Geoffrey Madge – A Cathedral of Sound: The Bach Busoni Transcriptions (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Geoffrey Madge – A Cathedral of Sound: The Bach Busoni Transcriptions (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:57 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Zefir

In past centuries, almost the only way to get to know musical masterpieces from other genres than the piano, was through transcriptions. Orchestral concerts were rare. It was not so easy to hear performances. Just imagine, if you didn’t live in the same city as Bach you might have to travel by horse and carriage to hear his works and then possibly only one performance. You would have to travel far in the most uncomfortable and dangerous manner to hear a cantata. Or, in a later era, for instance a symphony. The radio and recording industry has changed everything, it’s impossible for us today to imagine what an enterprise it was!

Even piano recitals only started to become fashionable following their introduction by Franz Liszt.

Almost all major composers have written important transcriptions, some even reaching the status of a masterpiece. Think of the Vivaldi transcriptions by Bach, Mozart’s Bach fugue transcriptions and the many transcriptions by Liszt. Just imagine the enormous amount of time involved in writing out all of these works: the Beethoven symphonies, works by Berlioz, Lieder by Schubert.

It becomes even more interesting when we compare transcriptions. They often reflect the period in which they were written. The Liszt Bach transcriptions being very different from the masterly Bach Chaconne for violin and his choral preludes by Ferruccio Busoni.

Liszt is basically urtext-true in his Bach and Beethoven transcriptions, while Busoni incorporated in his transcriptions not only the text of the work but also the total acoustical end result. For instance, how it would have sounded in a cathedral with all the acoustic reflections caused by the complexity of overtones and reverberations that occur in large spaces. Then adding the complex harmonics possible on an organ by the use of different registrations. The result is something more than an urtext.

Tracklist:
01. Geoffrey Madge – Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004: V. Chaconne (Arr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni) (18:58)
02. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 1, Komm, Gott, Schöpfer (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 667) (03:01)
03. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 2, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 645) (03:45)
04. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 3, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 659) (05:25)
05. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 4, Nun freut euch, lieben Christen (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 734) (02:56)
06. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 5, Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 639) (04:34)
07. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 6, Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 617) (03:05)
08. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 7a, Durch Adam’s Fall (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 637) (02:32)
09. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 7b, Durch Adam’s Fall. Fuga (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 705) (05:30)
10. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 8, In dir ist Freude (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 615) (04:29)
11. Geoffrey Madge – 10 Chorale Preludes, BV B 27: No. 9, Jesus Christus, unser Heiland (After J.S. Bach’s BWV 665) (06:36)
12. Geoffrey Madge – Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 (Arr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni): I. Toccata (03:20)
13. Geoffrey Madge – Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 (Arr. for Piano by Ferruccio Busoni): II. Fugue (09:38)
14. Geoffrey Madge – Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 “Actus tragicus” (Arr. for Piano by Geoffrey Madge) (03:02)

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