UNIVERS ZERO – Rhythmix (2002) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

In their 2002 incarnation, Univers Zero were mainly a vehicle for composer/drummer/keyboardist Daniel Denis, who continued his trend of toning down the hellish stuff heard to scariest effect on Heresie over two decades previously. Heresie was Univers Zero at their darkest, featuring low demonic chanting, wheezing harmonium drones, and a track called "Jack the Ripper." On 2002's Rhythmix, the doom and gloom are more subtle, Denis preferring the drama of multi-layered percussion and orchestral textures with a foundation of deep, sometimes mechanistic beats. Rhythmix is punchier and more varied in its instrumental palette than 1999's The Hard Quest (much anticipated after a ten-year band hiatus), and comparatively "Dense" (to borrow a track title from Ceux du Dehors, still a highlight of the group's discography). The sympathetic production is by Didier DeRoos (Uzed, Heatwave), and the core band is now a quartet, in addition to Denis featuring original Univers Zero member Michel Berckmans on oboe, English horn, and bassoon as well as Eric Plantain on electric bass and Bart Quartier on marimba and glockenspiel. Former bandmember Dirk Descheemaeker appears on only one track (with uncharacteristically skronky and squawking bass clarinet) and various guest musicians on trumpet, cello, flute, and accordion are featured elsewhere.
Denis seems to prefer drums the size of water tanks and cymbals as big as flying saucers, so one might expect a percussive onslaught or two to rattle the windowpanes. Denis complies on "Rouages: Second Rotation," revisiting the "Rouages" theme from The Hard Quest, but here the medieval sounds of oboe, acoustic guitar, harpsichord, and church organ are overwhelmed by pummeling percussives and hissing synths, giving the impression that a cavalcade of knights and fair damsels is about to be crushed by a panzer division. Working in the album's favor is the comparative brevity of tracks (six minutes at the longest with a number of pieces in the three-minute range); compositions are therefore over before they become too repetitive and start wearing thin. Yet Denis' signature composing style, the moody and atmospheric interludes offering moments of respite amidst the driving full-ensemble pieces, and the consistent production across the 13 tracks provide the overall arc of a lengthy suite. There are touchstones to previous Univers Zero outings too; for example, the initial maddening minimalist rush of "The Fly-Toxmen's Land" gives way to a dramatic keyboard and trumpet flourish (featuring Belgian avant-prog trumpet mainstay Bart Maris) recalling "Bruit Dans les Murs" from Heatwave. Quartier's tuned percussion is noteworthy throughout Rhythmix, crisp and lively yet somehow not working against the ominous and unsettling undercurrents of Denis' music. Rhythmix might not conjure up the demons of Heresie-era Univers Zero, but the album is still far better suited for soundtracking a haunted house than a day at the beach, unless there's something lurking beneath the waves that you wouldn't want to mess around with. Dave Lynch   
Tracklist :
1.    Terres Noires = Blacklands 6:06
 Daniel Denis 
Accordion – Louison Renault
Acoustic Guitar – Christophe Pons
Cello – Aurelia Boven
2.    Rêve Cyclique 5:53
 Daniel Denis 
Flute, Piccolo Flute [Piccolo] – Ariane De Bievre
3.    Rouages: Second Rotation = Cogwheels: Second Rotation 3:38
 Daniel Denis 
Acoustic Guitar – Christophe Pons
4.    The Invisible Light 3:09
Composed By, Arranged By – Daniel Denis, Michel Berckmans
Recorded By – Alain Neffe
5.    Phobia 5:31
 Daniel Denis 
Acoustic Guitar – Christophe Pons
Cello – Aurelia Boven
6.    Zorgh March 3:23
 Daniel Denis 
Trumpet – Bart Maris
7.    Zébulon 3:09
 Blixa Bargeld / Mark Chung / Daniel Denis / F.M. Einheit / Alexander Hacke / N.U. Unruh 
Bass Clarinet – Dirk Descheemaeker
8.    Forêt Inviolée = Secret Forest    2:19
Composed By, Arranged By – Daniel Denis, Michel Berckmans
9.    Shanghaï's Digital Talks 4:48
 Daniel Denis 
Cello – Aurelia Boven
10.    Emotions Galactiques = Galactical Emotions 5:47
 Daniel Denis 
Trumpet – Bart Maris
11.    Waiting For The Sun    3:16
Composed By, Arranged By – Daniel Denis, Michel Berckmans
12.    The Fly-Toxmen's Land 4:50
 Daniel Denis 
Trumpet – Bart Maris
13.    Rêve Cyclique (Reprise)    0:50
 Daniel Denis 
Credits :
Drums, Percussion, Keyboards [All Keyboards], Harmonium – Daniel Denis
Electric Bass – Eric Plantain
Marimba, Glockenspiel – Bart Quartier
Oboe, English Horn, Bassoon, Voice – Michel Berckmans 

