Well, what with all this talk about Busoni, and my knowledge of him still
limited to one tantalizing hearing of a "Perpetuum Mobile" on the car radio
four years ago, when I noticed yesterday that CDNow has the Ogdon volume
of Great Pianists (including the concerto op.  39) on sale for a mere $16
I went ahead and got it.  Noting that the other huge work in that set was
by another dark horse virtuoso/mystic composer about whom I know nothing
(Alkan's concerto op.39), I went ahead and threw into the order a Naxos
disc of various Alkan solo pieces and a Discover International disc of two
Alkan piano sonatas.  They were $5 apiece and the appended Fanfare reviews
were positive.  Finally to top off the whole folly I redeemed my free cd
credit for a Centaur disc that had Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica.  My
Liszt crate (still haven't listened to the used disc of his Lieder sung by
Fassbaender that I found!) is moving into the prime next-to-the-stereo spot
and it looks as if I'll be spending the pre-holiday period in cosmic
virtuoso mode.

"Jon Lewis" <[log in to unmask]>