Bach/Busoni - a pairing that makes pianists' hearts beat faster. This is because Busoni succeeded in making piano transcriptions of works that Bach had originally tailor-made for another instrument in such a way that one can still sense the original sound world while the grand piano is able to show off its full potential.
Together with the C-major Toccata, BWV 564, his transcription of the Organ Toccata in D minor, BWV 565 (now, after some interim uncertainty, once more considered a work by Bach), was to round off his reworkings of Bach for Breitkopf & Härtel in 1900. In Busoni's view a worthy culmination because the toccatas were indeed - as he informed his publisher - “obviously the best among my achievements of this kind and I am confident in expecting they will make a strong impact”.
G. Henle Publishers agrees with this assessment and presents the famous D-minor Toccata and Fugue in an attractive Urtext edition that has consulted all of the sources and offers fingerings by the exceptional pianist Marc-André Hamelin.
About Henle Urtext
What I can expect from Henle Urtext editions:
error-free, reliable musical texts based on meticulous musicological research - fingerings and bowings by famous artists and pedagoguespreface in 3 languages with information on the genesis and history of the work Critical Commentary in 1 – 3 languages with a description and evaluation of the sources and explaining all source discrepancies and editorial decisions most beautiful music engraving page-turns, fold-out pages, and cues where you need them excellent print quality and binding largest Urtext catalogue world-wide longest Urtext experience (founded 1948 exclusively for "Urtext" editions)
