"He has everything in him to become one of the best pianists of this century," wrote the music magazine Diapason about Yoav Levanon. Now the 17-year-old is releasing his debut album A Monument for Beethoven on Warner Classics with demanding works by Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Schumann.
The young Israeli pianist views his choice as a reference to solidarity among musicians: to make the erection of the Beethoven monument in Bonn possible, these four famous Romantics once donated the proceeds of their compositions. This is how Felix Mendelssohn's virtuosic masterpiece Variations sérieuse op. 54 and Robert Schumann's voluptuous Fantasie op. 17 came about. Both works also allude musically to Beethoven and thus vividly continue his legacy. Franz Liszt's Sonate in B-minor, on the other hand, brings opposites together in an exciting way and is considered one of his most impressive compositions.
Yoav Levanon particularly appreciates the selected piano works for their "overwhelming accumulation of profound feelings in a broad and dynamic spectrum of colors and rousing virtuosity". The young pianist has already performed the program in Toulouse and Paris. Although he is still at the very beginning of his career, Yoav Levanon has been a guest at the renowned Verbier Festival several times and in 2020 he gave a piano recital together with Martha Argerich, the grand dame of the piano. His mentors also include musical greats such as Daniel Barenboim and Sir András Schiff.
- Title: A Monument for Beethoven
- Artist: Yoav Levanon
- Label: Warner, DDD, 2021
- Medium: CD
- Purchase link: JPC / FNAC / SPOTIFY