On DSCH Igor Levit

• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87:
• 1 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 1 in C Major 02:37
• 2 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 1 in C Major 02:33
• 3 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 2 in A Minor 00:54
• 4 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 2 in A Minor 01:26
• 5 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 3 in G Major 01:50
• 6 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 3 in G Major 01:52
• 7 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 4 in E Minor 02:58
• 8 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 4 in E Minor 04:45
• 9 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 5 in D Major 01:29
• 10 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 5 in D Major 01:49
• 11 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 6 in B Minor 01:55
• 12 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 6 in B Minor 04:58
• 13 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 7 in A Major 01:14
• 14 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 7 in A Major 02:12
• 15 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor 01:12
• 16 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor 07:12
• 17 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 9 in E Major 02:06
• 18 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 9 in E Major 01:37
• 19 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor 02:10
• 20 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor 05:27
• 21 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 11 in B Major 01:05
• 22 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 11 in B Major 02:00
• 23 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor 04:32
• 24 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor 03:45
• 25 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 13 in F-Sharp Major 02:28
• 26 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 13 in F-Sharp Major 04:46
• 27 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 14 in E-Flat Minor 04:08
• 28 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 14 in E-Flat Minor 02:45
• 29 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 15 in D-Flat Major 02:34
• 30 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 15 in D-Flat Major 01:33
• 31 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 16 in B-Flat Minor 02:39
• 32 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 16 in B-Flat Minor 07:29
• 33 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 17 in A-Flat Major 01:39
• 34 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 17 in A-Flat Major 03:40
• 35 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 18 in F Minor 02:10
• 36 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 18 in F Minor 03:03
• 37 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 19 in E-Flat Major 02:16
• 38 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 19 in E-Flat Major 02:26
• 39 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 20 in C Minor 04:04
• 40 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 20 in C Minor 05:13
• 41 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 21 in B-Flat Major 01:17
• 42 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 21 in B-Flat Major 02:43
• 43 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 22 in G Minor 02:01
• 44 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 22 in G Minor 03:13
• 45 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 23 in F Major 02:25
• 46 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 23 in F Major 04:03
• 47 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Prelude No. 24 in D Minor 04:12
• 48 Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87: Fugue No. 24 in D Minor 09:24
• Ronald Stevenson (1928 - 2015): Passacaglia on DSCH:
• 49 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Sonata allegro 06:38
• 50 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Waltz in rondo-form 02:20
• 51 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Episode 01:10
• 52 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Suite. Prelude - Sarabande - Jig - Sarabande. Minuet - Jig - Gavotte - Polonaise 12:19
• 53 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Pibroch (Lament for the Children) 02:48
• 54 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Episode. Arabesque Variations 00:42
• 55 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Prima: Nocturne 02:00
• 56 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Reverie-Fantasy 05:31
• 57 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Fanfare - Forebodings. Alarm - Glimpse of a War-Vision 02:13
• 58 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Variations on "Peace, Bread & the Land" (1917) 02:08
• 59 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Symphonic March 01:55
• 60 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Episode 00:56
• 61 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Fandango 02:09
• 62 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Pedal-Point. "To emergent Africa" 02:04
• 63 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Central Episode. Études 03:43
• 64 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Altera: Variations in C Minor 03:42
• 65 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Tertia: Adagio. Tribute to Bach 01:58
• 66 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject I. Andamento 05:19
• 67 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject II. B A C H 07:03
• 68 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Tertia: Triple Fugue over Ground Bass: Subject III. Dies Irae (In memoriam the six million) 06:34
• 69 Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH: Pars Tertia: Final Variations on a Theme Derived from Ground. Adagissimo barocco 12:13
• Total Runtime 03:51:14

Info for On DSCH

The new album "On DSCH" by Igor Levit is a x3 CD discographic tour de force by "one of the essential artists of our time" (The New York Times). That the self-styled "maximalist" 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. Levit is one of the few pianists who have performed these works live in their entirety. When Levit performed Shostakovich's Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues for the first time at the 2017 Salzburg Festival, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described the occasion as a "major event in the musical world". In May 2019, Levit's performance of Stevenson's Passacaglia on DSCH in London's Wigmore Hall prompted the Guardian to opine that it was unlikely that the work "has ever been played better". 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. Levit himself describes the 24 Preludes and Fugues as "a kind of musical diary": "There is something utterly unique", he says, "about this combination of warmth, immediacy and pure loneliness. For me, it is a ritual of self-exploration and self-discovery that deals with the most intimate questions." Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015), was a Scottish composer for whom the DSCH motif provided the basis for a spectacular survey of all manner of pianistic and stylistic possibilities over a span of more than three hundred variations. "The Passacaglia", Levit believes, "is a veritable compendium of life, a kind of music that tells us of our responsibility towards the world as a whole." 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.

