Yoav Levanon, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and David Fray perform Liszt, Schumann, and Schubert
Le Piano Symphonique Festival — With Michael Sanderling and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra
Cast
Yoav Levanon — Pianist
Elisabeth Leonskaja — Pianist
David Fray — Pianist
Lucerne Symphony Orchestra — Orchestra
Michael Sanderling — Conductor
Program notes
Lucerne’s piano festival Le Piano Symphonique is back with an absolutely thrilling third edition featuring the legendary Martha Argerich in the role of featured artist (pianiste associée)!
After performing Liszt's first piano concerto earlier in the festival, Yoav Levanon tackles the second—one of the most technically demanding compositions of the piano repertoire, Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 is unconventionally structured in six distinct sections with no break in-between. This is followed by the distinguished Luzerner Sinfonieorchester interpreting the orchestral prelude from Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods, the final opera of the four music dramas comprising The Ring Cycle.
In the more intimate second half of the concert, the celebrated Elisabeth Leonskaja performs Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13, a beautiful collection of contrasting masterpieces that commence with a sepulchral march and evolve into a bright triumphant melody. Wrapping up the program is Schubert’s Allegro in A Minor, written in the final year of the composer’s life and recognizable by its thunderous opening chords, perfectly illustrating its title “Storms of Life”—performed to perfection by the exceptional David Fray.
Photos: Elisabeth Leonskaja © Marco Borggreve / David Fray © Jean Baptiste Millot (Warner Classics)
Elisabeth Leonskaja and Yoav Levanon appear courtesy of Warner Classics.