UNIVERS ZERO – Implosion (2004) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Building on the artistic success of their last CD, Rhythmix, Univers Zero returns almost entirely to their acoustic roots (no howling electric guitars here), and with a refined and tempered equivalent of the relentless, prolonged gloom of early releases such as 1313 and Heresie. Pieces are shorter and more varied, with some taking the form of almost jaunty medieval dances. The only electric instruments are Eric Plantain's electric bass, plus some discrete sampling and synth keyboards from drummer and leader Daniel Denis, who currently writes all the group's music. Michel Berckmans (oboe, English horn, bassoon) and Denis are the only remaining original members, although clarinetist Dirk Descheemaeker played on several of the later Univers Zero recordings in the mid-'80s. But even with a number of new bandmembers, the group's chamber music instrumentation (saxophones, cello, trumpet, marimba and violin), together with Denis' intricate writing and the very tight ensemble work, is enough to deliver the signature Univers Zero sound. Overt but short gothic/industrial elements, with titles such as "Suintement (Oozing)," "Miroirs (Mirrors)," "Ectoplasme," "Bacteria" and "A Rebours (In Reverse)," serve as bridges between songs and maintain the haunting, sinister edge that initially established the group's reputation. These five pieces, all roughly one-minute-long, display Denis' skillful use of sampler technology; the muted clanging, scraping, dripping, rumbling and squealing seems to emerge from obscure mechanical devices of unknown construction and purpose. A longer piece, "Partch's X-Ray" is an obvious homage to American maverick composer and instrument-maker Harry Partch It uses metallic-sounding tuned percussion, insectoid twittering from the strings and a rhythmic crow-like cawing to create a deliciously malevolent atmosphere. Likewise the shorter "La Mort de Sophocle (Sophocle's Death)," which employs mournful legato strings and percussive crashes to promote a feeling of oppressive gravity. The long closing piece, "Meandres (Meanderings)," also has some of the stabbing dissonance of early Univers Zero as it moves restlessly from one theme to another, although a middle section shows uncharacteristic restraint. The aura is hardly new age, but it is thoughtful. Other pieces such as "Falling Rain Dance," "Rapt D'Abdallah," "Mellotronic," "Out of Space 4" and the two untitled "Short Dance" tracks demonstrate Univers Zero's strong connection to medieval court music (and anyone who has listened to authentic re-creations of this music knows that it can be both melancholy and powerfully rhythmic). Another piece, "Temps Neuf," by virtue of its deep rhythmic groove and bursts of dissonant trumpet, could almost be regarded as a kind of gothic jazz-funk. Univers Zero's excellence lies in its continuing ability to synthesize medieval forms, instrumental prog rock and modern classical dissonance with a splash of jazz and a taste for the suggestively macabre. The group continues to produce creative, highly inventive music, and plays it with precision and panache. Highly recommended for the adventurous listener. William Tilland  
Tracklist :
1.    Suintement = Oozing    1:13
2.    Falling Rain Dance    4:14
3.    Partch's X-Ray    5:21
4.    Rapt D'Abdallah    3:01
5.    Miroirs = Mirrors    1:18
6.    La Mort De Sophocle = Sophocles' Death    3:11
7.    Ectoplasme    1:07
8.    Temps Neufs    4:56
9.    Mellotronic    4:04
10.    Bacteria    1:28
11.    Out Of Space 4    2:52
12.    First Short Dance    0:42
13.    Second Short Dance    0:41
14.    Variations On Mellotronic's Theme    3:04
15.    À Rebours = In Reverse    1:56
16.    Méandres = Meanderings    9:38
Credits :
Acoustic Guitar – Christophe Pons
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Saxophone [Sopranissimo], Performer [Tubax] – Serge Bertocchi
Cello – Aurélia Boven
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Dirk Descheemaeker
Composed By [All Music], Arranged By [All Music], Drums, Percussion, Keyboards [All Keyboards], Sampler [Samplers], Accordion, Guitar [Cheap] – Daniel Denis
Electric Bass – Eric Plantain
Marimba, Glockenspiel – Bart Quartier
Oboe, English Horn, Bassoon – Michel Berckmans
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Bart Maris
Violin – Igor Semenoff

UNIVERS ZERO – Clivages (2010) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

The umpteenth Univers Zero release on Cuneiform, 2010's Clivages is bookended by two of the disc's four Daniel Denis compositions, the opening "Les Kobolds" and the closing "Les Cercles d'Horus," pieces that should gladden the hearts of aficionados who have followed UZ along their well over 30-year history. "Les Kobolds" will push all the right buttons for those enamored of the band's sound, with chamber instrumentation and electric bass and keys driven by Denis' inventive percussion, all in service to melodies and countermelodies with a somewhat Renaissance or Baroque feel, but with harmonic and textural shifts in ominous directions, as expected. UZ listeners have definitely heard this type of thing before, and in its construction and performance it recalls any number of prime Denis pieces: "Dense," "Toujours Plus à l'Est," "Presage." Likewise, the closing "Les Cercles d'Horus," with its funeral dirge drums and underlying doom-laden keyboards and bass, tips its hat to the similarly dark "Bruit dans les Murs" from 1986's Heatwave -- speaking of which, Clivages signals the return of keyboardist/guitarist Andy Kirk to the UZ fold for the first time since Heatwave; Kirk is featured as guitarist on two pieces here, most notably his own "Warrior," a 12-plus-minute composition with relentless escalating tension wholly in keeping with Kirk's Heatwave title track or "Funeral Plain" opus (with Kirk's guitar akin to that of Heatwave's fiery axeman, Michel Delory).

