Fantasia Works by JS Bach, Berg, Busoni, Liszt, Schubert Igor Levit (piano) Sony Classical 19658811642 104:51 mins (2 discs)
Busoni isn’t a composer the general public has taken to its heart, but his name often crops up in conversation with pianists. Igor Levit is one such devotee. Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica is, he says in the booklet notes, ‘the final destination of the journey I have been undertaking in terms of my repertory in recent years.’
And in this hefty double-disc set, Levit’s programme prepares us for Busoni’s magnum opus – a complex, daunting completion of the unfinished Contrapunctus XIV from JS Bach’s Art of Fugue. He begins with Bach at his most effortless in the Siloti transcription of the Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, a moment of ease soon dispelled by an arrestingly stark performance of the Chromatic Fantasia, BWV 903. Levit’s fingers fire out notes as hard and dazzling as diamonds in the Fantasia, then offer softer sounds in the fugue.
That same intellectual rigour underpins his Liszt B minor Sonata, a piece which makes my amateur pianist’s hands ache just to read the score. There’s something terrifying, monstrous, even about the unflinching quality Levit brings to its fff chords. Even the moments of sweet relief feel fleeting. With Liszt’s ominous Schubert Dopplegänger transcription, Berg’s Brahmsian fragment of the Klavierstück in B minor, and then his Sonata Op. 1, the intensity doesn’t let up, but neither does the quality of the playing.
Indebted to Bach and to Liszt, the Fantasia contrappuntistica can be an impenetrable work. Levit’s approach is lucid and unsentimental, at its best when guiding us through the contrapuntal forest, as Busoni pushes the possibilities of Bach’s fugue into uncharted territory. It’s a mighty achievement, and a demanding listen. The Nuit de Noël gives us a few minutes of respite afterwards. Perhaps for his next journey, Levit will treat himself to a smaller challenge – but I suspect not.
Rebecca Franks
