Madge Ensemble

Ferruccio Busoni:

Praised as one of the most amazing pianists and composers of the 20th century, highly respected writer of many articles as well as the visionary essay “Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music”, Busoni has had a huge impact on the musical thinking of the last century.

Apart from  being a great musician of almost renaissance dimensions, Busoni (1866-1924) was a thinker, a great lover of literature and especially of the writings of Goethe, Cervantes and E.T.A. Hoffmann, a promoter of many new compositions and advocate of the classical heritage: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. By encouraging new music in Berlin, (at that time an unknown Sibelius, Bartok and Schoenberg amongst many others), he had a very strong following while influencing many of the major composers of the early part of the 20th century. He is recognized today as being one of the greatest pianists of the century.

It is with this in mind that the Madge Ensemble has been created, an extremely flexible - versatile ensemble with international musicians, devoted to the performances of traditional and lesser known chamber music. Not only the choice of works is important, but also the combinations and connections between the programmed compositions.

Works that have been unjustly neglected will be found next to traditional compositions, often with a unique connection between the works - a new idea of program planning - hopefully a valuable contribution to today’s musical scene.

Solo works will be performed together with piano trios, piano quartets and quintets, a variety of compositions from the 18th to the 21st century, in all various combinations. The programs can also be based on the traditional repertoire or, more daring.

Spoken introductions with interesting examples may be included.



http://www.geoffreymadge.com/

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