Igor Levit - Encounter - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Three CD set. On DSCH is a discographic tour de force by Inchone of the essential artists of our timeInch (The New York Times). That the self-styled InchmaximalistInch enjoys pushing himself to his limits - intellectually and physically - is well known, but the present project - two key cycles of musical modernism - puts all others in the shade. Completed in 1951, Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues - a summary of all the major and minor tonalities - lasts some two and a half hours in total, while Ronald Stevenson's Passacaglia on DSCH, which he completed in 1963, is an unbroken set of variations lasting nearly an hour and a half. The letters DSCH spell out Shostakovich's musical monogram using their German note names D-Es-C-H = D-E?-C-B. The album's artwork is specially created by the internationally renowned graphic artist and book designer Christoph Niemann, who regularly illustrates for The New Yorker and The New York Times. His illustration for On DSCH offers a playfully abstract counterpart to this musical experience.

2018 . Igor Levit's album Life, one that is highly personal for him, is an imaginary recital with a vast emotional range - from tender intimacy (Schumann's InchGhostInch Variations, Bill Evans's InchPeace PieceInch) to the sublime and monumental (Liszt-Busoni's InchAd nosInch). This celebrated pianist and impassioned intellectual poses as a spirited yet profound guide to regions of music that ask the big questions of human existence - questions about meaning and permanence, inner peace, memory and redemption. On Life, Levit reflects at the keyboard on the experience of loss, hovering between grief and despair, resignation and solace. He has chosen works whose bleak grandeur and melancholy beauty have occupied him for years. Each of them is a tribute to the virtuosic potential of the piano. Poetic moments of quiet contemplation confront life-affirming, highly sensual music of immediate spellbinding physicality. Levit's deliberately subjective selection extends from 1720 to 2012, from Bach to Frederic Rzewski. LIFE effortlessly crosses borders between eras, styles and genres, offering a multitude of new discoveries. More than ever before, you appreciate the individuality and immense curiosity of an artist who has already set standards with some of the supreme masterpieces of Bach and Beethoven.

Brigitte Fontaine - Brigitte Fontaine Est Folle [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/21/2025