And yet Clivages is so much more than a mere revisitation of past UZ glories and nightmares. For example, despite all the explosive energy of the '80s-era band (check out the Relaps live collection for evidence), one crucially lacking element back then was the signature sound of Michel Berckmans' bassoon, and he is all over Clivages, including a face-off with Kurt Budé's bass clarinet on "Warrior"'s buildup. With Berckmans' presence, "Warrior" becomes a sort of unholy meld between the Ceux du Dehors and Heatwave groups, and what could be better than that? Plus, Berckmans contributes three compositions, his first since UZ re-emerged with 1999's The Hard Quest: "Vacillements" is a neo-classical chamber piece for bassoon, clarinet, and violin (played by Martin Lauwers) that recalls Berckmans' work in Julverne; "Retour de Foire" is beautifully somber with a delicate touch; and the brief "Apesanteur" is a comparatively subtle groover, with Denis driving a cruising rhythm on hi-hat and crisp percussives, the reeds and violin in unison themes or spirited counterpoint and keyboardist Pierre Chevalier sprinkling jazzy embellishments over the top. But the biggest revelation has to be Budé. The reedman first appeared on 2006's Live, his soaring clarinet a highlight of that disc's version of "Toujours Plus à l'Est," but here he has been truly unleashed -- or perhaps in the case of this band released from the dungeon -- both as player and composer. His Clivages compositions include the disc's longest opus, the nearly 14-minute "Straight Edge," which places his multi-reed acumen (including some bass clarinet overblowing suitable for any avant-garde jazz band) in a driving, ever-evolving, and even occasionally maniacal piece of classical/jazz-rock that instantly rises to the level of a UZ classic. And so, thanks go to Daniel Denis, the drummer/composer for all these years whose work distinctively marks Clivages -- but this album proves that Univers Zero reach their highest pinnacle as a truly collaborative outfit. Dave Lynch  
Tracklist :
1.    Les Kobolds 4:15
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
Accordion – Philippe Thuriot
2.    Warrior 12:10
Guitar, Percussion, Written-By – Andy Kirk 
 3.    Vacillements    3:35
Written-By – Kurt Budé
4.    Earth Scream    3:11
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
5.    Soubresauts 7:59
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
Guitar – Andy Kirk 
6.    Apesanteur    3:40
Written-By – Michel Berckmans
7.    Three Days    5:53
Written-By – Michel Berckmans
8.    Straight Edge    13:57
Written-By – Kurt Budé
9.    Retour De Foire    7:42
Written-By – Michel Berckmans
10.    Les Cercles D'Horus 3:45
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
Accordion – Philippe Thuriot
Cello – Aurelia Boven
Drums – Nicolas Denis
Credits :
Bassoon, English Horn, Oboe, Melodica – Michel Berckmans
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Kurt Budé
Drums, Percussion, Sampler – Daniel Denis
Electric Bass, Fretless Bass – Dimitri Evers
Keyboards, Glockenspiel – Pierre Chevalier
Violin – Martin Lauwers

UNIVERS ZERO – Phosphorescent Dreams (2014) Three Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Despite the strengths of Univers Zero's two previous albums, 2006's Live and 2010's Clivages, bandleader/drummer Daniel Denis decided that some retooling was in order as the 40th anniversary of the group's founding loomed. Asserting that "the old form was stagnant," Denis significantly changed UZ's lineup and opened yet another chapter in the Belgian avant-prog outfit's history book. The result can be heard on the band's 13th album, Phosphorescent Dreams, released by the Japanese Arcangelo label (rather than Cuneiform) in early 2014. The core group is now a streamlined, electrified quintet of Denis, reedman Kurt Budé, bassist Dimitri Evers, and two newcomers, guitarist Nicolas Dechêne and keyboardist Antoine Guenet. Notably, bassoonist/oboist Michel Berckmans has departed. An important historical presence in the group, Berckmans is missed, but his absence has precedent; UZ carried on forcefully without him during the 1980s, shifting the focus from Berckmans' bassoon to Dirk Descheemaeker's clarinet on Crawling Wind (1983), Uzed (1984), and Heatwave (1986), and now Budé's clarinet is elevated in similar fashion on Phosphorescent Dreams. Denis was wise to retain Budé from the Live/Clivages lineups, not only because of Budé's stellar clarinet and sax playing, but also his role as a composer, now nearly equal to the drummer himself (Denis wrote four of the seven tracks here; Budé the remaining three).
Phosphorescent Dreams charts paths both new and familiar. UZ's expected rhythmic drive, recurring themes and variations, tinges of the medieval, and foreboding mood are all present on the Denis-penned opener "Shaking Hats," which could soundtrack the lead-in to a battle -- or a wedding -- on Game of Thrones. However, as the album progresses, ominous and heavy interludes segue into something mysterious and magical rather than nightmarish. There is deep drama in the rumbling bass, guitar sustain, emphatic keys, and low reed vibrations of Denis' "Très Affables" (with Nicolas Denis on drums), but these elements are juxtaposed against ringing guitars and a Guenet solo that truly sparkles (before becoming relatively unhinged). Budé's "Rêve Mécanique" likewise lays the instruments on thick, but call-and-response keyboard motifs with a dreamlike quality over a subtly cruising rhythm strongly suggest the sound of Miriodor, the longstanding Montreal avant-prog band whose layered sounds and innovative voicings invite immersive listening. Like Miriodor guitarist Bernard Falaise, Dechêne's powerful prog-fusion crunch and burn are fully integrated into the band's compositional fabric on a track like Denis' "Les Voleurs d'Ombre" (which also features some truly wild clarinet skronk from Budé), while he harks back to Michel Delory or Roger Trigaux elsewhere. The classicist brass and wind ensemble requiem of Budé's "L'Espoir Perdu" is an elegiac diversion, and the slowly building tension of Denis' "Phosphorescent Dream" recalls Heatwave's "The Funeral Plain"; these concluding tracks find Denis refraining from an immediate entry and then calibrating his percussion as the compositions require. Denis might assert his leadership by significantly reshaping Univers Zero's membership, but musically he remains willing to cede the spotlight in service to the ensemble's evolving vision. Dave Lynch  
Tracklist :
1.    Shaking Hats    9:43
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
2.    Vocation    4:46
    Written-By – Kurt Budé
3.    Très Affables 7:29
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
Drums, Percussion – Nicolas Denis
4.    Rêve Mécanique :30
 Written-By – Kurt Budé
Trombone – Adrien Lambinet
Trumpet – Hughes Tahon
5.    Les Voleurs D’Ombre    9:57
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
6.    L’Espoir Perdu 5:25
 Written-By – Kurt Budé
Trombone – Adrien Lambinet
Trumpet – Hughes Tahon
7.    Phosphorescent Dream 12:43
Written-By – Daniel Denis 
Trumpet – Hughes Tahon
Credits :
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – Kurt Budé
Drums, Percussion – Daniel Denis
Electric Bass, Fretless Bass – Dimitri Evers
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Nicolas Dechêne
Keyboards – Antoine Guenet 

