Masters Of The Roll, Vol. 23: Piano Music Of Liszt, Bach, And 24 Preludes, Op. 28 Of Chopin

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ALBUM INFORMATION

Total Tracks: 27   Total Length: 73:49

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Must be taken as they are

jawillard

In answer to "eery but wonderful," it is doubly odd that Prelude No. 14 is missing, as the Duo-Art roll that contains it also has No. 15; and the Triphonola roll has Nos. 11, 12, 14, 17, 18 and 21. As the liner notes for this CD is not available here, it's not known what rolls were used; but Busoni recorded all 24 Preludes of Op. 28 for Duo-Art. Whether these performances are representative of Busoni's art, the Wikipedia article has this to say: "His student Egon Petri was horrified by the piano roll recordings when they first appeared on LP and said that it was a travesty of Busoni's playing. Similarly, Petri's student Gunnar Johansen, who had heard Busoni play on several occasions, remarked, "Of Busoni's piano rolls and recordings, only Feux follets [Will-O-The-Wisp] (Liszt's 5th Transcendental Etude) is really something unique. The rest is curiously unconvincing.""

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must

iskender

I think one gets a much better sense of what Busoni was about from this album than from his "live" performances.

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eery but wonderful

AG

It is a bid disconcerting to imagine the circumstances of this recording with the piano essentially playing itself. However, once one gets past the spookiness of the process, one is swept away by the uniqueness of the interpretation especially on such well known pieces as the Chopin Preludes. The only quibble I have is that for some odd reason the 14th prelude is missing. I would have been better obviously to have the complete Preludes but this should not discourage anyone from dowloading what's here, it's too good to pass up.