Duo for 2 Flutes and Piano in E minor, K. 156

Duo or Trio? This early work by Busoni is a flute duet with an amazingly independent piano accompaniment.

The duo for two flutes and piano was written during Ferruccio Busoni’s period of compositional instruction with Wilhelm Mayer in Graz, who commented below the music text: “The invention is nice, the work superb” – thus, praising the contrapuntal skills of the then fourteen-year-old. The carefully written-out flute parts suggest, however, that this piece was not intended as just a practice piece: It was also to be performed. In his youth Ferruccio Busoni was considered especially gifted at the piano. It is probably due to this talent that the piano part often departs from being merely a functional accompaniment, to becoming an equal musical partner with the flute duo.