There are many great pianists in this world, but there’s only one Igor Levit. Typical hyperbole in music journalism, you say? Levit’s recent Koerner Hall would suggest otherwise.
For nearly two hours, the Russian-German pianist held audience members transfixed. In time, the sold out crowd was eating out of the palm his hand. The unusual program was identical to the one he performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall four days earlier: a mix of Hindemith, Mahler and Beethoven – the last two were piano transcriptions of symphonic works.
After the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Performance Executive Director Mervon Mehta’s introduction, Igor Levit came onstage and explained to the audience that he had broken the big toe on his right foot the previous day, and had to perform wearing a slipper as a result. Many pianists would likely have cancelled or postponed a performance when faced with such calamity, but not Igor Levit. He proceeded to give a stunning display of pianism that was nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Levit began with Hindemith’s Suite 1922. The piece consists of five short movements: from the strikingly executed Marsch, to the huge sonorities of Shimmy the amazing dynamic range in Nachtstück, and the stupendous technical demands of Ragtime, the work in his hands was angular yet fluid, dissonant yet lyrical. Hindemith sounds particularly pleasing in his fingers.
This was followed by the piano transcription of the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony no. 10 by Stevenson. Although piano transcriptions of symphonic pieces are sometimes less effective than their originals, and some pieces lose their inherent beauty going from the sonically sustained strings to the percussive piano, the performance benefited from Levit’s intensity of delivery that had the audience held spellbound. You could hear a pin drop.
After intermission came the centrepiece, the near-hourlong Symphony no. 3 by Beethoven. Right from the opening, Levit took us on an extraordinary sonic journey that certainly made listeners sit up and take notice. A masterful First Movement – it lived up to its label of “con brio”! The Second Movement had all the requisite lyricism and solemnity, while the propulsive Third Movement had me on the edge of my seat. Levit saved the best for last: a finer Final Movement I have not heard, a real tour de force that will not be soon forgotten.
Great ovations followed, as expected, but no matter how hard the audience tried, there was no encore. Considering how strenuous a program he had just played, it was completely understandable. Levit is scheduled for a repeat of the program at Bourgie Hall on Monday. Montreal audiences are in for a real treat.
This was indeed a special recital, and not just because of his extraordinary playing: March 10 was Levit’s 37th birthday. A belated Happy Birthday, Igor Levit!
