Jan Michiels

Bach through the eyes of Bartók and Busoni. That is the focal point of Jan Michiels' cleverly compiled solo recital. That Bach's music is universal and timeless becomes clear from the innumerable volume of arrangements that have been written. Renowned but infamous are the arrangements Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) created from some of Bach's organ works. They are infamous because they dared to deviate considerably from the original. Busoni defended his position by the suggestion that "every note within itself is the transcription of an abstract idea". When he transposed Bach's magnificent organ sounds for piano, he incorporated all the techniques of the 19th century virtuoso, using double octaves, reinforced chords, and Lisztian arpeggios, etc. Busoni's transcription skills reach their peak in his Fantasia Contrappuntistica from 1910; a kind of completion of an unfinished closing fugue from the 'Kunst der Fuge'. By stretching Bach's complex polyphony to the limit, Busoni devised his own modern and harmonic language. His epic monster fugue places extreme technical and spiritual demands on the player. Jan Michiels is one of the few pianists brave enough to include this work in his programme.