Busoni: Piano Concerto Op.39, Etc

Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, French National Orchestra, French Radio Choir, Viktoria Postnikova

Ferruccion Busoni: Concerto for Piano, Orchestra and Male Chorus, op. 39, Fantaisa Contrappunistica for Piano

If one would expect Viktoria Postnikova to do the usual, the drab, the expected, one would be wrong. This fine pianist has all the hallmarks of an individual pianist--idiosyncratic and wilful at times, she nonetheless possesses a powerful, rich touch. And so it is with this excellent recording of the Busoni Piano Concerto, one of my favorite versions, aided and abetted ably by her brilliant husband Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. All five movements are played markedly slower than in other versions of this highly unusual piano concerto, and yet the somewhat dreamy pace is well-sustained by these performers. The filler on the two cds, Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica, is also by some way the slowest version of the piece I have heard. This should not be a worry for Busoni lovers--the piece can seem gabbled and confused at faster tempi. And yet at these slower tempi, Postnikova brings out many details and layers in the work. (By the way, she has technique to burn, and can play fast! Listen to the fourth movement of the piano concerto.) - Lloyd Paguia Arriola