UNIVERS ZERO – Lueur (2023) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1.    Migration Vers Le Bas    2:33
2.    Sfumato (Part 1)    9:26
3.    Cloportes    3:59
4.    Rolling Eyes    5:37
5.    Axe 117    3:33
6.    Sfumato (Part 2)    6:09
7.    Wavering     3:49
8.    La Tête À L'Envers    1:47
9.    Mister Chung    2:56
10.    Dartafalk    5:42
11.    Coda    2:01
Credits :
Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Kurt Budé (tracks: 3, 10)
Electric Bass (tracks: 3, 4, 8), Voice, (tracks: 1, 2), Percussion, (tracks: 10) - Nicolas Denis
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Nicolas Dechêne (tracks: 1, 4, 11)
Composed By [All Compositions], Lyrics, Keyboards [All Keyboards], Drums, Percussion – Daniel Denis

Ugetsu Monogatari (Ugetsu) a.k.a. 'Contos da Lua Vaga' (1953) Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Presented in a manner as eerie as it is heartbreaking, this film is a gorgeous supernatural fable about the folly of men with dreams larger than their abilities, and the women who suffer as a result. In 16th century Japan, Genjuro (Masayuki Mori) is a potter who longs for wealth and luxury, while Tobei (Sakae Ozawa), a farmer, dreams of the glories of the samurai to the point of ignoring his wife (Mitsuko Mito). Though a war rages around them, they venture to town to sell their wares. Genjuro becomes bewitched by a beautiful yet vengeful ghost (Machiko Kyo), while his wife (Kinuyo Tanaka) is murdered by a soldier; Tobei becomes a noted warrior, while his wife descends into prostitution after being raped while searching for her husband. Jonathan Crow
Title : Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)  
Directed : Kenji Mizoguchi
Duration : 94 min.
Subtitles : English, Portuguese
Audio in Japanese (Mono)
Genres : Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, War   
Countries : Japan 

Brief Encounter a.k.a. 'Desencanto' (1945) Dir. David Lean | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Based on Noël Coward's play "Still Life," Brief Encounter is a romantic, bittersweet drama about two married people who meet by chance in a London railway station and carry on an intense love affair. Sentimental yet down-to-earth and set in pre-World War II England, the film follows British housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), who is on her way home, but catches a cinder in her eye. By chance, she meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), who removes it for her. The two talk for a few minutes and strike immediate sparks, but they end up catching different trains. However, both return to the station once a week to meet and, as the film progresses, they grow closer, sharing stories, hopes, and fears about their lives, marriages, and children. One day, when Alec's train is late, both become frantic that they will miss each other. When they finally find each other, they realize that they are in love. But what should be a joyous realization is fraught with tragedy, since both care greatly for their families. Howard and Johnson give flawless performances as two practical, married people who find themselves in a situation in which they know they can never be happy. Don Kaye
Title :  Brief Encounter (1945)  
Directed by David Lean
Duration : 86 min.
Subtitles : Portuguese, Spanish
Genres : Drama, Romance
Countries :  United Kingdom

The General a.k.a. 'A General' (1926) Dir Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton (Short-Bonus) 'Cops, 1922' | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
Buster Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a Southern railroad engineer who loves his train engine, The General, almost as much as he loves Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the opening shots of the Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter, Johnny tries to enlist -- and he is deemed too useful as an engineer to be a soldier. All Johnny knows is that he's been rejected, and Annabelle, thinking him a coward, turns her back on him. When Northern spies steal the General (and, unwittingly, Annabelle), the story switches from drama and romance to adventure mixed with Keaton's trademark deadpan humor as he uses every means possible to catch up to the General, thwart the Yankees, and rescue his darling Annabelle -- for starters. As always, Keaton performs his own stunts, combining his prodigious dexterity, impeccable comic timing, and expressive body language to convey more emotion than the stars of any of the talkies that were soon to dominate cinema. Emru Townsend
Title : The General (1926)
Directed : Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
Duration : 79 min.
Subtitles : English, Spanish, Portuguese
Card : English
BONUS - Cops 18 min.
Genres : Comedy, Romance, Action, Adventure, War  
Countries : United Kingdom, United States

 

