Although Ferrucio Busoni was himself a modernist composer (experimenting with both atonality and microtonality), he was also somewhat obsessed throughout his career with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and is arguably remembered more today for his often idiosyncratic transcriptions of Bach’s music than for his own original compositions. The first disc of this recording by pianist Igor Levit presents ten chorale preludes originally written for the organ, but transcribed here for piano, including the popular “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.” These are particularly interesting because the contrast between the sonorities of the organ and the piano are so great; compared to the originals, these versions sound deceptively simple, dry and understated – the better to hear the subtle contrapuntal interplay at work in Bach’s writing.