Igor Levit's Beethoven Cycle Live at the Salzburg Festival 2020 is now posted on YouTube!
https://youtu.be/lpBeAHguA50The actual livestream wasn't available to the West, glad they are now posting each recital. Cycle One begins with the first f minor sonata and ends with the Waldstein.
These are the first live recitals Igor has performed since lockdown.
And yes, it is a very propulsive "Waldstein", with long delayed cadences at the end of the first movement. And the camera does not shy away from the octave glissandi in the third movement. Levit's joy in performing live is palpable. He speaks to the audience afterwards, and as an encore offers up a piece from his jazz friend Fred Hirsch, composed especially for Igor, called "Trees".
Thanks for sharing- I will be listening to the recital. I listened to his podcasts on BR-Klassik ("32x Beethoven"), discussing all of the Beethoven sonatas (and I must say that something in his ego put me off, but there is no question that he is a fantastic pianist).
I remember Levit being deliberately provocative with his choice of encore at the BBC Proms 2017. Brexit was all the rage at the time. (In case you're not European, which of course you aren't, the Ode to Joy is used as the European Union's anthem.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV80lICVTMs
As with his complete recording, as much as I try to enjoy his playing, I simply can't. Every piece is played as fast and aggressively as possible as the starting point of the interpretation and it makes many of the Sonatas sound like virtuoso trash as a result. The Waldstein sounds ridiculous at this tempo - where's the humor in the music when it's this fast?