Urtext Edition, Arrangement for Piano
Aside from the violin Chaconne (HN 557) and the ten Chorale Preludes for organ (HN 1293), the Prelude and Fugue in D major ranks among the best-known piano transcriptions Busoni fashioned from J. S. Bach’s works. Considerable evidence suggests that he viewed these three pieces as paradigmatic examples of his transcription technique. Busoni’s explicit labelling of the Prelude and Fugue “for concert performance” in the title already serves as an indication of the heightened virtuosic requirements. And, indeed, here Busoni demands that the pianist have perfectly mastered the keyboard, always with the aim of delegating to the piano, effectively but still in the spirit of Bach, the mighty sound-world of the organ work. This Urtext edition is heartily recommended to all those pianists who have ever wanted, finally, to pull out all the stops on the piano.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
