Busoni: Turandot; Arlecchino

Albrecht, Gerd, Frankfurt Radio Symphony

C 5398

TURANDOT – A Chinese fable • Libretto: Ferruccio Busoni after Carlo Gozzi • Complete Recording • René Pape, Linda Plech, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Josef Protschka, Friedrich Molsberger, Celina Lindsley, Robert Wörle, Johann Werner Prein, Gotthold Schwarz • ARLECCHINO – A theatrical caprice in one act • Libretto: Ferruccio Busoni • Complete Recording • Peter Matic, Robert Wörle, René Pape, Siegfried Lorenz, Peter Lika, Robert Wörle, Marcia Bellamy, Katharina Koschny • The Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni never came closer to realising his aspirations than on May 11, 1917 at a double-bill performance of two of his operas in Zurich, which he himself called "La Nuova Commedia dell' Arte I (Turandot) and II (Arlecchino)". In the unusually short period between December 1916 and March 1917 Busoni reworked his existing incidental music for Gozzi's play Turandot into an opera. This was four years before Puccini started to work on the same subject. Although Arlecchino might initially seem to be of a lesser stature than Busoni's opera Doktor Faust, it is perhaps the composer's more significant work. The speaking hero of his theatralische Capriccio represents a role model that was more important to Busoni than that encapsulated in Doktor Faust, especially as World War II was proceeding.

CD x 2

Capriccio

2020-01-08

0845221053981