L'Inferno a.k.a. 'Inferno' (1911) Dir. Giuseppe de Liguoro | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
L'INFERNO (1911), the first known full-length Italian feature film. Based on Dante's INFERNO and Gustave Dore's haunting images, this elaborate and imaginative epic took more than three years to produce. Eerie images of bodies contort in agony while being tormented by laughing horned devils, and a screaming man holding his own decapitated head aloft make this pre-World War I phantasmagoria truly seem like something from another world. The visage of Lucifer himself remains one of the most effective ever recorded on film.
Original title : L'Inferno  (1911)
Directed : Giuseppe de Liguoro,  
Duration : 70 min.
Subtitles : Portuguese, Spanish, Germain, Italian
Genre : Drama
Country : Italia 

Die Austernprinzessin (The Oyster Princess) a.k.a. 'A Princesa das Ostras' (1919) Dir. Ernst Lubitsch | VIDEO (ISO)

Synopsis :
The daughter of an oyster king wants to marry a prince, but her attempts to make the union a reality do not go as planned.
Title : The Oyster Princess (1919)
Original Title : Die Austernprinzessin
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Duration : 47 min.
Subtitles : English, Français, Portuguese, Spanish + 5 more languages
Original version Deutsch
Genres : Drama, Romance, Comedy  
Countries : Germany

BUSONI : Piano Music • 1 — Fantasia Contrappuntistica · An die Jugens (Wolf Harden) (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Busoni's music for solo piano embraces the virtuosity of Liszt and the technical discipline of Bach. Nowhere are these characteristics more apparent than in his works drawn from or inspired by Bach, as this disc magnificently shows. The centrepiece is the massive Fantasia Contrappuntistica, an extraordinary series of fugues which stretch both pianist and piano to the limit. The suite An die Jugend contains original compositions and transcriptions inspired by Bach, Mozart and Paganini. Two majestic single works, one by Busoni and the other a transcription by him from Bach, round off an immensely satisfying programme. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1. Toccata & Fugue In D Minor, BWV 565 (9:26)
Adapted By [Transcribed By] – Ferruccio Busoni
Composed By – J.S. Bach
2. Prelude & Fugue In C Minor    4:19
3-7.    An Die Jugend    (25:32)
8-13. Fantasia Contrappuntistica    (30:38)
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden

BUSONI : Piano Music • 2 — Variation and fuga on Chopin's Prelude in C minor · Transcription of J.S. Bach for solo violin (Wolf Harden) (2001) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Busoni was one of the most important composers of the early twentieth century, with a distinct and profound aesthetic of his own. His music for solo piano embraces the virtuosity of Liszt and the technical discipline of Bach. Nowhere are these characteristics more apparent than in his works drawn from or inspired by Bach, as this disc magnificently shows. It opens with Busoni’s magisterial transcription for piano of Bach’s powerful Chaconne in D minor, in which Busoni presents an entirely legitimate late romantic version of the original composition for solo violin. Equally impressive are the Variations and Fugue in free form on Chopin’s in C, inspired by Chopin’s visionary twentieth prelude from his set of twenty-four. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1.    Chaconne For Solo Violin, B24 (13:36)
Composed By – Johann Sebastian Bach
Transcription By – Ferruccio Busoni
2.    Etude En Forme De Variations, Op.17 K.206 (9:04)
3.    Variations On "Kommt Ein Vogel Geflogen", K.222 (6:19)
4.    Theme And Variations In C Major, K.6 (1873) 3:50
5.    Inno Variations, K.16 (1874) 2:54
Variations And Fugue On Chopin's Prélude In C Minor, Op.22 K.213
6.    Theme And Variations     (25:24)
7.    Fugue (5:49)
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden

BUSONI : Piano Music • 3 — Indian Diary · Trois Morceaux · Two Dance · Pieces Ballet Scenes (Wolf Harden) (2007) FLAC (tracks), lossless

The music of Ferruccio Busoni was comparatively neglected for many decades, perhaps because he didn't fit any of the "-isms" that were contending to be the main line of musical development. There was too much Liszt in his music for him to be part of the neo-Classical crowd. Now that it's clear that that effort was itself a big part of classical music's problems, Busoni is showing up on more programs and recordings. He wrote tonal music, which for some disqualified him right off the bat. And there was a dry, rigorous quality even to his slightest compositions that placed him far from late Romanticism. Annotator Richard Whitehouse puts it nicely here when he writes that Busoni was "neither inherently conservative nor demonstratively radical," and that his innovations "were bound up with a re-creative approach to the musical past that has only gained wider currency over recent decades." In a way, John Adams is one of his heirs.
This disc, part of a series of Naxos releases covering all of Busoni's piano music, introduces some of Busoni's diverse impulses, all of them tied together by his devotion to contrapuntal art and artifice. There is a relatively straight Bach transcription; a set of Three Pieces, Op. 4-6, that use concise scherzo, prelude, and fugue forms; five virtuoso works Busoni called Ballet Scenes; some light waltz music intended as a tribute to Strauss but actually closer to Ravel's La valse (though not so grim); and finally an Indianische Tagebuch (Indian Diary) that is entirely different in effect from so-called Indianist compositions in the U.S. Hear the second part, "Song of Victory" (track 14), which uses an ostinato as the basis for the subtle motivic evolution present in many of Busoni's pieces. The Fourth Ballet Scene in the Form of a Concert Waltz, Op. 33a, is a good introduction to Busoni in general, with neither its waltz opening nor its thunderous conclusion ever really letting the listener sit back and relax -- there's always too much going on at the local level. German pianist Wolf Harden has the equipment to handle the pianistically thorny passages, with a powerful, bass-heavy sound, and he had a fine feel for the unique mixture of intellect and showmanship in Busoni that is sounding better and better every year. A good choice as part of the Naxos set or for anyone curious about this composer. James Manheim  

