Berliner Philharmonie 13 September 2020 - Igor Levit plays Beethoven (6 of 8) | GoComGo.com

Igor Levit plays Beethoven (6 of 8)

Berliner Philharmonie, Main Hall (DOUBLE), Berlin, Germany
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Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Berlin, Germany
Starts at: 11:00

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Festival

Musikfest Berlin 2020

33 performances, nine world premieres

Musikfest Berlin 2020 will approach the beginning of the concert season with caution. Its new programme will follow the rules that protective measures from the COVID-19 pandemic have placed on public concerts. Many of the projects that have been prepared across Germany to mark this Beethoven year have fallen victim to the coronavirus crisis and have been postponed until next year.

Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 15 in D major, Op.28 "Pastoral”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 16 in G major, Op.31 no.1
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 13 in E flat major "quasi una fantasia", Op.27 no.1
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 14 in C sharp minor "Moonlight", Op.27 no.2
Overview

The 32 piano sonatas in 8 concerts
Citizen – European – pianist. These concepts not only characterise Igor Levit as a public figure, but also as an artist. For him, art and society are by no means separate spheres. And he will follow this credo in his interpretations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, which he will perform on eight separate concerts at Musikfest Berlin 2020.

Igor Levit’s history with Beethoven began 18 years ago, when the then 14-year-old first heard the “Missa solemnis” and found himself overwhelmed. Shortly afterwards, he studied one of the first sonatas by Beethoven, which was to stay with him for several years. In 2010, he undertook to perform and record all the sonatas – he had already caused quite a stir with a sensational interpretation of the “Diabelli Variations”. He finalised the complete recordings of the sonatas in 2019. In 2020, he will present these 32 pieces at the Berlin Philharmonie as part of the Musikfest Berlin.

The sonatas encompass a creative period of around a quarter of a century. Their composition began at a time when Beethoven was a celebrated piano virtuoso in Vienna – although what he truly wanted was to be recognised as a composer – and ended after the death of the woman who was perhaps his “Immortal Beloved”, in the midst of his work on the “Missa solemnis”. Beethoven covered the entire cosmos of what appeared conceivable in sonatas at the time, from the “easy” pieces, which he adapted to the taste and playing ability of their recipients, to the bold works that pushed the established limits, such as the “Hammerklavier”- or the final Sonata in C minor. Levit does not play the sonatas in the chronological order of their creation: Instead, he juxtaposes pieces of a different type from various periods of Beethoven’s work, creating pairs that have a contrast-rich relationship with each other. He wants to establish dialogues rather than a catalogue. They demand a common foundation but also, above all, evident differences. This enhances the clarity of contours and, thus, the eloquence of Beethoven’s music.

Venue Info

Berliner Philharmonie - Berlin
Location   Herbert-von-Karajan-Str. 1

The Berliner Philharmonie is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, named for the orchestra's longest-serving principal conductor. The building forms part of the Kulturforum complex of cultural institutions close to Potsdamer Platz.

The Philharmonie consists of two venues, the Grand Hall (Großer Saal) with 2,440 seats and the Chamber Music Hall (Kammermusiksaal) with 1,180 seats. Though conceived together, the smaller hall was opened in the 1980s, some twenty years after the main building.

Hans Scharoun designed the building, which was constructed over the years 1960–1963. It opened on 15 October 1963 with Herbert von Karajan conducting Beethoven's 9th Symphony. It was built to replace the old Philharmonie, destroyed by British bombers on 30 January 1944, the eleventh anniversary of Hitler becoming Chancellor. The hall is a singular building, asymmetrical and tentlike, with the main concert hall in the shape of a pentagon. The height of the rows of seats increases irregularly with distance from the stage. The stage is at the centre of the hall, surrounded by seating on all sides. The so-called vineyard-style seating arrangement (with terraces rising around a central orchestral platform) was pioneered by this building, and became a model for other concert halls, including the Sydney Opera House (1973), Denver's Boettcher Concert Hall (1978), the Gewandhaus in Leipzig (1981), Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003), and the Philharmonie de Paris (2014).

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his quartet recorded three live performances at the hall; Dave Brubeck in Berlin (1964), Live at the Berlin Philharmonie (1970), and We're All Together Again for the First Time (1973). Miles Davis's 1969 live performance at the hall has also been released on DVD.

On 20 May 2008 a fire broke out at the hall. A quarter of the roof suffered considerable damage as firefighters cut openings to reach the flames beneath the roof. The hall interior sustained water damage but was otherwise "generally unharmed". Firefighters limited damage using foam. The cause of the fire was attributed to welding work, and no serious damage was caused either to the structure or interior of the building. Performances resumed, as scheduled, on 1 June 2008 with a concert by the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The main organ was built by Karl Schuke, Berlin, in 1965, and renovated in 1992, 2012 and 2016. It has four manuals and 91 stops. The pipes of the choir organs and the Tuba 16' and Tuba 8' stops are not assigned to any group and can be played from all four manuals and the pedals.

Important Info
Type: Classical Concert
City: Berlin, Germany
Starts at: 11:00
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