Concerto for Piano, Male Choir & Orchestra in C major, Op. 39 (BV247)

THE PIANO CONCERTO IN C MAJOR, OP. 39 (BV 247) by Ferruccio Busoni is one of the largest works ever written in this genre. It is about 70 minutes long and laid out in five movements played without a breaks per composer's instructions. It is scored for piano, large symphony orchestra, in the final movement a quiet men's chorus intones words from the verse-drama Aladdin by Adam OehlenschlägerIts, (1779-1850), a contemporary of Goethe. Busoni is known as an outstanding Italian pianist and teacher, conductor, and author of many masterful piano transcriptions. Growing up in a family of musicians (his mother was of Italian-German descent and a pianist and his father an Italian, clarinettist), he emerged as a child prodigy, making his public debut as a pianist at the age of seven. A few years later he performed his own compositions in Vienna. He was active as a pianist and conductor and became a passionate promoter of contemporary music. He travelled extensively - to Russia, England, America and Germany. He gave masterclasses in Weimar, Vienna and Basel, and his students included Claudio Arrau and Egon Petri. He is the author of numerous transcriptions for piano of works by Johann Sebastian Bach (published as Bach-Busoni Editions). His first compositions were in the style of late Romantic music, but after 1907, when he published his A New Aesthetic of Music, he updated his musical language with elements of atonalism. His visits to America awakened his interest in North American folk melodies, which are reflected in some of his works. He wrote chamber music, vocal and orchestral works; he was the author of three operas, Turandot, Harlequin and Doctor Faustus, the latter completed by his pupil Philip Jarna from his sketches. He died in Berlin at the age of 58 of kidney disease. The prestigious annual competition for pianists has been held in Bolzano (Italy) in his memory since 1949. The Piano Concerto, Op. 39 was written in the spirit of late Romanticism and is of great technical complexity. Busoni has exemplified works in the piano concerto genre with added chorus such as Beethoven's Fantasie for Piano, Soloists and Mixed Chorus, Op. 80 (1808). There are a few other such works, such as the Piano Concerto No. 8 by the German pianist and composer Daniel Staubelt (1820) or the Piano Concerto No 6 with Choral Finale by the French pianist and composer Henri Hertz (1858). The Piano Concerto, Op. 39 was first performed on November 10, 1904, by the Berlin Philharmonic in one of the concerts for modern music in Berlin organized by Busoni, with the composer as soloist and Karl Mück as conductor. The conceit was grandiose, the piano part stunning the audience with its virtuosity, but it did not have the expected soloistic brilliance, it was rather 'symphonic' as it was described. Therefore, the mixed reviews after the premiere were understandable, and some were very reserved or negative. A year later the work was also presented in Amsterdam by the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Busoni, with Egon Petri as soloist. The first movement of the Concerto, Op. 39 is just over fifteen minutes long and is an extended allegro. The second movement is like a scherzo, filled with rhythms and melodic material typical of popular Italian folk music. The twenty-minute middle movement has four movements marked in it; it has a more sombre and melodic character, reminiscent of a processional. The fourth movement is a tarantella and again in the Italian style, with the piano part being extremely virtuosic. In the slower final fifth movement themes from the previous movements are heard. In the finale, the male chorus part is based on the verses from the last scene of Aladdin praising Divinity. A mere two years after its composition, the Piano Concerto, Op. 39 was published by Breitkopf & Härtel (1906), but in the following decades the work had relatively few performances due to its large cast and complex solo part. Since the 1980s, interest in its concert performance and recording has grown.