The centenary of Busoni’s death last year saw some important reissues and new recordings – including a previous Donohoe/Chandos Busoni collaboration. Here, Donohoe shares (almost) equal billing with Karl Lutchmayer, Donohoe playing two big Bach-Busoni transcriptions, the Variations and Fugue after Chopin’s Prelude in C minor, the First Sonatina and Sonatina brevis (the latter available as a digital download), while Lutchmayer plays the Second Sonatina and partners Donohoe in the two-piano version of the Fantasia contrappuntistica.

Busoni’s arrangements of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor and the organ Prelude and Fugue in D major are masterpieces of the genre. Donohoe’s huge sonorities, as well as his clean, precise articulation, ability to clarify complex textures and unerring sense of pulse and rhythmic propulsion are always remarkable. The nine variations on Chopin’s C minor Prelude is a reworking of an earlier set of 19 variations, and again Donohoe gives a lucid and commanding performance. The first two sonatinas are difficult works in every sense, particularly the Second Sonatina of 1912, which has no key, no time signature, few bar lines and ambiguous tonality, but Lutchmayer’s uncompromising objectivity and textural clarity oddly seem to work more effectively here than, say, Hamelin’s ethereal and mystical approach (Hyperion).

Busoni’s 1921 reworking of the Fantasia contrappuntistica for two pianos is much more than a transcription of the solo piano version; it is a symphonic reimagining of tremendous power, complexity and scale. The work obsessed Busoni for a decade – there are four versions – but perhaps in the two-piano format he finally found the ideal vehicle for what is arguably his masterpiece. The performance from both Donohoe and Lutchmayer is magnificent, with flawless ensemble. Top-notch engineering and scholarly notes from Antony Beaumont complete the package.

This review originally featured in the SPRING 2025 issue of International Piano