Adolf Busch: Complete Music for Solo Piano
Adolf Busch (1891–1952) is generally remembered as one of the great violinists and founder-leader of the peerless Busch Quartet. But he was also an important composer, writing in a tradition coloured by his friend and mentor Max Reger, and his output for solo piano – recorded here for the first time – shows off his natural qualities as contrapuntist and melodist, in music that is both immediately attractive and intellectually rewarding.
Jakob Fichert, piano
Listen To This Recording:
- Fantasia in C major, BoO 20 (1908)
- Agitato, BoO 30 (1909)
- Intermezzo in B flat major, BoO 73 (1909)
- Intermezzo in C sharp minor, BoO 74 (c. 1917)
- Intermezzo in A minor, BoO 72 (date unknown)
- Intermezzo in A minor, BoO 102 (1916)
- No. 1 Invention
- No. 2 Andante
- No. 3 Bourrée
- I Canon 1
- II Fugue
- III Canon 2
- I Allegro moderato con passione
- II Andante con variazioni
- III Finale (Introduzione e Fuga)
- Allegro bizarro, BoO 31 (1941)
- Allegro vehemente, BoO 32 (1946)
- I Song without Words
- II Scherzo
- III Album Leaf
- Andante affettuoso, BoO 36 (1945)
- Andante espressivo, BoO 37 (1952)
Four Intermezzi
Three Little Pieces in Old Style, BoO 48 (1917)
Two Canons and a Little Fugue, BoO 111 (1916)
Piano Sonata in C minor, Op. 25 (1922)
Suite, Op. 60b (1941–45)
First Recordings
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Certainly Busch is fortunate to have found such an able champion in Jakob Fichert. His playing is clean and incisive; his tempos are judicious, he takes great care to balance inner and outer lines, and his use of pedal is well gauged. Above all, his interpretations are always stylistically apt and convincing through the entire range of Busch’s stylistic eclecticism. … Toccata has granted him ideal recorded sound; the detailed booklet notes by Fichert round out a first-rate project. To both those who have been acquiring this series in particular, and those interested in the music of the lesser masters of the fin de siècle era in general, this disc is unreservedly recommended.’
—James A. Altena, Fanfare Magazine, July/August 2017
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Excellent booklet notes by Fichert himself round off a sterling release. The recording, made at Leeds College of Music, UK, is a fine one, with the piano accorded space and Fichert’s many varieties of tone faithfully reproduced. On one level this is a fascinating release, but in terms of offering a cornucopia of first recordings, it is also an invaluable one.’
—Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine, July/August 2017
Fanfare Magazine :
‘Pianist Jakob Fichert, who also wrote the illuminating program notes, presents all of these works in a most admirable light, playing with expressivity (and passion where called for), and making the lighter pieces sparkle. … I give this disc a hearty recommendation to all those who are fond of late-Romantic Germanic style, and applaud Toccata for making so much of Busch’s finely-wrought music available to music lovers.’
—David DeBoor Canfield, Fanfare Magazine, July/August 2017