Description
Ferruccio Busoni's The Seven Pieces were published in their current form as part of the Klavierubung in zehn Buchern, an enormous collection of pieces, fragments and exercises Busoni considered worth the attention of highly advanced pianists. The nod to Bach's own Klavierubung is self-evident, particularly in these Seven Pieces and their refined polyphonic writing. Nonetheless, the dry, scholastic title belies their musical depth. Briefly unfolding itself over several layers of meaning and references, Benedict Mason's ironically titled Pastorale, - ein kurzes Stuck zur Pflege der Arten, takes inspiration from the last of the Busoni Seven Short Pieces in its virtuoso use of the sostenuto pedal. The piece is full of quotation. The next two pieces work in tandem as a prelude and fugue of sorts, much like in the Seven Pieces where the third is paired with the fourth, and the fifth with the sixth. The Intermezzo is an arrangement of the organ solo which opens the Scenic Intermezzo of Doktor Faust and Nach Weill is comparable to the sixth piece, "nach Mozart", a telescopic homage to Busoni's student Kurt Weill, who quoted in his First Symphony from the as yet unpublished Doktor Faust.
