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It’s rare for a work as crucial to piano literature as Liszt’s “Sonata in B Minor” to be submerged beneath the thematic title of an album rather than being presented as its primary sales pitch. Yet the great pianist Igor Levit clearly knows what he’s doing. Titled Fantasia, his new double album on Sony Classical is dedicated to pieces that escape all formal frameworks, covering a period of almost two centuries from 1720 to 1910. His program begins with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which single handedly galvanised a good part of Western classical music, finishing with Franz Liszt, Alan Berg, and Ferruccio Busoni, all three of whom cite Bach in their works, the first two having composed sonatas that rely more on a “Fantasia” than on a precise form. This freedom of composition is the common thread of this fascinating program that comprises in one fell swoop Bach’s exceptional “Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue” and Ferruccio Busoni’s monumental “Fantasia contrappuntistica,” to which Levit responds with renditions of Siloti, Liszt, and Busoni. With his soft and supple sonority, Igor Levit is above all an introspective musician who doesn’t try to make an outrageous demonstration of Liszt’s sonata, haunted by Goethe’s Faust, nor does he do so with that of Alban Berg, whose twelve-tone writing doesn’t burn bridges with music history. With his unique imagination and emotional depth, Igor Levit takes us on a fascinating interior journey through time periods and innovative styles whose timeless and expressive forces never stop compelling us. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Alexander Siloti, Arranger - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178 (Franz Liszt)
Franz Liszt, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Franz Liszt, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Franz Liszt, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Franz Liszt, Arranger - Franz Schubert, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
DISC 2
Alban Berg, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Alban Berg, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Ferruccio Busoni, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Ferruccio Busoni, Composer - Igor Levit, Piano, MainArtist - Andreas Neubronner, Producer, Recording Engineer
(P) 2023 Igor Levit, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
Album review
It’s rare for a work as crucial to piano literature as Liszt’s “Sonata in B Minor” to be submerged beneath the thematic title of an album rather than being presented as its primary sales pitch. Yet the great pianist Igor Levit clearly knows what he’s doing. Titled Fantasia, his new double album on Sony Classical is dedicated to pieces that escape all formal frameworks, covering a period of almost two centuries from 1720 to 1910. His program begins with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which single handedly galvanised a good part of Western classical music, finishing with Franz Liszt, Alan Berg, and Ferruccio Busoni, all three of whom cite Bach in their works, the first two having composed sonatas that rely more on a “Fantasia” than on a precise form. This freedom of composition is the common thread of this fascinating program that comprises in one fell swoop Bach’s exceptional “Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue” and Ferruccio Busoni’s monumental “Fantasia contrappuntistica,” to which Levit responds with renditions of Siloti, Liszt, and Busoni. With his soft and supple sonority, Igor Levit is above all an introspective musician who doesn’t try to make an outrageous demonstration of Liszt’s sonata, haunted by Goethe’s Faust, nor does he do so with that of Alban Berg, whose twelve-tone writing doesn’t burn bridges with music history. With his unique imagination and emotional depth, Igor Levit takes us on a fascinating interior journey through time periods and innovative styles whose timeless and expressive forces never stop compelling us. © François Hudry/Qobuz
About the album
- 2 disc(s) - 11 track(s)
- Total length: 01:44:47
- 1 Digital booklet
- Main artists: Igor Levit
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Sony Classical
- Genre: Classical
(P) 2023 Sony Classical, a label of Sony Music Entertainment
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