Igor Levit - Fantasia (2023)

On his new album "Fantasia", Igor Levit presents no less than four outstanding works from a period of almost two centuries: from 1720 to 1910. For Levit, these are "works that, for all their frequent intimacy, simply have something incredibly expansive about them, emotionally, but also instrumentally".

The starting point for all four works is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, because for Levit this music offers "maximum freedom and imagination with simultaneous rigor." Levit chose Bach's brilliant "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue," which he combines with the tense spectacular and famous B minor Sonata by Franz Liszt, with which he has already enjoyed great success in concert. The other great works on the album are Federico Busoni's Bach-based "Fantasia contrappuntistica" and Alban Berg's only and unique piano sonata.

These special works are complemented by four smaller pieces appropriately chosen by Levit: the famous "Air" by Bach in a piano arrangement by Alexander Siloti, Franz Liszt's touching piano arrangement of Schubert's song "Der Doppelgänger," "Nuit de Noël" by Busoni, and an early, small piano work in B minor by Alban Berg.

As a result, Igor Levit's new album is also an extremely exciting, imaginative album full of musical discoveries.

TRACKLIST

CD 01 (7 / 52:51)

1. Igor Levit - Suite for String Orchestra No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: Air (Arr. for piano by A. Siloti)
2. Igor Levit - I. Fantasia
3. Igor Levit - II. Fugue
4. Igor Levit - I. Lento assai - Allegro energico
5. Igor Levit - II. Andante sostenuto - Quasi adagio
6. Igor Levit - III. Allegro energico
7. Igor Levit - Der Doppelgänger, S . 560, No. 12 (Arr. for piano by Franz Liszt)


CD 02 (4 / 52:02)

1. Igor Levit - Klavierstück in B Minor
2. Igor Levit - Piano Sonata, Op. 1
3. Igor Levit - Fantasia contrappuntistica, BV 256
4. Igor Levit - Nuit de Noël, BV 251