Igor Levit's Op 109

[rodney_h_d]

There seem to be many technically able pianists around these days but not many of them manage to make as great an impression on me in Beethoven as Igor Levit has just done on R3 a few minutes ago with his Op.109. The rest of his programme may be just as fine [the Schubert sounds good too!], but it is only in the Beethoven that I am able to stick my neck out!

[ahinton]

There seem to be many technically able pianists around these days but not many of them manage to make as great an impression on me in Beethoven as Igor Levit has just done on R3 a few minutes ago with his Op.109. The rest of his programme may be just as fine [the Schubert sounds good too!], but it is only in the Beethoven that I am able to stick my neck out!

I only managed to catch (most of) his Prokofiev 7; not at all bad, except for the sadly lacklustre finale which has to be the very reverse of lacklustre if it's to be anything at all...

[Tevot]

I wish the audience had allowed a moment or so of silence to elapse before they applauded the Beethoven

[Thropplenoggin]

I found Llyr Williams's Beethoven Op. 109 similarly transporting this week. A most moving performance, the occasional fluffed note in no way impeding on the overall sensitivity of its rendering. At times it was like hearing a wholly new work. Revelatory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nj8f0

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I found Llyr Williams's Beethoven Op. 109 similarly transporting this week. A most moving performance, the occasional fluffed note in no way impeding on the overall sensitivity of its rendering. At times it was like hearing a wholly new work. Revelatory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nj8f0

[Thropplenoggin]

It has lead me onto this, FHG...a most serendipitous find.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Schubert-Beethoven-Vienna-Johannes/dp/B004TWOX9E/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1365194004&sr=1-4&keywords=llyr+williams

http://www.orchidclassics.com/vie.htm

[Nick Armstrong]

I found Llyr Williams's Beethoven Op. 109 similarly transporting this week. A most moving performance, the occasional fluffed note in no way impeding on the overall sensitivity of its rendering. At times it was like hearing a wholly new work. Revelatory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nj8f0

Wow... I missed that this week, but have been dismayed by his hammering approach to LvB's late sonatas in the past, to the point of switching off in disgust. Good to think he's improved...

[Thropplenoggin]

Enjoyed Llyr Williams's in LvB's op.110 up until the last fugue. He really seems to have a unique style, or is it phrasing, that brings out nuances in these pieces I haven't noticed before. Op. 111 is less successful, for the same reason the fugue failed in op.110., which led me to question whether he has true hand independence. I'm in no way qualified to judge other than that the fugue didn't sound right at all, nor the trills in op.111, which I imagine are notoriously difficult to get right. Pollini manages it, makes it seem effortless. Solomon, too. It can make or break the work for me.

Judge for yourselves here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nj8f2

[vinteuil]

I'm in no way qualified to judge other than that the fugue didn't sound right at all, nor the trills in op.111, which I imagine are notoriously difficult to get right. Pollini manages it, makes it seem effortless.

... I wonder if "makes it seem effortless" is actually a term of praise. Isn't the feeling of "effort", of pushing up to and beyond the apparent possibilities of the player, the instrument, the then-accepted language of music - part of what late Beethoven requires? It's certainly one of the reasons I cherish recordings of Beethoven on pianos of the period, where you are really conscious of the difficulty - the "effort" - of what is required.

[Thropplenoggin]

... I wonder if "makes it seem effortless" is actually a term of praise. Isn't the feeling of "effort", of pushing up to and beyond the apparent possibilities of the player, the instrument, the then-accepted language of music - part of what late Beethoven requires? It's certainly one of the reasons I cherish recordings of Beethoven on pianos of the period, where you are really conscious of the difficulty - the "effort" - of what is required.

A pertinent point, though I'd counter by saying that there's also a moment when all you want to hear is the music and not the music-making. At such times, a technique that can tame that nigh-impossible concatenation of trills, allows one to immerse oneself in the, for me, cosmic soundscape being offered here: verily, the stuff of the numinous, mysterium tremendum.

I don't find Pollini robotic, though, and certainly not Solomon. Just brilliant pianism.

As an aside, I have yet to find a period set I'm happy with. I prefer Brautigam's Mozart sonatas to his Beethoven. Perhaps I will re-assess Alexei Lubimov's disc later today. Are you au fait with it, Vintner?

[Nick Armstrong]

I don't find Pollini robotic, though, and certainly not Solomon. Just brilliant pianism.

They are my two touchstones.

[Anna]

Enjoyed Llyr Williams's in LvB's op.110 up until the last fugue. He really seems to have a unique style, or is it phrasing, that brings out nuances in these pieces I haven't noticed before.

I've seen Llyr Williams playing that Beethoven live a while back - he does have a very unique style, on more than one level, which had gained him many critics. I like him very much but he certainly hasn't gained the following that I think he deserves. If you can see him live, please do, his hands are quite mesmerising in the rather 'mannered' way he places them. He also has a very disconcerting way of looking at the audience as if to say 'look what I'm doing'

[Nick Armstrong]

He also has a very disconcerting way of looking at the audience as if to say 'look what I'm doing'