Igor Butman Prohecy

Igor Levit’s new double album Fantasia features a wide range of works spanning a period of almost two centuries from 1720 to 1910 and showcases key compositions by Franz Liszt, Ferruccio Busoni, Johann Sebastian Bach and Alban Berg. The starting point of the four paradigmatic works featured on the double album is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Levit has chosen Bach’s exceptional Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor and combined it with Liszt’s B minor Sonata, a highly charged piece that at the time of its composition looked far ahead into the future (which Levit is currently performing to great acclaim all over the world), together with Busoni’s Fantasia contrappuntistica, in which Busoni perpetuated the Bach tradition, and Alban Berg’s only Piano Sonata.

Returning to the studio after a three-year pause, Igor Levit reflects on existence and loss—thoughts prompted by the death of a close friend. Tracing a journey from the music of Bach to that of Frederic Rzewski by way of Schumann, Wagner, Liszt, and others, he supports his intellectual and emotional concerns with playing of power and tenderness. Liszt’s “Ad nos” Fantasia and Fugue unfolds with solemn fervor and Wagner’s Liebestod seethes with passion, while Bill Evans’ “Peace Piece” disarms with its simple message, exquisitely colored by one of the major pianistic talents of our time.

The earliest piece on this disc is the delightful Pastorale, written in 1907, when Stravinsky was 25; the latest is the enigmatic Epitaphium, written 52 years later. In between come a clutch of pieces from that fascinating period of Stravinsky’s life when he was moving from Russianism to neo-classicism via jazz. The remaining two, the Octet of 1923 and the Septet of 1953, are both firmly in Stravinsky’s witty, poised neo-classical style, though the Septet is moving towards new, tougher territory. Stravinsky himself made classic recordings of these pieces in the Sixties, now reissued on CD on the Sony label. These are always electric, if sometimes a little untidy, and so closely recorded you feel the players are sitting in your lap. By that lofty benchmark this new recording measures up superbly. Tempos are just as brisk and alert as Stravinsky’s, the accents just as incisive. These qualities are combined with a beautiful soft-grained tone – a nice change from Stravinsky’s lemon-sharp sound.

Volume three is incidental music from a play called The King of the Jews. Recorded only twice, the second time by Polyansky… But it’s brilliant. This is atmospheric, at times quite engaging, and an excellent example of the art of incidental music—all the more impressive considering the scarcity of models, Russian or otherwise. The introduction is a very nicely crafted exercise in subtle variation of scale, rather than of theme. It is, like much of the work, introspective, often stately, and a little mournful—how could it not be given the subject matter? But the piece as a whole is punctuated with occasional outbursts of grandeur—The Trumpets of the Levites, Entr’acte to Act III, Scene 2 and the Syrian Dance are all dramatic and/or lively enough to engage even the most humorless listener.

There are some attractive ideas in Spring (Vesna), a charming work, refined and transparent in its orchestration, playing on birdsong and building to a sensuous climax. The more familiar Concert Waltzes contain some of Glazunov’s most winning tunes. The novelty most likely to excite curiosity here is Glazunov’s music for Oscar Wilde’s Salomé, with Salome’s dance leading to a Polovtsian climax. Salome sheds her veils in a most unerotic fashion. But this cannot be blamed on the conductor, and generally there are warm, idiomatic performances, richly recorded.

The Concerto Grosso is a popular Baroque form, in which two instrumental groups complete against each other: a small group of soloists and the tutti of the orchestral group. It is the forerunner of the solo concerto form, which features only one solo instrument. This set present the complete Concerti Grossi by Pietro Antonio Locatelli, modelled on the popular concerti grossi of his teacher Corelli. The writing as might be expected from Locatelli the devil violinist, is highly virtuosic and brilliant, inventive in harmony and counterpoint, written to impress and entertain.