Igor Levit, Piano
Performers
Igor Levit, Piano
Program
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
FRED HERSCH Variations on a Folksong (World Premiere)
WAGNER Prelude from Tristan und Isolde (arr. Zoltán Kocsis)
LISZT Piano Sonata in B Minor
Encore:
WAGNER "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde (transcr. Liszt)
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Listen to Selected Works
At a Glance
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109
Beethoven’s first piano sonatas followed hard on the heels of his Op. 1 piano trios, in which the composer declared his artistic independence. By the time he wrote the last few of his 32 sonatas in the early 1820s, he was no longer a young lion but a battle-scarred warrior whose indomitable spirit shines through in the incandescent slow movement of the E-Major Sonata.
FRED HERSCH Variations on a Folksong
Composed for Igor Levit and receiving its world premiere on this evening’s program, Fred Hersch’s Variations on a Folksong explores “O Shenandoah” in a set of 20 variations.
WAGNER Prelude from Tristan und Isolde
The mesmerizing orchestral introduction to Wagner’s music drama foreshadows the “love-death” that awaits the titular Tristan and Isolde at the end. The late Hungarian pianist Zoltán Kocsis transcribed the Prelude for his instrument in 1978 and recorded it four years later, along with Wagner transcriptions by his compatriot Franz Liszt.
LISZT Sonata in B Minor
A key figure of the Romantic era, Liszt was a musical visionary who prefigured many of the major compositional developments of the 20th century. This massive single-movement sonata illustrates the technique of thematic transformation that he also employed in his many symphonic poems.