Pianist
Yoav Levanon
is quite the sensation, having burst on the scene as a teenager with a remarkable recording of
Liszt
's
Piano Sonata in B minor
(on the album
A Monument for Beethoven
). It was good enough that no one could fault him for playing to his strong point by releasing another
album. But this is no rehash of the issues raised by the earlier release. In addition to being vast and free,
could be quite concise and exact, and the two piano concertos offer excellent examples of this. There isn't a movement longer than nine minutes, and the piano and the orchestra are in many places in exquisite balance. Here,
Levanon
receives excellent support from the
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
under conductor
Michael Sanderling
(son of the famed
Kurt Sanderling
), which provides fresh testimony for the strength of regional Swiss orchestras these days. For those who want more sheer blood and thunder on the piano,
provides that in the form of the
Totentanz
,
's magisterial exegesis on the Dies irae chant. The program concludes with shorter pieces, one an arrangement of a
Schubert
song, and one a short
homage by
himself. It's a program and a performance that a 19th century virtuoso might have been proud of, and that includes
himself.
was still only 20 when this album appeared in 2024, and one awaits with rather bated breath to see what he can come up with next. ~ James Manheim