Busoni at the Philharmonic
In the Liszt E flat concerto, Ferruccio Busoni ever has been a heroic pianist, and at the Philharmonic concert of last Sunday afternoon, January 31, in Carnegie Hall, he gave renewed and remarkable demonstration of that fact. It was a brilliant presentation in every sense of the word, the performance being of sparkling technical nature, multicolored in tone, and filled with exactly the right consistency of sentiment and dash called for by the picturesque pages. The Busoni musicianship was in striking evidence also, for it never permitted that artist to thunder for the mere pleasure of making sound, or to exaggerate his tempi or tonal effects. Also in his sense of form and proportion and the relation of piano to orchestra, Busoni gives substantial joy to connoisseurs of such matters and his work of last Sunday was no exception to his ordinary rule. He was listened to with keen sympathy and rapt attention, and at the close of the imposing climax which this musical, pianistic and intellectual giant builded up in the finale of the concerto, the enthusiasm of the audience broke all bounds, and Busoni was made the recipient of unbridled tributes of admiration. His success may justifiably be called extraordinary.
Rimsky-Korsakoff's "Scheherazade" suite was one of the orchestral selections which showed the Philharmonic at its best, and Berlioz's "Carneval Romain" was the other. The men played with wonderful precision, ardor and understanding.