The essence of Busoni’s music lies in a synthesis of his Italian and German ancestry: emotion and intellect, imagination and discipline, often allied with a re-creative approach to the musical past. His arrangement of Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in D minor, BWV565 represents the virtuoso transcription, derived from Brahms and Liszt, at its most commanding. Tanzwalzer, dedicated ‘to the memory of Johann Strauss’ is a homage to the golden age of the Viennese waltz. Drawing on Amerindian rhythms and melodies, the Indian Diary depicts life among the North American Indians whose wretched plight Busoni had witnessed on a visit to America in 1910. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-3. Organ Toccata, Adagio And Fugue, BWV 564 (13:07)
Arranged By – Ferruccio Busoni
Composed By – Johann Sebastian Bach
4-6. Trois Morceaux, Op. 4-6, K 197    (9:40)
7. (First) Ballet Scene, Op. 6 (3:39)
8. Second Ballet Scene, Op. 20, K 209 (5:31)
9-10. Two Dance Pieces, Op. 30a, K 235a (6:18)
11. Fourth Ballet Scene (In The Form Of A Concert Waltz), Op. 33a, K 238    (7:39)
12. Tanzwalzer, Op. 53, K 288 (8:42)
Transcription By – Michael Von Zadora
13-16. Indianische Tagebuch, Book 1 (Indian Diary), K 267    (10:58)
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden

BUSONI : Piano Music • 4 — Élégien · Fantasia nach J. S. Bach · Toccata (Wolf Harden) (2008) FLAC (tracks), lossless

In the fourth volume of his cycle of Busoni's piano music for Naxos, pianist Wolf Harden tackles some of the most important pieces in Busoni's solo repertoire; the Six Elegies, the Toccata: Preludio -- Fantasia -- Ciaccona, and the Fantasia nach J.S. Bach. Harden fills out the program with appropriate, contextually related choices; the Bach/Busoni Prelude and Fugue in D, BWV 532, originally for organ, and the seldom recorded piano solo version of the Berceuse Elegiaque, subtitled by Busoni as "Elegy No. 7." One would expect in such emotionally wrought Busoni -- the Berceuse is a memorial to his mother, as is the Fantasia to his father -- that Harden would be firing on all cylinders here. In a technical sense, he is; the execution aspect of the whole disc is impressive apart from a transition or two that come off as abrupt. However, Harden takes the Elegies a shade faster than most, and the underlying dance rhythms -- usually muted owing to slower tempi -- become the detail that plays to the foreground. In making such tempo choices, Harden's Elegies come off as being rather strident and he loses the sense of shrouded mystery that these pieces are normally associated with, and that doesn't seem like an appropriate trade-off. This may be the result of a conceptual misunderstanding; though Busoni was a pioneer of neo-classical thinking in music, the Elegies in particular are closer to the realm of Liszt than they are of Prokofiev. In any event, it is somehow encouraging that twenty first century pianists are able to take piano pieces once thought barely possible and perform them in a manner that's almost blasé. In this matter, a bit more give would've yielded expressive results in this music, such as is customary, but one cannot fault Harden for playing such extraordinarily difficult piano music with such proficiency, it's just an additional flair for drama, mood, and suspense that is lacking. Uncle Dave Lewis  

Performance occupied much of Busoni’s attention until the turn of the twentieth century, when composition began to assume a new importance in his career. Busoni regarded his Elegien as the point where he discovered his true identity as a composer. Even at his most radical, however, Busoni never rejected what had gone before; the Elegien alternate between new works and transcriptions of older pieces. Drawing on Bach organ pieces, Fantasia after J.S. Bach may sound backwardlooking in context, but its concept points determinedly towards the future. Toccata was completed while Busoni was engaged in earnest on his crowning achievement, the music-drama Doktor Faust, whose essence pervades this most virtuosic yet also aggressive of the composer’s later piano works. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-2. Prelude And Fugue In D Major, BWV 532 (11:14)
3-8. Elegien, K.249 (29:09)
9. Berceuse, "Elegie No. 7", K.252 (4:32)
10. Fantasia Nach J. S. Bach, K.253 (9:43)
11. Toccata, K.287 (Preludio - Fantasia - Ciaccona) 9:39
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden 

BUSONI : Piano Music • 5 — Six Études · Six Pieces · Ten Variations on Chopin's C Minor Prelude (Wolf Harden) (2009) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Wolf Harden returns to Busoni for Naxos in this, his fifth volume of Busoni's piano music for the label, and Harden seems to be more on his game here than in the fourth volume. While flanked by Busoni's familiar transcription of J.S. Bach's "St. Anne" prelude and his extraordinary 1922 rewrite of his much earlier Variations on Chopin's C minor Prelude, the real jewels in this crown are a couple of obscure suites, the Six Etudes, Op. 16 (1883), and the Six Pieces, Op. 33b (1895-1896). The first set is a wild and wooly series of etudes Busoni composed when he was only 17 years of age, and it contains so many seeds of his mature style that certain pieces -- such as the fifth etude "Fuga" -- could nearly be mistaken for the Busoni of 30 or so years later. The Six Pieces date from just before the Violin Concerto and Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 36a, which Busoni cited as representing a stylistic breakthrough for him. The virtuoso textures he achieves in these pieces -- "Frohsion" utilizes a sweeping figure Busoni returned to in the elegy entitled "Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu Dir" from the Sechs Elegien of 1907 -- are ones that he would revisit. The rest of it -- its comparatively conservative harmonic style and stern, seriously minded post-romantic posture -- are things Busoni would leave behind for good.

