Busoni - Transcriptions

True or not, the story of Busoni’s wife being introduced at a function as Mrs. Bach-Busoni says a lot about how famous Busoni’s Bach transcriptions were already in his own lifetime.
Many concert-goers at the time probably heard many of Bach’s works first in Busoni’s piano arrangements. Busoni spent time and energy on these transcriptions throughout his life, to spread the music that he loved in an era before recordings became readily available. Some of them are fairly straightforward renderings of the original works, while others take plenty of liberties, making use of the particular resources of the modern piano and Busoni’s unique command of it.
The transcription of the Chaconne from Bach’s Second Partita for solo violin is one certainly one of Busoni’s real masterpieces, paying a wonderful tribute to Bach’s genius and but also expressing his own unique personality.