Fantasia Igor Levit

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Suite for String Orchestra No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068:
• 1 Bach: Suite for String Orchestra No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: Air (Arr. for piano by A. Siloti) 04:32
• 2 Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: I. Fantasia 05:33
• 3 Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903: II. Fugue 04:51
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178:
• 4 Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: I. Lento assai - Allegro energico 11:44
• 5 Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: II. Andante sostenuto - Quasi adagio 09:09
• 6 Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: III. Allegro energico 11:29
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Der Doppelgänger, S . 560, No. 12:
• 7 Schubert: Der Doppelgänger, S . 560, No. 12 (Arr. for piano by Franz Liszt) 05:31
• Alban Berg (1885 - 1935): Klavierstück in B Minor:
• 8 Berg: Klavierstück in B Minor 01:02
• Piano Sonata, Op. 1:
• 9 Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1 12:23
• Ferruccio Busoni (1866 - 1924): Fantasia contrappuntistica, BV 256:
• 10 Busoni: Fantasia contrappuntistica, BV 256 34:07
• Nuit de Noël, BV 251:
• 11 Busoni: Nuit de Noël, BV 251 04:30
• Total Runtime 01:44:51

Info for Fantasia

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 fantasy with simultaneous rigour".

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 "Fantasia contrappuntistica", based on Bach, and Alban Berg's only and unique piano sonata. These special works are complemented by four smaller pieces appropriately chosen by Levit: Bach's famous "Air" 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.

"With Ferruccio Busoni's "Fantasia", a great homage to Johann Sebastian Bach, Levit closes the circle. This 1910 attempt to complete the last, fragmentary fugue from Bach's "Art of the Fugue" itself has something utopianly open, unfinished. Quite rightly, Igor Levit reveres Busoni, one of the most exciting artists of the early 20th century. What Levit makes of the gigantic "Fantasia contrappuntistica" is breathtaking in its transparency, precise tonal blending, seriousness and spiritual penetration. In any case, it is hard to get tired of listening to this masterpiece. Levit's congenial interpretation makes that impossible." (Oswald Beaujean, BR-Klassik)

Igor Levit, piano

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