Igor Levit: Fantasia (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Bach, J S: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV1068: Air ('Air on a G String') (arr. for piano by A. Siloti); Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV903; Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S178; Der Doppelganger (No. 12 from Schwanengesang, S560, after Schubert); Berg: Klavierstück in B minor; Piano Sonata, Op. 1; Busoni: Fantasia Contrappuntistica; Nuit de Noël. Igor Levit, piano. Sony Classical 19658811642

Russian-German pianist Igor Levit (b. 1987) seems never to do things in a small way. When the pandemic shut things down back in 2020, for example, he began posting a series of videos on Twitter that featured his playing of a variety of works for piano.  His recordings have typically been multi-disc releases with some sort of unifying theme. We have reviewed several of those recordings in the past, starting with Encounter, a two-CD set that saw Levit playing music by Busoni (his arrangements of works by Bach and Brahms), Reger, and Morton Feldman  (you can read that review here). Later in 2021, we reviewed his album titled On DSCH, another two-CD set that includes the 24 Preludes and Fuguesby Shostakovich plus the fascinating Passacaglia on DSCH by the late Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015)   (that review can be found here). Then late in 2022 we reviewed another two-CD recording by Levit, this one titled Tristan, which as you might expect from the title contained some music by Wagner along with some Liszt, Henze, and a piano transcription of the opening Adagio from the Symphony No. 10 by Mahler (that review is located here). In addition, there is yet another two-CD release from Levit titled Life that I greatly enjoyed but did not review. It includes music by Busoni, Brahms, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and – glory be! – Bill Evans. It’s an album to be cherished.

 

Now we have another two-CD release from this prodigious pianist, which this time begins with music by Bach. However, Levit has not chosen selections from among Bach’s many compositions for keyboard; rather, he begins his program with a transcription for piano of a work that Bach originally composed for a string ensemble, a piece with a melody familiar to us today as the “Air on a G String.” Only then does he move on to a Bach keyboard composition, the Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV903, which he plays with a crispness of tone – especially in the opening Fantasia – which reminds the listener of a harpsichord. Then it is on to the grand sonata by Liszt, one of the true touchstones of pianistic romanticism, to which Levit brings clarity, precision, and grace, making of the piece a guided tour through a magnificent jewelry exhibit. The Liszt/Schubert song transcription that follows (Der Doppelganger) acts as a calming, placid encore to end CD1.

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On CD2, Levit takes us forward in time, starting with a brief (15 bars, lasting only a minute) early scrap of a composition by Berg that was not even published until 1985, 50 years after the composer’s death. Then Levit plays Berg’s much more familiar Piano Sonata, his first published work, an utterly fascinating piece that Levit lays out before the listener with conviction and heart. Berg is the romantic of the serialists; you can sense the passion in this 12-minute, single-movement piece. It is a jewel that Levit has polished to perfection. Then comes the sprawling, 34-minute Busoni Fantasia Contrappuntistica, which Levit has looked forward to recording for a long time an considers the centerpiece of the album, not just for its length, but also for its “larger than life quality,” which he says it has in common with “the ‘Hammerklavier’ Sonata and the Goldberg Variations, both of them charismatic works that look far into the future,” It is a fascinating piece, one that demands repeated listening. The album end with some strange Christmas music by Busoni, possibly originally meant to serve as a kind of brief (4:30) soundtrack for a macabre French silent film with the same title. It’s not unpleasant music – just not quite what you would expect given the title. The booklet notes are insightful, the engineering is excellent, and the program has been well-chosen. Levit has put together another highly recommendable recording.