Busoni/ Pohlit - The Hour of Spirits

For his debut album, the Leipzig-based pianist Hannes Pohlit has recorded rare works of the virtuoso piano-repertoire on the Blthner grand piano. The recordings took place in 2021 in the Media Campus Villa Ida (Leipzig) and were sponsored by the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig. Hans Werner Henze's (1926 2012) "Lucy Escott Variations", dedicated to the memory of a historical opera-singer, pay homage to the elegance of the Italian Belcanto. George Enescu's (1881 1955) first Piano Sonata explores the dark colors of Romanian soul-landscapes. Franz Liszt's (1811 1886) most famous organ work "Fantasy and Fugue on the choral 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam'" was performed at the inauguration of the great organ in the Merseburg Cathedral. In the transcription for piano by Ferruccio Busoni (1866 1924), the pianist shows the great variations of timbres Blthner Aliquot grand piano can provide, from the highly expressive fantasy to the roaring fugue, and in the meditative Adagio gives space for the warm, vocal timbres of the instrument.