LvB250 – IGOR LEVIT ”LES ADIEUX”

Igor Levit is one of his generation’s most important pianists (he was born in 1987) and he regularly appears on all of the major concert stages worldwide. He has performed at Konserthuset Stockholm on several occasions, each time with Beethoven on the programme. When he returns for the major Beethoven anniversary, he will do so emphatically – in eight concerts, he will perform all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. 

With its two movements, the Sonata in F-sharp Major, dedicated to Thérèse von Brunswick, is a masterpiece in small format. A short, slow introduction opens up to the warm and heartfelt first movement, while the second movement is a lively rondo.  

Beethoven occasionally gave piano lessons and Sonata No. 4 in E-flat Major was dedicated to one of his aristocratic students, Countess Babette von Keglevich.  It is music filled with power, passion and sincere energy.

The Sonata in E Major, with its chiselled sections, seems to be intended for string quartet. Beethoven actually later made a version for quartet, but he transposed everything to the lighter key of F major. Beethoven also seems to be in a good mood in the following sonata! The first movement is like an urgent story conveyed in trust to curious and interested ears, which is of course the audience. It is also the first time that he uses a theme with variations in a piano sonata.