Zurich, Tonhalle: YOAV LEVANON(piano recital), September 25, 2023
Created by Kaspar Sannemann | September 25, 2023
The Israeli pianist Yoav Levanon, born in 2004, gavehis first public concert at the age of 4 and made hisdebut at New York's Carnegie Hall at the age of 7. After appearances at the Verbier Festival and theLucerne Festival, he is now appearing for the firsttime at the Tonhalle Zurich (Séries Jeunes).
Program:
Clara Schumann: Variations on a Theme by RobertSchumann in F sharp minor, op.20, written in 1853 |
Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, composed 1849-1853, premiered on January 22, 1857 in Berlin byHans von Bülow |
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Études-tableaux, op.39, premiered on February 21, 1917 inPetrograd by the composer
Criticism:
For minutes he sits there quietly, absorbed in himself, fully concentrated, one fears that he won't be able to start because of his stage fright - but far from it, what follows after this phase of concentration catapults him, the piano and, above all, the audience in the almost sold-out hall Small Tonhalle into the pianistic heaven of virtuoso ecstasy.
The 19-year-old pianist Yoav Levanon has taken on nothing less than two of the pinnacle works of piano literature for his debut at the Tonhalle: Liszt's B minor sonata, which is also formally complicated and riddled with immense difficulties, and Rachmaninov's Études-tableaux, op. 39, which is no less difficult to play. The third work, also composed by a composing keyboard virtuoso, was Clara Schumann's Variations on a Theme by her husband Robert Schumann, op.20: He intoned the main theme wonderfully delicately, stretching the dotted quarter note ever so slightly and thus eliciting something longingly elegiac from the motif.
In general, he always managed to clearly work out the main theme within Clara Schumann's skillful and complex variations, so clearly that you could hardly get it out of your ear, even if it was overwhelmed by swirling lines in the right hand and powerful, rumbling figures in the left hand were looking for.
Yoav Levanon didn't leave the stage afterwards, accepted a modest round of applause and immediately sat down in front of the piano to concentrate on the next piece, Liszt's damn difficult B minor Sonata. During the first groping staccati, he didn't allow himself to be disturbed by the siren of a patrol car wailing outside and the flood of sound that soon emerged easily drowned out the siren. What followed was an exhilarating, thrilling roller coaster ride, wilder than any chase with police vehicles. With this sonata, Liszt had created a work that was truly explosive in its modernity for the time, not understood by Clara Schumann, but admired by Richard Wagner - which is not surprising, because in some places an uplifting, fanfare-like grandioso motif can be heard, which Wagner certainly served as a source of inspiration for many a phrase. b. may have served in PARSIFAL. Yoav Levanon succeeded in elaborating these passages with tremendous emphasis. In addition, he amazed with delicate pauses, dreamy-reflexive phrases and ringing tones, wonderfully struck with his right hand to growling waves in the bass range of his left hand. He also performed the opposite (and much more difficult) with brilliance: the melody sounded in the left hand, while the right ran wild in lively runs in the upper range. Fascinating are the passages with the crossed hands, galloping and confidently. There was no handbrake on, even in the most tricky passages, it flowed and bubbled with a speed that was astonishing.
Even after this exhausting performance of Liszt's B minor sonata, the young master pianist only left the stage briefly. He immediately continued with Rachmaninoff's nine Études-tableaux, op.39. Already in the first piece, Levanon evoked a quasi-non-stop climax of vibrantly rising and falling fast passages. He transported the listeners into the different moods of the nine Études-tableaux, placing powerful agglomerations of sounds next to impressionistic shades (No. 2), evoking frenetic waves (No. 3), charming, dance-like tunes (No. 4), passionate, tumultuous floods of chords (No .5, the pianist Sviatoslav Richter once said of this piece: "I avoid playing this because it makes me appear completely emotionally naked. But if you decide to play it, make sure you are good enough to take off your clothes. "). At number 6 - vehemently demanding entry - one heard the wolf knocking on the door of the grandmother's house (Rachmaninoff mentioned "Little Red Riding Hood" to Ottorino Respighi as the title for this Étude). Even in the worst musical maelstrom, Levanon's playing remained transparent and flawless. If number 5 was tumultuous, the march-like clumps of sound with the bell tones in number 7 almost become a cacophony, but only almost, thanks to Levanon's confident technique, who, even in the most exalted passages, allows all emotion to flow only from the wrist and fingers, body and arms remaining completely calm. After this upsurge, No. 8 sounded a wistful thoughtfulness. The official part of the program came to an end with frenetic acclaim with No. 9, which was performed with glittering lightness and brilliantly composed in contrapuntal terms.
The likeable pianist now took the floor, thanked agents, friends and the audience and played Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 as the first encore with a breathtaking pianistic brilliance that finally swept the audience off their feet. The combination of huge chord passages combined with finely chiseled trills were out of this world. Yoav Levanon looks almost like the greatest keyboard virtuoso of the 19th century, Franz Liszt - and so the second encore also fit him wonderfully and the program of his recital. He played a brilliant interpretation of Liszt's LA CAMPANELLA, this Étude, which is based on the final movement of Paganini's second violin concerto. Once again everyone rose from their seats to cheer - and you
hopes that Levanon will soon be able to perform in the large hall together with the Tonhalle Orchestra. If you don't want to wait that long, we recommend his appearance next January at the KKL as part of the LE PIANO SYMPHONIQUE festival; He will play both piano concertos by Franz Liszt, together with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Sanderling.