Igor Levit: The Life Album

The way Levit has formed this programme is extraordinarily effective. The Brahms reworking for left hand of Bach’s D minor violin Chaconne is a probing, introverted affair, and how effectively... — Gramophone Magazine, November 2018 More…

Release Date: 5th Oct 2018
Catalogue No: 88985424452
Label: Sony
Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

November 2018
Presto Recording of the Week

5th October 2018

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Busoni: Fantasia nach J S Bach

14:33

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

Bach, J S: Partita for solo violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV1004: Chaconne

13:51

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

Schumann: Theme with Variations in E flat major WoO 24 ('Geistervariationen')

11:24

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

Rzewski: A Mensch (from Dreams)

10:15

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

Wagner: Parsifal: Solemn March (trans. Liszt)

11:17

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam' (arr. Busoni)

33:24

Album only

Igor Levit (piano)

I. Fantasia

9:59

Album only

II. Adagio

13:36

Album only

III. Fuga

9:49

$1.35

$1.75

$2.10

Wagner: Mild und leise 'Isolde's Liebestod' (from Tristan und Isolde)

7:47

$1.35

$1.75

$2.10

Igor Levit (piano)

Busoni: Berceuse (1909) from Elegien

5:14

$1.35

$1.75

$2.10

Igor Levit (piano)

Evans, B: The Peace Piece

6:13

$1.35

$1.75

$2.10

Igor Levit (piano)

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Recording of the Week, A moving recital from Igor Levit with music by Bach, Liszt and Wagner

5th October 2018

Igor Levit explores music of transfiguration and transcendence in his Life Album, an eclectic recital of Bach-via-Busoni and Wagner-via-Liszt.

Read Presto's complete review of this recording here.

After a break of three years, Igor Levit presents a new & highly personal album - Including Bach’s Chaconne, Schumann’s Ghost Variations, Bill Evans’ Peace Piece and Wagner’s Liebestod... Hailed by The New York Times as “one of the essential artists of his generation”, Gilmore Artist Igor Levit releases a new album after 3 years. The new and highly personal album has been sparked by the tragic death of a close friend. Levit reflects at the keyboard on the experience of loss, hovering between grief and despair, resignation and solace. From JS Bach to Frederic Rzewski: ‘Life’ effortlessly crosses borders between eras, styles and genres, offering a multitude of new discoveries.

Reviews

November 2018

The way Levit has formed this programme is extraordinarily effective. The Brahms reworking for left hand of Bach’s D minor violin Chaconne is a probing, introverted affair, and how effectively Levit can imbue a single line with light and shade...This is a fascinating, compelling set that demands to be heard.

January 2019

Igor Levit’s latest 2-CD album is a sufficiently epic achievement to make even his finest rivals sound small-minded by comparison. The underlying theme of Life is the journey from the earthly to the seraphic, ‘music whose bleak grandeur and melancholy beauty’ is lovingly chosen by Levit as solace after the death of a close friend. Igor Levit’s Life is as awe-inspiring as it is thought-provoking, crowned by Sony’s lavish presentation and outstanding sound.

5th October 2018

All of the qualities which made Levit's readings of the Goldberg and Diabelli Variations so treasurable are in evidence in each individual interpretation here, as well as in the curation of the programme itself: this is a musician with an uncanny ability to balance head and heart, and whilst everything's underpinned by formidable technique and a rigorous intellectualism that borders on the austere, the emotional arc of each work and of the album as a whole is masterfully realised.

Igor Levit: The Life Album

2 CDs

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Recording of the Week, A moving recital from Igor Levit with music by Bach, Liszt and Wagner