Bach-Busoni Chorale Prelude 'Nun Freut, lieben Christ gmein' BWV 734

[theodopolis]

I've always wondered about the speed taken with this transcription. These two mp3's provide an interesting comparison.

The first is Busoni's own acoustic recording, which is extrememly fast but also supremely musical and poetic, The second, Andre Fleury's, is my favourite recording of the original Bach organ version. Most pianists playing the transcription, though demonstrating marvellous dexterity, tend to sound like robots in the upper part figurations. Have you ever come across piano performances which approach the slower tempo adopted by organists?
Cheers

[pianovirus]

Thanks for sharing these recordings. I've also having asked myself this question, without actually knowing that Busoni himself started this tradition of playing the piece extremely fast (btw, I also didn't know that the repetition of the second theme and the fantastic ending is due to Busoni). The recordings I have come across are at extreme speed, too. In my opinion there would be some room to shape the chorale melody (and also the RH figurations and the jumping bass line) more carefully in a bit of a slower tempo. One more thing I don't understand: it's never really audible (at least to me) when the melody occurs in octaves (played in both LH and RH) and when not -- also in the Busoni recording, except in the end. Maybe this is also one aspect that could be more pronounced at less extreme speeds. Having said that, the Busoni recording is still just wonderful...