US TARIFFS UPDATE | August 2025 | No impact expected on your Presto orders | Read full details
Special offer. Busoni: Toccata, BV 287, Elegien, BV 252, Sonatina No. 6, BV 284 & Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C Major, BV B 29 No. 1
Peter Donohoe (piano)
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 6th August 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Instrumental
if some of the works here make uncomfortable listening – despite Donohoe’s keyboard brilliance – that is because Busoni himself disdained aural comfort...But the Toccata BV 29, being a transcription...
Special offer. Busoni: Toccata, BV 287, Elegien, BV 252, Sonatina No. 6, BV 284 & Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C Major, BV B 29 No. 1
Peter Donohoe (piano)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 6th August 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Instrumental
if some of the works here make uncomfortable listening – despite Donohoe’s keyboard brilliance – that is because Busoni himself disdained aural comfort...But the Toccata BV 29, being a transcription...
About
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.’
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
-
An error occurred.
Try watching this video on www.youtube.com, or enable JavaScript if it is disabled in your browser.
-
Peter Donohoe plays Busoni
6th Aug 2021
The British pianist is a clear-eyed but infectiously enthusiastic guide through the Italian composer-pianist's weird and wonderful world, taking in the 7 Elegien, Sonatina super Carmen, and two Toccatas.
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Recording of the Week6th August 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the YearFinalist 2021
October 2021
if some of the works here make uncomfortable listening – despite Donohoe’s keyboard brilliance – that is because Busoni himself disdained aural comfort...But the Toccata BV 29, being a transcription of Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV 564, allows Donohoe’s artistry to flower. The first movement has a majestically cathedral sound, and the Adagio has grave beauty, with the Fugue flying exhilaratingly high.
October 2021
his performances here exhibit a seasoned intimacy with this repertory…Performances of this calibre suggest that, at long last, Busoni’s music may be coming into its own.
6th August 2021
From the opening bars of the Toccata from 1921 (new to me), which bursts into life like an exploding glitter-ball, Donohoe’s delight in this music is infectious – here and throughout the album, he strikes a captivating balancing-act which shines a spotlight on Busoni’s often outlandish technical demands whilst never leaving you in any doubt that he’s got them completely under control.
25th July 2021
Donohoe, always musically convincing, overcomes all technical challenges with apparent and disarming ease.
