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Date: | Thu, 9 Dec 1999 13:05:13 -0600 |
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Richard Todd:
>I know musicians, or pianists at any rate, who consider Busoni one of the
>greatest of composers. John Ogden thought him the equal of J.S. Bach.
>Of course Ogden admitted himself to the same circle of genius. I've never
>heard Busoni's Doktor Faustus which is supposed to be a transcendnent
>masterpiece. Does anyone know it?
Doktor Faustus is a wonderful opera and Busoni an opera composer with a
keen, complex, and poetic sense of drama. I know only the Fischer-Dieskau
recording from maybe 30-odd years ago, which I understand has cuts. The
opera is so very well written, I can't imagine what they left out or, more
importantly, why.
To get some flavor of Busoni's theater, try the Nagano recording of the
short Turandot and Arlecchino.
Steve Schwartz
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