Harden is very sharp throughout this whole recording, even as his piano seems to have something of a hiccup here and there. In the Bach transcription and Chopin variations, Harden is entering the market with some already stiff competition afoot, for example Demidenko in the Bach and Kaoru Bingham in the Chopin. However, in the other works Harden is running practically unopposed, and while no "world premiere" is claimed for the Six Pieces Op. 33b, this does seem to be the first complete recording of that set, from which the "Fantasia in modo antico" is usually singled out and played as a separate entity. If Harden may feel the competition, he doesn't show it, as he treats all of the music here with the same level of respect and has obviously put a lot of hard work into this production. Uncle Dave Lewis  

Wolf Harden’s Busoni Piano Edition has been warmly applauded for its ‘spacious aural frame’ (Vol. 1—8.555034), ‘stunningly authoritative’ playing (Vol. 2—8.555699), ‘lightness of touch and excellent phrasing’ (Vol. 3—8.570249) and ‘prestidigitatory prowess’ (Vol. 4—8.570543). For this fifth volume, Busoni’s magisterial transcription of Bach’s ‘St. Anne’ Prelude and Fugue and his inspired variations on Chopin’s famous ‘Choral’ Prelude flank two equally powerful, subtle and wide-ranging sets of shorter yet equally virtuosic works, the splendid Études and the harmonically adventurous Six Pieces. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-2.     Prelude And Fugue In E Flat Major, BWV 552, 'St. Anne' (13:56)
Arranged By – Ferruccio Busoni
Composed By – J.S. Bach
3-8.     6 Études, Op. 16    (22:22)
9-14. 6 Pieces, Op. 33b    (24:22)
15. 10 Variations On Chopin's C Minor Prelude (Revised 1922 Version Of Op. 22)    12:48
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden 

BUSONI : Piano Music • 6 — Fantasy and Fugue on 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam' (Liszt-Busoni) · Piano Sonata in F Minor · Prélude et étude en arpèges (Wolf Harden) (2009) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Naxos continues its edition, with pianist Wolf Harden, of Ferruccio Busoni's piano music, of which there is a lot, with most of it written at a very high level of difficulty and some invested in rather long pieces that require almost superhuman endurance. Volume six contains three rather uncommon pieces, starting with Busoni's piano transcription of Liszt's organ work Fantasy and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam," a piece recorded in part by Busoni's pupil Leo Sirota as early as the mid-'20s, but seldom visited since. Liszt created his own four-hand version of the piece that is far more frequently played over Busoni's solo piano edition. This is followed by Busoni's early Piano Sonata in F minor, Op. 20a, composed in 1883 when Busoni was 17, a relative rarity hardly known before the 1980s. The Prélude et Etude en Arpèges (1923) is a very late Busoni composition and the best-known work on the program; it is a highly regarded piece that bears some kinship with his never-finished opera Doktor Faustus. All of these pieces are well worth hearing; as in the case of the Spanish Rhapsody, although it's technically a transcription of Liszt, no one would mistake the Fantasy and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" for being Liszt because it has Busoni's special gestures and approach to piano technique all over it. Although Busoni rejected all of his pre-1893 works for what he felt was their precocity and lack of finish, as it turns out the F minor Piano Sonata is a fully mature and ambitious statement that is unusual for an Italian composer in the opera-obsessed 1880s and written in a time when the piano sonata itself was a form suffering from a brief eclipse.
The Naxos Busoni piano music edition has some strong advantages over other, similar projects; Busoni's piano music is so expansive and confusing that some editions have found ways to curtail the overall project in some way -- the Bach/Busoni or other kinds of transcriptions are left out, or made a different project on its own, or -- as Gunnar Johansen did on his Artist's Direct label in the 1960s -- limiting it only to fully original compositions. In Johansen's day, though, it was practically impossible to access the earlier Busoni works in manuscript that were extant; by the twenty-first century most of these efforts had found their way into print. Naxos' edition is pretty much all-inclusive of everything and combines works on individual volumes in an intelligent way; certainly the recordings are technically superior to anything that appeared on Artist's Direct. However, one genuinely wishes the label could have employed a pianist just a little more on the ball than Harden; it sounds like he is reading these scores, and it's a very good reading, but he often seems behind Busoni's music and there really isn't a strong interpretive sense at play in these renderings. To his credit, Johansen had his personal contact with Busoni to draw from and his passion for the project, so it's easy to forgive the bad sound and occasional finger slips here and there. Harden seems a bit lacking on the passion front and during the Prélude et Etude en Arpèges -- stated almost entirely in arpeggios -- we hear an arpeggio that has a note missing from it; Harden simply wasn't able to place his finger on the key at that moment. Naxos should have retaken it, but didn't; with Roland Pöntinen, Carlo Grante, and Ronald Stevenson already out there in this work, this recording simply doesn't have a competitive edge. Uncle Dave Lewis  

