Piano-Star

Without any artificial pose, 19-year-old Yoav Levanon sends his fingers into the storm of virtuoso runs at the evening concert in Lörrach. Photo: Tonio Passlick

Tonio Paßlick 05/02/2023 - 07:00 p.m

Rarely has the Lörrach classical music audience been so stunned and exultantly jubilant at the same time. After two hours of a piano concerto that is unusual in every respect, the Israeli piano virtuoso Yoav Levanon, who has just turned 19, accepts the homage with a shy smile, forms his graceful hands into a heart and lets two brilliant encores follow: Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue ' and Listz's 'La Campanella'.

Challenging

After three of the most important and demanding works in the piano literature, Mozart's Sonata in D major (KV 576), Franz Listz's famous Sonata in B minor and Rachmaninoff's "Études-Tableaux, op. 39", one may ask whether it is about is an exceptional talent, one of the "rising stars" that are traded worldwide as "discoveries". Or already one of the great interpreters who will one day join the Olympus of legends beyond any doubt.

Because Levanon is already a "genius of performance" as Robert Schumann described Franz Liszt 170 years ago.

Without making any gesture, the 19-year-old steps onto the stage, sits down at the grand piano and concentrates. Long and almost meditative. Then you are captivated by an enchantingly light-looking and at the same time intoxicatingly virtuoso playing that illuminates fascinating depths of interpretation for such a young person, sometimes lyrical and tender, sometimes dramatic, full of energy.

Creative

Every tone, every motif, every theme and every arc of suspense are transparently and consciously woven into the most complex structures. A unique and creative interpretation of the historical works, which are understood in their context and yet enlivened with new colors. Anything but a socialite. His playing is full of elegance, supple, perceptive. The newspaper "Le Temps" wrote of the "magical touch" that would emanate from Levanon, the "Little Prince of the Piano".

Poetic

Performance and musical brilliance stand in a strange contrast. Anyone who closes their eyes experiences a thunderstorm in the fortissimo passages or Rachmaninoff's mighty sound images, whoever opens them again perceives an interpreter who, without any forced pose, sends his fingers into the storm and thinks ahead of the virtuoso runs with imperceptible movements of the head. That had already moved conductors and critics at previous concerts. At the age of eleven he played Chopin's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples under the Israeli conductor Daniel Oren.

unique

"The poetry of this boy is unique," said the star conductor at the time. Critics rejoiced that his style could be compared to Rubinstein. Rigorous technique and a rare sensibility have led him to a collection of prizes and awards that would grace the lifetime achievements of great performers. A great moment for the region.