Because
Ferruccio Busoni's reputation rests so firmly on his famous piano transcriptions, it is refreshing to hear some of his original compositions for a change; even if they are not masterpieces, they provide a few glimpses of the composer's interests beyond adapting
Bach's keyboard music. This 2005 album by
Neeme Järvi and the
BBC Philharmonic is the second volume of a series devoted to
Busoni's orchestral music, essentially covering pieces from the years 1912-1915; if one disregards the entertaining but trivial Lustspielouvertüre, Op. 38 (1897, rev. 1904), then this disc serves as a good introduction to the mature
Busoni. One half expects to find a piano concerto here, and that expectation is fulfilled in the Indianische Fantasie, Op. 44, (1913-1914), a lavish work for piano and orchestra based on Hopi, Cheyenne, Laguna, Pima, and Pasamquoddy melodies that
Busoni elaborated in three virtuosic movements. Similarly based on a Native American theme, Gesang vom Reigen der Geister, Op. 47, is a somber orchestral elegy designed around a Pawnee lament on the Wounded Knee massacre. The suite from the comic opera Die Brautwahl, Op. 45 (1912), closes the disc with more obvious post-Romantic fare, and the wistful waltzes and languid arias are satisfying enough, if one is in a mood for belle epoque sentimentality.