Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface: Grigory Kogan: His Life and Times
- Acknowledgments
- Busoni as Pianist
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Busoni's childhood and youth, 1866–88
- Chapter 2 Finland and Moscow, 1889–94
- Chapter 3 Berlin: Busoni's emergence as a great pianist
- Chapter 4 Busoni's technique: Piano orchestration, tone production
- Chapter 5 Busoni's repertoire: An anti-Romantic approach
- Chapter 6 Busoni's interpretation of Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin
- Chapter 7 Busoni's interpretations. Textural liberties
- Chapter 8 Busoni's interpretations of Bach. Articulation
- Chapter 9 Rhythm and dynamics
- Chapter 10 Busoni's recording of the Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase
- Chapter 11 Technical phrasing
- Chapter 12 Technical variants
- Chapter 13 Fingering, pedal
- Chapter 14 Compositions, transcriptions, editions, teaching, writings
- Chapter 15 Busoni's esthetics
- Chapter 16 Busoni's esthetics, continued
- Chapter 17 World War I. Operas
- Chapter 18 Busoni's final years, 1918–24
- Conclusion
- Annotated Discography
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Translator's Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface: Grigory Kogan: His Life and Times
- Acknowledgments
- Busoni as Pianist
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Busoni's childhood and youth, 1866–88
- Chapter 2 Finland and Moscow, 1889–94
- Chapter 3 Berlin: Busoni's emergence as a great pianist
- Chapter 4 Busoni's technique: Piano orchestration, tone production
- Chapter 5 Busoni's repertoire: An anti-Romantic approach
- Chapter 6 Busoni's interpretation of Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin
- Chapter 7 Busoni's interpretations. Textural liberties
- Chapter 8 Busoni's interpretations of Bach. Articulation
- Chapter 9 Rhythm and dynamics
- Chapter 10 Busoni's recording of the Liszt's Rigoletto Paraphrase
- Chapter 11 Technical phrasing
- Chapter 12 Technical variants
- Chapter 13 Fingering, pedal
- Chapter 14 Compositions, transcriptions, editions, teaching, writings
- Chapter 15 Busoni's esthetics
- Chapter 16 Busoni's esthetics, continued
- Chapter 17 World War I. Operas
- Chapter 18 Busoni's final years, 1918–24
- Conclusion
- Annotated Discography
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Translator's Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
Busoni's place in history is based on his accomplishments during his period of artistic maturity—during the second and, partially, the third stages of his life. An artist of genius, one of the four or five greatest in the entire history of piano playing, he elevated the field of pianistic virtuosity to unseen heights, created unforgettable examples of interpreting Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt. He enriched piano literature with wonderful editions and transcriptions, wrote a substantial amount of interesting music; his book and his many essays contain fascinating observations, interesting ideas, and valuable thoughts. And much of what he brought into piano playing, the understanding of the instrument, and the methods of technical work, have forever entered the treasury of pianistic experience.
It is Busoni's greatest historical achievement that, first among pianists, he sensed the first signs of decadence and degeneration in the art of Academic Romanticism of the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, and led the struggle against this art. But this struggle was not always based on correct positions. Failing to fully understand the social nature of the negative artistic tendencies he saw, he became confused in contradictions. Like his hero, Faust, Busoni seemingly had two souls that pulled him in opposite directions. He alternated between subjectivism and objectivism, realism and formalism, unlimited freedom and “tight reins,” between richness of tonal color and asceticism, the power and truth of “great emotions” and lifeless puppetry, a reform of the tonal system and the restoration of Bach's polyphony.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Busoni as Pianist , pp. 112 - 114Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2010