Piano Concertos

Daniel Levy, pianist

Critically acclaimed as ‘one of the leading pianists of our time’, Daniel Levy’s ability to build an intimate connection with the audience through the ‘passionate thoughtfulness’ of his playing led Fanfare Magazine’s Ian Lace to proclaim that ‘if the future of music is in the hands of musicians like Daniel Levy, then, personally, I do not think there is much to worry about.’

 

Audio Samples of  concerto performances:


“I see it as wonderful luck to have encountered the artist Daniel Levy who incorporates for me dedication to his art and seriousness of approaching the great works of our beloved repertoire. His corresponding and flexible way of finding his very personal path to the heart of the works he is playing evokes admiration. I owe to him some important impulses.”
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau


REVIEWS OF DANIEL LEVY’S RECORDING OF THE SCHUMANN PIANO CONCERTO

 

“An all-time great recording of the Schumann Concerto, lovingly phrased and exultantly voiced, matched by a heart-rending account of Op. 92 Konzertstück and rare Fischer-Dieskau Bonuses.”
Julian Haylock, BBC Music Magazine

“This is one of the most ingratiating, thoughtful, and lyrical performances of the Schumann Piano Concerto that I have ever heard… Levy and his partner, legendary singer turned conductor Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, find a quality of dramatic interplay that is quite magical.”
Fanfare

“An unusual and imaginative Schumann programme presented with imposing interpretative flair.”
Ian Lace, MusicWeb International UK

“Daniel Levy recorded these unique pieces with none other than Fischer-Dieskau as his partner! The celebrated baritone also directs the orchestra, and the pianist, in highly distinguished performances of the Concerto in A Minor and the beautiful, but less familiar, Konzertstück op. 92.”
Revue Musicale de Suisse Romande


REVIEWS OF DANIEL LEVY’S RECORDING OF THE BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO N.1

 

“The Adagio is particularly revelatory of Levy’s unique expressive perspective. Instead of highlighting its contrast with the strenuous outer movements, Levy’s rhapsodic but breathtakingly intimate playing somehow bypasses the customary hushed reverence, allowing the music to soar unfettered. I cannot recall hearing quite so graceful a lilt at the soloist’s initial entrance in the first movement as here. Throughout, there’s the consistent grain of humanity in Levy’s contribution: while many pianists give the impression of projecting this music, Levy seems to be listening to and relishing it as he goes. Fischer-Dieskau and the Philharmonia provide warm, rolling, luminously singing support, and Brahms’ arrangement for the left hand of Bach’s D minor Chaconne makes an eloquent filler”.
BBC Music Magazine

“Levy’s account of the First Piano Concerto ranks with the very best, which for me means Moravec/Mata on Dorian, Moravec/Belohlávek on Supraphon, and Barenboim/Barbirolli on EMI, along with the more recent Andsnes/Rattle version also on EMI. Levy’s is Brahms playing of unaffected grandeur, dynamic and lyrical in equal measure, and marvelously unfazed by the music’s phenomenal technical demands. Fischer-Dieskau, too, is completely in control of his side of the proceedings, drawing some exceptionally refined and lucid textures from the Philharmonia, and in particular giving all the necessary weight to Brahms’s crucial bass line. And Brahms’s electrifying left-hand arrangement of the Ciacona from Bach’s D-Minor Violin Partita makes, exactly as Levy foresaw that it would, the ideal companion-piece in this stunning performance-his fingerwork is astonishing in its panache and sheer clarity, without ever degenerating into the merely facile. 
Levy here throws as much light on Brahms as Brahms throws on Bach, and that is saying a lot”.
Bernard Jacobson, Fanfare

 

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