Liszt Hexameron Levit

I was fortunate to attend the Russian pianist Igor Levit's recital presented recently at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.There are so many young, upcoming pianists ,with take for granted big digital technique that leave this listener feeling that he has sat through an generic played lifeless recital. But here, it was different .Levit used his technique, and it is formidable, to serve and bring to life the music he was performing. The recital included Bach's First Partita, two Beethoven Sonatas, No 22 in f and No 17 "Tempest" in d minor, Prokofiev's Sonata No 7 and Ronald Stevenson's Fantasy on "Peter Grimes." Levit's performance displayed the pianists huge color palate, his extraordinary,(in these days), variety of touch, his masterful use of pedal and his ability to phrase a melodic line. In other words, he is an artist. Remember the name.
Here, Levit plays Liszt's Hexameron, Morceau de concert S.392 -- six variations upon a theme from Bellini's opera I Puritani. Liszt asked five other pianist-composers to contribute to the project -- Frederic Chopin, Carl Czerny, Henri Herz, Johann Peter Pixis and Sigismond Thalberg.