Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Totentanz Yoav Levanon, Michael Sanderling & Luzerner Sinfonieorchester

• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124:
• 1 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124: I. Allegro maestoso 05:42
• 2 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124: II. Quasi adagio - III. Allegretto vivace. Allegro animato 08:49
• 3 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124: IV. Allegro marziale animato 04:17
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125:
• 4 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125: I. Adagio sostenuto assai - Allegro agitato assai 07:22
• 5 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125: II. Allegro moderato - Allegro deciso 08:37
• 6 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125: III. Marziale un poco meno allegro 04:21
• 7 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125: IV. Allegro animato - Stretto 01:42
• Totentanz, S. 126:
• 8 Liszt: Totentanz, S. 126 15:14
• Romance, S. 169 "O pourquoi donc":
• 9 Liszt: Romance, S. 169 "O pourquoi donc" 03:10
• Frühlingsnacht, S. 568 (After Schumann's Liederkreis, Op. 39):
• 10 Liszt: Frühlingsnacht, S. 568 (After Schumann's Liederkreis, Op. 39) 03:11
• Yoav Levanon (b. 2004): Silent Love alla Liszt:
• 11 Levanon: Silent Love alla Liszt 03:29
• Total Runtime 01:05:54

Info for Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Totentanz

„Liszts erstes Klavierkonzert ist eine Meisterleistung an Virtuosität und Dramatik, während das zweite Konzert eine nuanciertere, introspektive Erkundung bietet“, sagt Yoav Levanon. „Zusammen fangen sie Liszts künstlerische Vision ein und verbinden technische Brillanz mit tiefer emotionaler Resonanz“. Der 20-jährige Levanon hat beide Konzerte mit den Musikern des Luzerner Sinfonieorchesters und dessen Chefdirigenten Michael Sanderling aufgenommen. Auf dem Album sind weitere Werke von Liszt zu hören: der ergreifende Totentanz für Klavier und Orchester und zwei Stücke für Klavier solo, die schwärmerische Romanze „O pourquoi donc“ und eine Transkription von Schumanns schwärmerischem Lied „Frühlingsnacht“. Eine weitere Transkription, die von Yoav Levanon selbst stammt, rundet das Programm ab: eine Liszt'sche Bearbeitung von Hugo Wolfs Lied „Verschwiegene Liebe“.

Levanon, zu dessen Mentoren Daniel Barenboim, András Schiff und Murray Perahia gehörten, beschreibt Liszt als „einen Künstler, dessen Einfluss auf die Musikwelt unermesslich ist“ und sieht den Pianisten und Komponisten aus dem 19. Liszts mächtige Sonate in h-Moll bildete das Herzstück von Yoav Levanons Debütalbum bei Warner Classics, das 2022 erschien. „... Eine Darbietung von heroischem Ausmaß“, schrieb das BBC Music Magazine, ‚ein kraftvoller Spieler ... flink und artikuliert in den virtuosen Passagen, dramatisch mit den rhetorischen Schnörkeln, zart und lyrisch, wenn es nötig ist‘, während Fanfare erklärte: “Wir leben in einem goldenen Zeitalter des Klaviertalents ... Levanon erhebt sich auf das höchste Niveau unter diesen erstaunlichen jungen Virtuosen.“

Yoav Levanon, Klavier
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
Michael Sanderling, Dirigent

Yoav Levanon
“At the age of 19, Israeli pianist Yoav Levanon already shows tremendous power and maturity”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung commented on the young pianist’s impressive appearance at the 2022 Europa Open Air in Frankfurt where he performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Alain Altinoglu. The televised concert took place in front of an audience of 25,000 at site and almost half a million viewers worldwide.

Following debuts at Boulez-Saal Berlin, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Munich's Prinzregententheater, Settimane Musicali di Ascona and Menuhin Festival in Gstaad last season, in 2023/24 the exceptional young artist will be performing piano recitals at Tonhalle Zürich and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. Orchestral engagements take him to the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquesta de la Communidad de Madrid. He also returns to the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, with whom he will perform Franz Liszt's piano concertos in concert and record them on CD for Warner Classics under the direction of Michael Sanderling.

Previous appearances include a solo performance in a “Piano Summit” presented by Martha Argerich at Schloss Elmau followed by a recital at the Piano aux Jacobins Festival in Toulouse and a recital at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. His performance was highly praised in a critic in Diapason: “Yoav Levanon is not only a stunning virtuoso. His assertive interpretative choices already make him an authentic musician, who has everything to become one of the major pianists of this century.”

At the beginning of 2021, Yoav Levanon took part in a filmed project with Daniel Barenboim and soon after he signed an exclusive recording agreement with Warner Classics. His debut album A Monument for Beethoven with the label was released in May 2022. It attracted great attention from reviewers worldwide and garnered many excellent reviews.

Yoav Levanon first appeared on stage at the age of 4 and soon became a winner of his first National Piano Competition in Israel. He won his first Gold Medal at an International Piano Competition in the USA a year later and performed on the prestigious stage of Carnegie Hall in New York. Following his orchestral debut with the Israel Chamber Orchestra he went on to take part in the Tsinandali Festival, Georgia, where he played Mozart and Bach Concertos for Two Pianos and Orchestra with acclaimed pianist Sergei Babayan. Later he received the ‘”Young Talent Award” of the Fundación Excelentia and performed in a ceremony at the National Auditorium Madrid in the presence of Queen Sofia. During 2018 Yoav performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2019, Yoav appeared as one of the youngest pianists ever in the festival history of the renowned Verbier Festival and was celebrated a "discovery". His debut solo recital, broadcast globally on medici.tv, gained the largest online audience of any of the 2019 Festival’s events.

Yoav Levanon is guided by top piano professors and musicians in Israel and abroad. He was privileged to take part in the ‘Piano Program for Outstanding Young Pianists’ at the Jerusalem Music Center, working with the prestigious American concert pianist Murray Perahia as well as working under the guidance of distinguished pianist Sir Andras Schiff in his artist performance studio at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.

Booklet for Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Totentanz