The sixth volume of Busoni’s piano music features two major projects from the earlier part of his career. The Liszt transcription powerfully recreates the composer’s grandest work for organ in terms of the piano, while the Piano Sonata in F minor is an exhilarating example of late-Romantic virtuosity that remained unknown until recent decades. In total contrast, the brief Prélude et étude en arpèges finds Busoni’s late musical language at its most concentrated and refractory. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-3. Fantasy And Fugue On 'Ad Nos, Ad Salutarem Undam' (26:41)
Arranged By – Ferruccio Busoni
Composed By – Franz Liszt
4-6.     Piano Sonata In F Minor, Op. 20, K204 (28:34)
7-8.     Prelude Et Etude En Arpeges, K297 (9:36)
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden

BUSONI : Piano Music • 7 — Concert fantasy on motifs from Goldmark's 'Merlin · Chamber Fantasy on Bizet's 'Carmen' (Wolf Harden) (2013) FLAC (tracks), lossless

The essence of Ferruccio Busoni’s music lies in its synthesis of his Italian and German ancestry, emotion and intellect, imagination and rigour. This seventh volume in Naxos’s highly-praised series brings together several virtuosic operatic transcriptions, paraphrases and fantasies, as well as demanding studies and two piano sonatinas. ‘Wolf Harden is a stupendous pianist who can deliver what Busoni demands and then some’ (American Record Guide on Vol. 2, 8.555699). naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1. Concert Fantasy On Motifs From The Opera "Merlin" By Goldmark    17:40
2. Fantasy On Motifs From The Comic Opera "Der Barbier Von Bagdad" By Peter Cornelius    9:38
3. Variation-Study After Mozart No. 1: Canzonetta From "Don Giovanni"    1:39
4. Funeral March From "Götterdämmerung" 8:07
Arranged By – Ferruccio Busoni
Composed By – Richard Wagner
5. Sonatina No. 3: 'Ad Usum Infantis Madeline M. Americanae    6:45
6. Sonatina No. 6: Chamber Fantasy On Bizet's "Carmen"    7:59
7-11. Five Short Pieces For The Cultivation Of Polyphonic Playing 16:24
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden 

BUSONI : Piano Music • 8 — 24 Preludes, Op.37 · Macchiette medioevali, Op.33 (Wolf Harden) (2013) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Ferruccio Busoni’s Preludes, Op 37 and Macchiette medioevali, Op 33 were a product of his teenage years (1881–83), but they are far from being derivative juvenilia. In these charming and engaging works Busoni moves away from the Baroque and Classical models of his earlier works towards a more inventive and personal accommodation with the Romanticism of the mid-nineteenth century. Wolf Harden’s playing in this series has been described as “the clear current benchmark” (BBC Music Magazine on Volume 2 / 8.555699). naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-24. 24 Preludes, Op. 37 (Kind. 181) (1881) 52:23
25-30. Macchiette Medioevali, Op. 33 (Kind. 194) (1882-83) 12:54
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden 

BUSONI : Piano Music • 9 — Una festa di villaggio · Racconti fantastici · Danze antiche · Suite campestre (Wolf Harden) (2017) FLAC (tracks), lossless

All the works on this recording were composed when Busoni was between the ages of eleven and fifteen. Full of charm and wit, they reveal his precocious absorption of earlier models—principally Bach, Mozart, Weber and Schumann—as well as exceptional technical finesse. Una festa di villaggio charts the day’s events of a village festival whilst Suite campestre, one of his most distinctive early compositions, possesses moments of inwardness that presage the mature works to come. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-6. Una Festa Di Villaggio, Op. 9 (Kind.185)    (23:36)
7-9. Racconti Fantastici, Op. 12 (Kind. 100)    (9:43)
10-13. Danze Antiche, Op. 11 (Kind. 126)    (11:48)
14. Gavotte, Op. 70 (Kind. 152)    3:13
15-19. Suite Campestre, Op. 18 (Kind. 81)    (13:05)
20-24. Cinq Pièces, Op. 3 (Kind. 71)    (10:35)
Credits :
Piano – Wolf Harden

BUSONI : Piano Music • 10 — Transcriptions of Works by J.S. Bach, Brahms, Cramer, Liszt and Mozart (Wolf Harden) (2018) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Busoni embodied an essentially recreative approach to the music of the past. His Bach transcriptions reveal an absolute command of intricate polyphony and a limpid clarity. Mozart stood as an aesthetic and technical exemplar while Cramer’s little-known Etudes are adapted for modern piano technique. Busoni preserved the Lutheran austerity of Brahms’s Chorale Preludes for Organ, Op. 122 whereas in the Mephisto Waltz No. 1 he augments Liszt’s heady writing with a super-virtuosity of his own. naxos

Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)
1-3.     Fantasia, Adagio e Fuga (after J.S. Bach's BWV 906 and 968)
 Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-Flat Major, K. 271, "Jeunehomme": II. Andantino
4.    Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-Flat Major, K. 271, "Jeunehomme": II. Andantino
5-12.    Klavierübung in 5 Teilen (first edition, 1917-22), Part IV: 8 Etudes after Cramer
Johannes Brahms /  Ferruccio Busoni - Arranger
13-18.     11 Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 (arr. F. Busoni for piano) (excerpts)
Franz Liszt, / Ferruccio Busoni - Arranger
Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S110/R427, "Mephisto Waltz No. 1" (arr. F. Busoni for piano)
Credits :
Wolf Harden - Piano