Beth Levin: Hammerklavier Live
Aldila Records

Replicating the format of pianist Beth Levin's 2017 release Bright Circle, which paired works by Brahms and Schubert with a recent one by David Del Tredici, Hammerklavier Live augments classics by Händel and Beethoven with the last piano work written by Swedish composer Anders Eliasson (1947-2013). It ultimately matters little whether the material derives from the seventeenth or twenty-first century when Levin plays: the Brooklyn-based pianist (b. 1950) makes every piece come thrillingly alive when her investment in the music is total. The seventy-two-minute release documents the performance she gave at Linehan Concert Hall, University of Maryland on June 29th, 2019; interestingly, there's little evidence of it being a live recording until applause at the end, the presumably enthralled audience otherwise inaudible.

Händel's Suite No. 3 in D Minor, HMV 428 (1720) is first, its six movements executed by her with customary zeal. Originally published as one of eight published harpsichord suites, the work opens with zestful, mesmerizing runs, the drama of the brief “Präludium” giving way to the graceful lightness of the fugue that follows. Softer by comparison, the delicate “Allemande” and “Courante” perpetuate the gracefulness of the “Allegro” whilst accentuating a lyrical quality well-suited to Levin. Going deeper into introspection, however, is the “Air with 5 Variations,” which she renders with exquisite sensitivity. Even with an abundance of trills and other elaborations involved, the material exudes a mournful quality that speaks clearly across a gap of four centuries. Levin's unerring performance is capped by a declamatory “Presto” before the focus shifts from Händel to Eliasson, his 2005 Carosello (Disegno No. 3 for Piano) presenting material of a dramatically different kind. For ten gripping minutes, the piece resists settling into a clearly demarcated meter (despite a 5/4 designation), Eliasson instead choosing to have his haunting music drift weightlessly and inhabit a tonal harmonic space that's neither consonant nor dissonant. Gravity is seemingly suspended here as the piece wends its kinetic way.

As the album title indicates, however, it's Beethoven's monumental Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 (1818) that is the primary selling-point. Levin delivers a tremendous performance, the work in this iteration forty-six minutes long, as signposted by her majestic rendering of the opening “Allegro” and its fanfare-like declamations. The material sings in her hands as she oscillates between loud proclamations and hushed statements, her control of tempo and dynamics evident at each moment. A three-minute “Scherzo” follows, the compact movement noteworthy for both vivacity and concision. As captivating as the first two movements are, it's the “Adagio sostenuto” and “Largo - Allegro risoluto” that are the most arresting, especially when their generous lengths afford both pianist and listener ample opportunity to be transported. Levin's attunement to the material is never clearer than during the towering third movement; time slows if not vanishes altogether as Levin gives voice to music of startling intimacy and yearning. The first surprise in the final movement arrives in the serene hush with which it begins, though the episode soon enough blossoms into what Max Derrickson quite rightly characterizes in liner notes for the work as “a tour de force of near-volcanic contrapuntal activity” and “a fugue to end all fugues, in a way.” The “Hammerklavier” is undeniably symphonic in scope, not only in its four-movement structure but also in the vast terrain it encompasses.

Even if one's preference is for contemporary classical than the Romantic canon, one is invariably swept away by these invigorating performances when they're so distinguished by clarity of expression and technical sagacity. Levin possesses a remarkable gift for making a piece, even one long familiar, feel as if it's being heard for the first time.

January 2021