Igor Levit - On DSCH (2021) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Igor Levit knows no half measures - it’s either all in or nothing. In 2019, he recorded Beethoven's complete 32 piano sonatas for Sony Classical; in 2020, he played the longest work in music history in concert - Eric Satie's 18-hour long Vexations; and then there were his daily concerts from his home during the first lockdown. Now comes a new musical extreme. With On DSCH, Levit embraces the 20th century, his own Russian roots, and turns to two composers who, like him, were much more than just musicians. The album is divided into two parts: It includes the complete 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87, by Shostakovich, complemented by Ronald Stevenson's homage to the Russian master, Passacaglia on DSCH. Levit acknowledges this connection and bridges the gap between these two Cold War artists with a project that leaves the listener breathless. As his friend and musicologist Anselm Cybinski would say, "nothing less than 360° totality."

When Shostakovich heard the Well-Tempered Clavier in Leipzig in 1950, on the 200th anniversary of Bach’s death, he shortly thereafter decided to compose a modern equivalent. Unlike Bach, his 24 preludes and fugues are arranged in a circle of fifths rather than chromatically. His pieces focus less on complex compositional and formal features and more on the versatility of motifs as well as inner expression at a time when the composer was still struggling under Stalinism. Ten years later, Stevenson, a native of Scotland, composed Passacaglia on DSCH, a political statement at the height of the Cold War. Stevenson refers directly to Shostakovich by using the monogram D-S-C-H, which his elder (whose name is spelt ‘Schostakowitsch’ in German) had himself incorporated into several of his works. Throughout his nearly hour-long work, Stevenson explores the Russian composer’s leitmotif in a new and expanded way, and his variations build on each other, creating a kind of ‘perpetual motion’.

One could argue that this ever-turning musical wheel is Levit’s trademark. With incredible stamina, sustained energy and enormous dynamic and tonal flexibility, he gives each moment its own meaning, whether it be the powerful and mystical Passacaglia of Prelude No. 12 in G sharp minor or the much more provocative and almost dance-like Fugue No.15 in D flat major. Levit manages to unite these two extremes of Shostakovich’s work not only musically but also intellectually, but Stevenson is not to be outdone here: a work dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust (something which Levit also considers as one of his great callings in life), the Dies Irae that concludes the vast Triple Fugue Over Ground Bass is indusputably one of the other highlights of this triple CD.

TRACKLIST

1. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 1 in C Major
2. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 1 in C Major
3. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 2 in A Minor
4. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 2 in A Minor
5. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 3 in G Major
6. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 3 in G Major
7. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 4 in E Minor
8. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 4 in E Minor
9. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 5 in D Major
10. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 5 in D Major
11. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 6 in B Minor
12. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 6 in B Minor
13. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 7 in A Major
14. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 7 in A Major
15. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor
16. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor
17. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 9 in E Major
18. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 9 in E Major
19. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor
20. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor
21. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 11 in B Major
22. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 11 in B Major
23. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor
24. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor
25. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 13 in F-Sharp Major
26. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 13 in F-Sharp Major
27. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 14 in E-Flat Minor
28. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 14 in E-Flat Minor
29. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 15 in D-Flat Major
30. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 15 in D-Flat Major
31. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 16 in B-Flat Minor
32. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 16 in B-Flat Minor
33. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 17 in A-Flat Major
34. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 17 in A-Flat Major
35. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 18 in F Minor
36. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 18 in F Minor
37. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 19 in E-Flat Major
38. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 19 in E-Flat Major
39. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 20 in C Minor
40. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 20 in C Minor
41. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 21 in B-Flat Major
42. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 21 in B-Flat Major
43. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 22 in G Minor
44. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 22 in G Minor
45. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 23 in F Major
46. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 23 in F Major
47. Igor Levit - Prelude No. 24 in D Minor
48. Igor Levit - Fugue No. 24 in D Minor
49. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Sonata allegro
50. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Waltz in rondo-form
51. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Episode
52. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Suite. Prelude - Sarabande - Jig - Sarabande. Minuet - Jig - Gavotte - Polonaise
53. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Pibroch (Lament for the Children)
54. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Episode. Arabesque Variations
55. Igor Levit - Pars Prima: Nocturne
56. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Reverie-Fantasy
57. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Fanfare - Forebodings. Alarm - Glimpse of a War-Vision
58. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Variations on "Peace, Bread & the Land" (1917)
59. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Symphonic March
60. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Episode
61. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Fandango
62. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Pedal-Point. "To emergent Africa"
63. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Central Episode. Études
64. Igor Levit - Pars Altera: Variations in C Minor
65. Igor Levit - Pars Tertia: Adagio. Tribute to Bach
66. Igor Levit - Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject I. Andamento
67. Igor Levit - Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject II. B A C H
68. Igor Levit - Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject III. Dies Irae (In memoriam the six million)
69. Igor Levit - Pars Tertia: Final Variations on a Theme Derived from Ground. Adagissimo barocco



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