Gilmore Artist Award Winner Concert (1/4/18)

Igor Levit, piano
Chaconne in D minor – Johann Sebastian Bach (transcribed for left hand alone by Johannes Brahms)
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# minor – Adagio sostenuto; Allegretto; Presto agitato – Ludwig van Beethoven

This was a free concert presented by WQXR in their Jerome L. Greene performance space. On a personal note, this was the first time I’d been in the space two days in a row, as Midday Masterpieces occurred on January 3. The Gilmore Artist Award is a once-in-every-four-years award to a pianist and includes a $300,000 prize with $250,000 of that to be used for career development. We learned, during a discussion portion of the evening, that the winner does not know ahead of time that he or she is even being considered for the award. A committee attends various concerts and performances of various pianists around the world, then comes up with a short list, and finally announces the award in late December.

The Chaconne was very interesting in that it is originally the fifth and final movement of Bach’s Partita for Violin No. 2, written for solo violin. The Brahms version presented the piece, written in the form of variations, as was the original, in a way that was quite fun to see. As noted, the left hand is the only one that plays any notes on the piano but that right hand does not just sit idly by. In this case, it was very expressive, at times looking like it really wanted in on the action but knowing that it had to remain silent. The variations were fairly easy to follow although they were sometimes slightly disjointed, since the left hand had to explore so much of the range of the keyboard.

The first movement of the Beethoven is famous. Trust me, you’ve heard it before. The work is nicknamed the “Moonlight” Sonata. Figured it out yet? It takes a lovely theme and spins it out in a very dreamlike fashion. It’s just fun to sit back and listen to it, so that’s exactly what I did. The second movement was more playful and fuller in terms of volume and presence, though there was still an air of simplicity to it. The third movement is off to the races from the very beginning, with many notes and fingers flying. Even through the bombast, though, there was still that feeling of underlying simplicity there.

As an encore, Mr. Levit played a jazz version of the Pete Seeger union song Which Side Are You On? in a fun performance. A big thank you to WQXR for allowing me to hear a world-class, award-winning pianist in person, for free. There’s a lot of stuff out there, folks. Explore!

ConcertMeister