Description

Ferruccio Busoni, who exploited and integrated the most varied stylistic elements in his most personal compositions, logically pursued this pluralism in the Mozart cadenzas. The …Mozart-Busoni performer is swept into a tension-filled network of relationships: bravura passages straight from the pianistic tradition of the 19th century, dense series of chords in late-romantic harmonies which lead to the limits of major-minor tonality, but also passages of transparent Mozartian writing as well, complete with Alberti basses, trills and appoggiaturas. Vladimir Horowitz of whom it is well known that he nurtured undeniable compositional ambitions remained faithful to Busonis cadenzas up into his old age, and never tired of recommending them to pianists.