Ferruccio Busoni began his career as a child prodigy, studying piano and composition at the Vienna Conservatory at the age of nine. As a composer, he initially dedicated himself to the traditions of Schumann, Chopin and Mendelssohn, but soon went on to create works that used extended tonality, and sometimes a bitonal approach. Busoni regarded his monumental Piano Concerto neither in the style of the brilliant virtuoso concertos, nor in that of the symphonic concertos by Beethoven and Brahms. He rather aimed at a subtle intertwining of piano and orchestra, with the piano hardly ever presenting a theme in its original form, but mostly decorating and transforming the material introduced by the orchestra.

French-American pianist David Lively is familiar with technically daunting symphonic concertos that, due to their monumentality, are hardly ever performed. His innate virtuosity has enabled him to be a champion of new music, and he identifies particularly with twentieth-century American music. He was accompanied in this recording by conductor Michael Gielen, a lifelong advocate of Busoni’s work and a specialist in modern music. The SWR Symphony Orchestra has recorded over 600 works spanning three centuries, many of which have won awards that include the German Record Critics’ Award (Ehrenpreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik), the Special Achievement Award of the International Classical Music Awards, and a Grammy nomination.