Revisiting Anthony Burgess the Composer

One of my great regrets is that, during my frantic effort to copy-and-save as many of the articles that I wrote for Examiner.com as time would allow, the article I wrote about Anthony Burgess failed to make the cut. I suppose I began to take an interest in him after seeing Stanley Kubrick’s film based on his novel A Clockwork Orange. As a result, when a later novel, Napoleon Symphony, was published in 1974, I was eager to read it.

The book was a fictional account of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. The title of the book refers to the fact that Ludwig van Beethoven had initially dedicated his Opus 56 (third) symphony to Bonaparte but was soon disenchanted with his tyranny. As a result, he replaced Bonaparte’s name with the title we now all know, “Eroica.”

I remember reading an article in which Burgess claimed that, while writing the book, he had his typewriter on one side of his desk and a piano keyboard on the other. I enjoyed reading the book, but only a few of the references to music did not elude me. In fact, the only obvious one was the funeral march from the second movement of Opus 56, and I can imagine Burgess singing his own words to that theme!

Cover of the album being discussed

The recording I encountered during my Examiner.com days was entitled The Bad Tempered Electronic Keyboard. As might be guessed, the compositions consisted of 24 preludes and fugues. There is then a final track entitled “Finale: Natale 1985,” suggesting that Burgess completed this work at the end of that year. The pianist performing the entire cycle is Stephane Ginsburgh.

This was clearly a call-and-response undertaking. However the “Editorial Reviews” in the Amazon.com Web page for this recording suggest that Dmitri Shostakovich was as much an inspiration to Burgess as Johann Sebastian Bach was. Nevertheless, Burgess was serious enough about this undertaking to find his own way for every track on this album. Personally, I find that the journey through Burgess’ efforts has been as engaging as my encounters with both Bach and Shostakovich; and I have been pleased enough with Ginsburgh’s efforts that I shall probably revisit them from time to time.