Opera no
Busoni: Arleecchino
Solists
Opera de Lyon
Kent Ngano
I found it difficult to make much sense of this piece. This is largely because I heard it in transit and didn’t have access to a score or libretto. That might not matter for some operas but this one had significant amounts of spoken dialogue and, more importantly, all sorts of allusions to operas of the 18th and 19th century. It is obviously set in a theatrical context and pays homage to the Commedia d’el arte. I quite enjoyed listening to it with an innocent ear but I can’t say that it made a strong impression on me. Certainly I enjoyed it much more than Busoni’s piano concerto, which made it onto my list of ‘worsts’ in last year’s project, but I didn’t feel the need to get out the score and listen to the whole thing again. Perhaps it is my loss, but so far I can’t quite why Busoni is rated so highly by so many musicians.
