NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Igor Levit arrives at Carnegie Hall changed by the pandemic.
鈥淲e are not on our way back to normal. I don鈥檛 think we should be on our way back to anything. There is no normal out there," the 35-year-old pianist says, citing uncertainty around the pandemic, the , energy shortages and . "It鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e going through normal. So I find traveling and playing both very intense and yet incredibly rewarding. I cherish every concert I play in a way maybe I was a little bit less aware of pre-pandemic.鈥�
At Carnegie on Tuesday night, he plays Shostakovich鈥檚 24 鈥淧reludes and Fugues,鈥� part of a quick U.S. tour that takes him to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, on Sunday.
His new recording 鈥淭ristan鈥� was released by Sony Classical on Sept. 9 and his book 鈥淗ouse Concert,鈥� written with Florian Zinnecker, is being published in English by Polity in January.
Levit鈥檚 playing has a bravura intensity and an elegance, connecting emotionally and intellectually. Outspoken on social media, he is self-described as 鈥淐itizen. European. Pianist.鈥�
On March 10, 2020, his 33rd birthday, he played two Beethoven piano concertos at Hamburg鈥檚 Elbphilharmonie. Two days later, after COVID-19 shutdowns began, he started what turned into 52 streamed concerts from his Berlin apartment. He did not resume public performances before an audience until the spring of 2021.
鈥淚 had about 2.3 million people in my living room,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was not like I was playing for my phone. I was playing for real people. Emotionally there was no difference. So I knew that there are people and I better treat them with respect and I better try hard and I better play well, because these people gift me with their time, which is the most precious thing they have.鈥�
Levit called his first piano 鈥淟ulu鈥� after the title character in Berg鈥檚 opera and his second 鈥淢onk鈥� after Thelonious. He now uses a 1923 Steinway once owned by the Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer.
He most on May 30, 2020, a theme and two variations repeated 840 times and stretching for about 20 hours. He paused only for only short breaks for water and bathroom trips, and about 800,000 people listened.
鈥淭here was actually only one moment where I thought, why am I doing this? Because I was playing for 4 hours and there was still this pile of papers. I thought, like, there was no progress being made at all. But that lasted for 20, 25 minutes,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚t was big fun to do. Then the following day, I was totally high. It was fantastic. I would better not recapitulate how much I drank that day. And then the day after, that鈥檚 when I kind of crashed and felt a little drained.鈥�
His only uncomfortable performances during the shutdown were in empty concert halls for a camera.
鈥淭hese spaces were not meant for that. It feels like a lie,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not what it should be about.鈥�
鈥淭ristan,鈥� largely recorded in the Berlin Philharmonic鈥檚 Chamber Music Hall in September 2020, features Zolt谩n Kocsis鈥� arrangement of the opera鈥檚 prelude, a follow-up to Liszt鈥檚 arrangement of the 鈥淟iebestod (Love death)鈥� featured on Levit鈥檚 2018 recording 鈥淟ife.鈥� The two-CD set, released by Sony Classical on Sept. 9, opens with Liszt鈥檚 鈥淟iebestraum (Love dream) No. 3鈥� and is followed by Hans Werner Henze鈥檚 nearly 50-minute 鈥淭ristan,鈥� preludes for piano, electronic tapes and orchestra. The second disc opens with the Wagner transcription and includes Ronald Stevenson鈥檚 arrangement of the adagio from Mahler鈥檚 10th Symphony and Liszt鈥檚 鈥淗armonies du Soir,鈥� his Transcendental 脡tude No. 11.
After appearing in Europe from December through February, Levit goes to Boston, La Jolla, California, and Los Angeles in March, then returns to Europe briefly before three concerts in Pittsburgh in May followed by a two-week residency in San Francisco.
鈥淚 just want to play the music I want to play,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd very often I find myself having the desire to play music which was not written for the piano. But then my desire to play is way greater than the fact that it hasn鈥檛 been written for the piano. So in the end I just make it happen, period, be it Wagner, be it Mahler, be it whatever comes into my mind.鈥�
When Levit first considers a work he never has played before, he thinks his way through before putting fingers to keys.
鈥淚 gives me the chance to know the piece before I touch it, before I touch the piano,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 start imagining how it could sound like, what it should sound like, what I want it to sound like. It鈥檚 the most joyful thing to do for me.鈥�
His book recounts his youth through the pandemic. His family left Russia when he was young and moved to Hanover, Germany.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of pain because what sounds like an anecdote to you and to the reader, well, let me tell you the fact that a 9-year-old child had to make phone calls for his parents, is very painful for the parents, and we should never leave that out of our perspective,鈥� he said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 beauty to it and there鈥檚 pain to it. And I think that every child who grew up as a migrant and in a new country has very, very similar experiences, seeing your parents struggle, seeing your classmates not really accepting you. Thinking back includes beauty and mostly, let鈥檚 face it, pain and in a way sadness.鈥�
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
