Igor Levit - Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte [CD]

Sony Music

£13.05

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: 19658878982
Barcode: 196588789823
Release Date: 26 Jan 2024
Genre: Classical

Igor Levit releases a new album as his personal artistic reaction to the October 7 attacks on Israel and the current rise in anti-Semitism worldwide. The album contains his selection of “Songs without Words” by Felix Mendelssohn and concludes with one Prelude by French Romantic composer Charles-Valentin Alkan. Igor Levit and his team have given their time pro-bono and his proceeds will be donated to two German organizations fighting anti-Semitism - OFEK Advice Center for Anti-Semitic Violence and Discrimination and the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism.

Igor Levit explains, “I made this recording out of a very, very strong inner necessity. I spent the first four or five weeks after the attack on October 7th in a mixture of speechlessness and total paralysis. And at some point, it became clear that I had no other tools than to react as an artist. I have the piano. I have my music. And so, the idea came to me to record these works, the “Songs without Words” and to donate my proceeds from this recording to two wonderful organizations that work in my hometown here in Berlin to help people who experience anti-Semitism and to help young people avoid falling into the clutches of anti-Semitism. It is my artistic reaction, as a person, as a musician, as a Jew, to what I have felt in the last few weeks and months. Or to put it more precisely, it is one of many reactions that came to mind.”

TRACKLISTING
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Lieder ohne Worte (Songs without Words)
1 Op. 19: No. 1 in E Major (Andante con moto), MWV U 86
2 Op. 19: No. 2 in A Minor (Andante espressivo), MWV U 80
3 Op. 19: No. 4 in A Major (Moderato), MWV U 73
4 Op. 19: No. 6 in G Minor (Andante sostenuto), MWV U 78 "Venetianisches Gondellied"
5 Op. 30: No. 1 in E Flat Major (Andante espressivo), MWV U 103
6 Op. 30: No. 3 in E Major, (Adagio non troppo), MWV U 104
7 Op. 30: No. 6 in F Sharp Minor (Allegretto tranquillo), MWV U 110, "Venetianisches Gondellied"
8 Op. 38: No. 2 in C Minor (Allegro non troppo), MWV U 115
9 Op. 38: No. 6 in A Flat Major (Andante con moto), MWV U 119 "Duetto"
10 Op. 53: No. 4 in F Major (Adagio), MWV U 114
11 Op. 53: No. 5 in A Minor (Allegro con fuoco), MWV U 153 "Volkslied"
12 Op. 62: No. 3 in E Minor (Andante maestoso), MWV U 117 "Trauermarsch"
13 Op. 62: No. 5 in A Minor (Andante con moto), MWV U 151 "Venetianisches Gondellied"
14 Op. Posth. 102: No. 1 in E Minor (Andante un poco agitato), MWV U 162
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN
15 25 Préludes, Op.31: No. 8 La chanson de la folle au bord de la mer