The peculiarities of Busoni-the-interpreter, clearly evident in the matter of what he played, stand in even sharper relief in how he played it. Here, the performer's “great personality,” his “giant, brilliant, and original individuality” left an inimitable stamp on his “unusually personal,” “uniquely special and independent” renditions. “Going to hear other pianists, even the great ones, we usually know quite well exactly how this or that piece will be played and get ourselves on a particular track in advance. Busoni, however, pushes us off that track: everything with him is more or less unexpected … acquiring a new character and thoroughly different lighting. This is the principal charm of Busoni's magical art.” “The most valuable in him is that which is unexpected and yet happily discovered, deeply convincing.” “Busoni's performance creates the impression of a brilliant improvisation—and this is his foremost strength!”

Indeed in this, in the “free flight of poetic fantasy,” in the creative nature of performance was the “foremost strength” of Busoni-the-interpreter, “perhaps, his most substantial distinction from other pianists.” “The work of composition is continued by the performer. But it does not reach such brilliance as in Busoni in any other”; “no contemporary pianist is capable of this creative transformation.”