Earlier today, I briefly read a Wall Street Journal article about the change in command at Disney’s Lucasfilm. This was big news because a lot of people really care about the studio’s flagship franchise, Star Wars, and were apparently irate about recent creative decisions that it took. I never watched any Star Wars movies until well into my 30s. Entertaining enough, I thought, some interesting themes are revealing of American society, but nothing that became essential viewing for me. Honestly, the inescapable Star Wars fandom mystifies me. Isn’t one supposed to grow out of this?

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Of course, there are a lot of composers I first listened to as an adolescent that are still part of my daily life. Stravinsky, Ravel, Webern, Shostakovich — I wouldn’t call their music childish. But there are some whose music seem especially grown up.

Busoni is one of those; his music didn’t finally make sense to me until sometime late in 2023. Virtuosic as it is, his music is short on the flash that typically captivates the young. His Piano Concerto, which will be played this weekend ay Disney Hall, is an ecstatic summation of the genre (how many piano concertos include a chorus?) as well as a meditation on its history and meaning. It is music and commentary about music. One could imagine Borges having penned something like it had he been a composer and pianist.

This weekend’s performance of Busoni’s Piano Concerto appears to be the local premiere. Interestingly, Furtwängler’s Symphonic Concerto, a deeper cut, has been played more here than the Busoni.