(Igor Levit | 2019 | Live) Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.21 in C major, Op.53 (Waldstein)

Описание к видео (Igor Levit | 2019 | Live) Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.21 in C major, Op.53 (Waldstein)

I've showered praise over Igor Levit already in this channel, and with the way he continues to play he gives me no reason to pause. Levit has associated himself with Beethoven's music for many years already, and now in the Beethoven year of 2020 he's commemorating the composer with all-Beethoven programs and even a few complete Sonata cycles across selected European and American cities.

Levit's Beethoven is not of the imposing and brusque kind of Richter and Gilels, say. Nor is it the kind where solemnly accurate readings are delivered of a revered master. His is a young man's Beethoven. Tempos are fast, performances exciting, and he makes the music feel fresh, alive and current. Many of the sonatas he almost treats like virtuoso showpieces - and indeed, given Beethoven's own prowess at the instrument and the fast metronome marks he left, who is to say that wasn't how Beethoven meant them to land on his own time? There's nothing dumb or superficial about the playing however. Conceptually he's aware of what he's performing, and the quality of playing is so fine that I wonder if anything like it has been presented to audiences in the Sonatas over the past 35 years (with a few individual exceptions, notably from Sokolov and Pletnev). The amount of detail and nuance in the playing is a joy to hear, and something I've particularly appreciated is how well paced his performances are. He plays fast, but the music never feels rushed, and when an oasis comes he brings it down wonderfully and gives the music a chance to breathe and sing without a hurry in the world - as it needs to. Try one of the terraces towards the end of the first movement here for instance, from around 08:20 and the next minute.

So, no criticism? Sure. As always, with any pianist - but I'll leave it for another video. Partly since one is a point which concerns a lot of pianists and which I want to expand on, but also since I think that what he does well is so much more important. I'd like to point out however that, while Sonata cycles attempted by such a young pianist is sometimes frowned upon (including by me!), the bulk of the music does come from a young-ish composer. Every Sonata up until No.27 was composed while Beethoven was between 25 and 39, and the Waldstein here - No.21 - when Beethoven was at the same age Levit is today (33).

All that said... no one would be happier than me if he repeats the programs for the 275th anniversary, at which time I bet we'd get a different, but probably equally compelling perspective on the sonatas.


Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.21 in C major, Op.53 (Waldstein)
00:00 - I. Allegro con brio
09:57 - II. Introduzione: Adagio molto
14:45 - III. Rondo: Allegretto moderato

Igor Levit, piano
Source: Audience Recording

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