Ferruccio Busoni Clarinet Sonata BV 138

Описание: Haley Harrison, Clarinet
Albert Newberry, Piano

Piece no. 3 of my second master's recital at JSoM
4/6/24

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Clarinet Sonata BV 138 (1879)
Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924)

Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, arranger, virtuoso pianist, and an overall formative figure of 20th century music. Born into a musical family in 1866, Busoni began studying piano with his mother and embarked in performing by age 7. He began studying composition with W. A. Remy and began to tour when he was 12. Connecting to the contemporary theme of this program, Busoni’s compositional style strayed from the traditional music of the late 19th century. He strongly encouraged his students to move away from traditional, heavy Germanic, Romantic music and head towards the up-and-coming Impressionism and Neoclassicist styles that would be more prevalent towards the end of his lifetime. Instead of completely swearing off earlier conventional styles of composition, he believed the concept of “young classicality” referring to the power of art to transcend time – he aimed to build upon the foundations of music set by the past rather than completely break apart from them.

Busoni’s Clarinet Sonata BV 138 was written in 1879 and premiered with his father, Ferdinando Busoni, on clarinet and himself on piano when he was between 12 or 13 years old. The sonata is an unfinished work as Busoni ends on an awkward minuet and trio, he planned to complete an additional movement or two. Being composed early in Busoni’s career, the sonata features rich thematic cues and compositional highlights of the classical form of the sonata.