another awe-inspiring feat from this prodigiously virtuosic Canadian' (Gramophone)

'Let there be no doubt - Hamelin, with the CBSO and Elder, gives a performance of brilliance and passion to rank with any from the past ... thrilling.' (Sunday Herald, Australia)

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 22 – Busoni

Marc-André Hamelin (piano), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Mark Elder (conductor)

		Piano Concerto in C major, Op 39
1		Part 1. Prologo e Introito: Allegro, dolce e solenne [15:38]
2		Part 2. Pezzo giocoso: Vivacamente, ma senza fretta [9:47]
3		Part 3. Pezzo serioso. Introductio: Andante sostenuto, pensoso [4:02]
4		Part 4. Pezzo serioso. Prima Pars: Andante, quasi adagio [4:43]
5		Part 5. Pezzo serioso. Altera Pars: Sommessamente [11:30]
6		Part 6. Pezzo serioso. Ultima Pars: A tempo [2:57]
7		Part 7. All' Italiana. Tarantella: Vivace – In un tempo [12:17]
8		Part 8. Cantico: Largamente [10:50] The City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus

This has to be our Romantic Piano Concerto for the millennium!

The Busoni concerto, with its five movements, choral finale and a length of over 70 minutes, is surely the most grandiose ever written. But this is no over-ambitious monster; Busoni was one of the greatest pianists the world has known, but he was also a great intellectual with very strong views on art and culture. This work is the masterpiece of his middle years, more of a symphony in the breadth and scope of its ideas, but at the same time almost casually requiring the most formidable technical ability from the soloist. There is no doubt that this is one of music's major neglected masterpieces.

Marc-André Hamelin needs no introduction as a champion of the greatest challenges in the piano literature. Here he is joined by Mark Elder who has a particular reputation as a Busoni conductor. He conducted this work with Peter Donohoe in their famed Proms performance of 1988 and he has also conducted Busoni's rarely performed magnum opus 'Doctor Faust' at ENO.