Zara LEVINA (1906-1976)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (1942) [38:48]
Piano Concerto No. 2 (1975) [19:13]
Maria Lettberg (piano)
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Ariane Matiakh
CAPRICCIO C5269
It's always exciting to get to know a composer that you've never heard of. Zara Levina was born in 1906 in Alexandrovsk (Ukraine) and was educated in Moscow where she had famous composers like Glière and Myaskovsky as teachers. As a composer, she was active in the Soviet Union, where she occasionally had to live and work under hard ideological pressure. She died in 1976.
The first piano concerto is from 1942, but is deeply rooted in the large-scale and big-hearted Russian romantic tradition. It's rather Rachmaninov that comes to mind, than Prokofiev or Shostakovich. One is swept away by the flowing melody in the first movement, so as to end up in an introspective andante that is broken by a powerful final that will let the work end in a joyful triumph. As I understand it, this is the world-premiere recording of the first concerto. It's a wonder that it hasn't been recorded until now.
The second concerto from 1975 became the last piece that Levina wrote, and, according to herself, the best. It's a more astringent and concentrated work than the first concerto, in one single continuous movement. The idiom has become more modern, more personal and less melodic, and the piano gets more of a percussion driven character. But one shouldn't expect an avant-garde work à la Schnittke, Gubaidulina or Ustvolskaya. Still, much has happened since the first, more traditionally forged concerto. This album shows that there's still exciting music to be discovered if you go a little off the beaten track. So why not leave the familiar Russians for a while and give Zara Levina a chance? She's definitely worth it.
The soloist is Maria Lettberg, who a number of years ago received overwhelming praise for her complete recordings of Alexander Scriabin's works for piano. She is competently accompanied by Ariane Matiakh and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Capriccio deserves all the credit for allowing us to discover these magnificent piano concertos.
Wow!! ... how cool is that music. Dramatic like Holst and filmic like the greatest silent movies like Metropolis. I need to check out this composer :-)... keep it coming Ss, you have great knowledge of art :-)
I know right! Unfortunately there isn't much of her works recorded. There is however a recording of her Symphony in D on Russian Disc. I will probably pick it up.
I am really in love with that music. It is surely severely underrated. The mix of emotions is fantastic, and straight in your face and unpretentiously so ... i like that :-)