Review – Igor Levitt at the Salzburg Festival
Mist and nobles, pedal and foot
July 28, 2024 Johan John
Citizen, European, Pianist. According to his own information, Igor Levit prefers to put his musical talent second – after the levels of humanitarian and moral attachment. When he’s in the key, he likes to look for human extremes and doesn’t play it safe. In a solo recital at the Great Festival Hall in Salzburg, he chose works by the three big “B’s” – Bach, Beethoven and Brahms – but wasn’t too shy about the wrong one. Fog Brings Light to Darkness: Review.
Bildquelle: SF/ Marco Borelli
Was there anything? Or is Johann Sebastian Bach’s purely chromatic fantasy and fugue BWV 903 a thing of the past? Igor Levitt approaches the start of his recital at the Great Festival Hall in Salzburg with good motivation. Message: In the blue, here we can imagine, everything flows. This is essentially true of these errant notes that Bach punched on paper regardless of form or theme, a question mark swirling in all circles, again far ahead of his time. Of course only Levitt has the technique to play it quickly: he loves the perfect pedal, which allows the notes to continue sounding even when his fingers have already left the keys. And Bach doesn’t have it.
Bach on a modern grand piano?
Of course, Bach can be played on a modern grand piano, and should be played. But for pedals, the following applies: it is the dose that counts. Levitt achieves this very convincingly on his CD recording, as the vocals are clear and transparent (despite the pedal). This evening, several passages turn out to be quite hazy and sometimes uninspired, such as the almost Tristan-like, dissonant chords in the last bars before the fugue. There, too, in the fugue section, he captures his right hand playing very quietly and clearly through the pedal very quickly – a shame.
Brahms the Melancholic
A landing net is a perfect fit for Johannes Brahms’s Six Piano Pieces 118. Levitt begins to imagine, especially in quiet, brooding, cloudy spaces, a kind of imagination that is freely curious, searching, hopeful. For example, in the second intermezzo, when Brahms writes that each note should sound “as if one wanted to absorb melancholy from each,” he makes deeply introspective questioning gestures. In the last section, and in an intermediate section, Levitt manages the trick of making it sound like a free improvisation, piercing the bass room brilliantly, with clear mid-range gradations: here the whole thing is shaped by someone clearly in mind.
Liszt meets Beethoven
Enter Franz Liszt, who left the big picture to proper design, especially when it comes to this Not anymore Of the symphonic world of his time: Beethoven. Piano reductions of operas are more or less artisanal. But with Beethoven’s symphonies, Liszt was able to combine his piano virtuosity with a genuine reverence for the “saint.” It technically revealed some hair freakiness that could lead to hair loss for performers. Either way, Igor Levitt feels right at home with the Seventh Symphony and approaches it with the handbrake off from the start. While it does come with some wobbly notes, it’s incredibly captivating and musically finely woven.
Funeral and Soc
He tackles the second funeral-like movement very quickly – compared to most bands – starting with the first chords that introduce the mournful theme, creating a drag you can’t escape. Audible, yet wonderfully sharp and clear. Soft rustling. Dry dubbing. Popularity. The way the melody bubbled out and bubbled through the large room in the fugato section was so explosive that a section of the audience then erupted into thunderous applause – much to the delight of Levitt, a highly experienced emcee, with a ball in hand. A reference to the thickness of the score. Then dive into hair loss prone areas like there’s no tomorrow.
An unexpected ending
Famous quotations from the “Archie of Rhythm” (Romain Rolland) and “Apotheosis of Dance” (Richard Wagner) are evident here, rather than some performances of the symphony with orchestra. Obviously, Levitt loses his temper on the final chord or lets him slip on the keyboard so that it sounds like a mezzo-fort break. Good result, but unexpected. So Levitt again plays the last chord in the encore. So, get out now. Then comes the maximal parallel: C sharp minor Nocturne no. 20 Chopin. A standing ovation.
