For his debut recording on Sony Classical, pianist Igor Levit chose some of the most challenging repertoire ever written for piano: Beethoven's last five piano sonatas.
Levit's recording, Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas, is currently available from Sony. The two-CD set includes the Sonatas No. 28 and No. 29 ("Hammerklavier") on disk one. The second disk contains the Sonata No. 30, Sonata in A-flat major, Op. 110 and the Sonata in C minor, op. 111.
Of the Beethoven sonatas, Levit, himself, says, "His music is always confessional, existential, a borderline experience. It involves humor but it also means working oneself into the ground."
Levit obviously knows a thing or two about hard work, after becoming the youngest artist ever to compete in the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2005, where he won four awards.
Born in Russia, Levit moved to Germany with his family when he was eight years old. He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover, Germany--where he achieved the highest grades in the academy's history.
Levit has received international acclaim for his artistry ever since his appearance at the Rubinstein Competition. About his technique, The Guardian said, "Unlike those technically brilliant young pianists who dazzle briefly and disappear, Levit is pre-eminently a real musician who seems built to last."
And from what we've heard of Igor Levit's Beethoven thus far, we here at Classicalite could not agree more.
