Igor Levit showing us that Brahms First concerto may be a duel between piano and orchestra but proving today with refined whispered playing that duels can also be won with gentle persuasion where beauty and radiance can defeat brute force and violence.
From Levits very first notes the whispered radiance of the piano entry created an overwhelming effect of surprise and astonishment. It was this that Levit, the poet of the keyboard, needed to express to contrast the overwhelming effect of the startling octave assault that Brahms shocks us with as the piano really does compete with the orchestra with nobility and dramatic chameleonic changes of gear.
An arresting first movement simply marked ‘Maestoso’ but it was of remarkable daring in its day as this was a true piano symphony, not the traditional question and answer but a unified cry of radiance and defiance. Levit is one of the finest and most knowledgeable musicians of our day as his master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London can testify . https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2022/04/05/igor-levit-at-the-royal-academy-of-music/
A cross between Levin and Schiff for historical knowledge but all Levit for the simple joy and mastery that he shares with all those that come within his radius. And tonight he was just one of the remarkable musicians on stage in the Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome. Discreetly moving with the music and sharing knowing looks with the players as their music making revealed secrets that can only happen in live music making.
A slow movement where Levit’s barely audible ethereal sounds were contrasted with the sumptuous richness that Harding could entice from his magnificent players. Hardly allowing the deeply pensive notes of the Adagio to die away as Levit catapulted us into the Rondo with burning Hungarian verve with a finale that was all Brahms’s youthful exhilaration and breathtaking excitement .
And after such a revelatory performance Levit allowed Mendelssohn to console us with his Adagio non troppo op 30 n 3 from Book two of his Songs without Words . Levit drawing us in to listen to whispered secrets as he had with Brahms, but this time there were no shock tactics but the simple consolation of a poet of the keyboard.
We may be used to the noble rich sounds of Rubinstein or Arrau or the animal excitement of Serkin but Levit like Lupu in this hall in 1976 can still make us relive this remarkable work with the shock tactics of it’s day.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 