<\/p>
Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte; Alkan: 25 Pr\u00e9ludes, Op.31 No. 8<\/p>
Igor Levit (piano)<\/p>
Sony Classical 19658878982\u00a0\u00a0 43:20 mins<\/em><\/p> This recording, which exists only in digital form, was produced at very short notice in early December, with Igor Levit<\/a><\/strong> and his team committing to donate all of the profits to two German organisations: OFEK Advice Centre for Anti-Semitic Violence and Discrimination, and the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Anti-Semitism.<\/p> \u2018I made this recording out of a very, very strong inner necessity,\u2019 Levit explains. \u2018I spent the first four or five weeks after the attack on 7 October in a mixture of speechlessness and total paralysis. And it became clear that I had no other tools than to react as an artist.\u2019 Hence his decision to record this selection of Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Lieder ohne Worte<\/em>, and to donate the proceeds to organisations dedicated to helping young people in Berlin avoid anti-Semitic persecution.<\/p> This isn\u2019t the first time Levit has been overt in his response to politics. The day after Russia invaded Ukraine, he deleted his Twitter account and instructed his agent to announce that he would \u2018only react with music to political events\u2019. Two days later he posted a video of himself dedicating a concert in Brussels to the Ukrainian people, and playing the country\u2019s national anthem \u2013 and then reactivated his Twitter account. <\/p> There\u2019s an early recording of Horowitz extracting lovely poetry from some of Mendelssohn\u2019s tender little pieces. Designed for children and amateurs, their charms are generally underrated by professionals \u2013 but Levit finds beauty in them, expressed with a warm touch and pleasing emotional directness. <\/p>