Igor Levit, piano

Igor Levit
starts his 2014-15 season with recital performances featuring staples of his repertoire such as Bach, Beethoven, Busoni and Shostakovich at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Prinzregententheater Munich, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Konzerthaus Berlin, as well as at Copenhagen’s Black Diamond, Birmingham’s Town Hall and at Tonhalle Zürich. London’s Wigmore Hall is dedicating an introductory series to Igor Levit featuring three solo recitals throughout the season, the finale being an evening of music by Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski in July 2015. In spring 2015 Igor Levit returns to the Heidelberger Frühling in his capacity of the Festival’s Chamber Music Academy’s Artistic Director and makes recital debuts with Washington’s Performing Arts Society and The Gilmore in Michigan. Orchestral debuts await with the San Francisco Symphony (Heras-Casado) and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Norrington) as well as with the hr-Sinfonieorchestr (Manze) and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bringuier). The season sees Igor Levit reunited with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden (V. Jurowski) and the WDR Sinfonieorchester (Saraste). He returns in recital to Germany’s summer festivals, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Kissinger Sommer, Festspiele as well as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and continues his Beethoven Sonata Cycle at the Schubertiade in Austria.

Last season Igor Levit celebrated both his recital and orchestral debut on the main stage of Vienna’s Musikverein to great critical acclaim: jumping in for Maurizio Pollini in June 2014 and for Helene Grimaud (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons) respectively in March 2014. Only four days earlier on 12 March 2014, Igor Levit made his New York City recital debut at the Park Avenue Armory to effusive reviews both by The New Yorker and The New Times. Further recital performances in 2013-14 saw him amongst others at Zurich’s Tonhalle, at the Berlin Philharmonie and London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. The season marked his debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He was Artist in Residence at the Kissinger Sommer as well as Preisträger in Residence at the Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, Igor Levit’s debut disc of the five last Beethoven sonatas won the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year 2014 Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award 2014 and the ECHO 2014 for Solo Recording of the Year (19th Century Music)/Piano. His second recording for Sony – Johann Sebastian Bach’s Six Partitas – was released in August 2014.

Highlights of the 2012-13 season included debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, WDR Sinfonieorchester and Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Nominated by Laeiszhalle Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kölner Philharmonie and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden for the concert series „ECHO Rising Stars“, Igor Levit has debuted as a recitalist at Brussel’s Palais des Beaux Arts, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Musikverein, Town Hall, Birmingham and Stockholm’s Konserthus.

Mr. Levit has also appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Vienna Symphonic Orchestra and the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover – engagements which were immediately followed by re-invitations. . Having dedicated to Igor Levit eight sonatas of his cycle “Nano Sonaten”, Frederic Rzewski has composed a cycle of four pieces “Dreams II” for him which Igor Levit will premiere at Heidelberger Frühling in 2015. Composer Frederic Rzewski has dedicated eight sonatas of his cycle “Nano Sonaten” to Igor Levit and is currently composing a world premiere for the young pianist in 2015. Among Igor Levit’s chamber music partners are Lisa Batiashvili, Simon Bode, Ning Feng, Julia Fischer, Sol Gabetta, Christiane Karg, Jörg Widmann, Maxim Vengerov and Tabea Zimmermann.

Born in Nizhni Nowgorod in 1987, Igor Levit at age eight moved with his family to Germany where he completed his piano studies at Hannover Academy of Music, Theatre and Media in 2009 with the highest academic and performance scores in the history of the institute. Mr. Levit has studied under the tutelage of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Matti Raekallio, Bernd Goetze, Lajos Rovatkay and Hans Leygraf.

As youngest participant in 2005 Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv, Igor Levit won the Silver Prize, the Prize for Best Performer of Chamber Music, the „Audience Favorite“ Prize and the Prize for Best Performer of Contemporary Music. Previously, he had won the First Prize of the International Hamamtsu Piano Academy Competition in Japan. Since 2003 Igor Levit has been a scolarship student at Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes as well as at Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Booklet for On DSCH