Toccata, BV 287
Elegien, BV 249 and BV 252 (‘Berceuse’, 1909)
Sonatina [No. 6] super Carmen, BV 284
Toccata in C major, BV 29

Peter Donohoe CBE studied at Chetham’s School of Music and Leeds University before going on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Derek Wyndham and in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. He is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility, and commanding technique. He first came across the works of Busoni in the early 1980s and, as he states in his booklet note, ‘Busoni’s contribution to the musical history of the twentieth century is inestimable, and I feel very much enriched by the several decades of my exposure to it.’

The programme he has chosen includes three of the pinnacles of Busoni’s virtuosic output: The Toccata, BV 287, the seven Elegien, and the Sonatina on Bizet’s Carmen, alongside the much earlier Bach transcription of which Peter Donohoe writes: ‘The Toccata, in particular, has always struck me as one of the most joyous pieces in the history of instrumental music, and Busoni’s transcription certainly brings out that joy.’

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Recording: Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk; 13 – 15 February 2021. Piano: Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano (serial no. 592 087).