Ferruccio Busoni

Sonatina Seconda

On the 150th anniversary of the death of Ferruccio Busoni, G. Henle Publishers is issuing one of his most important original works for piano solo. In light of his popular Bach arrangements, it is easy to overlook the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century, Busoni was considered an avant-garde composer. Like Schönberg he transcended the boundaries of tonality but pursued completely different goals and experimented in each work with new harmonic systems. In the “Sonatina seconda”, published in 1912, he achieved fascinating, suggestive sound effects. Contemporaries admired their “fantastic-mystical character” and a harmony that always gave “the impression of the natural, spontaneous and intuitive”.
Through the examination of three surviving autographs as well as the first edition, Busoni experts Christian Schaper and Ullrich Scheideler were finally able to eliminate many ambiguities in the musical text. Wolf Harden, an expert in the repertoire, was responsible for the fingerings was. This new reference edition of the “Seconda” is a must for anyone who wants to explore Busoni’s exciting world of sound!