An unusual year marked by extremes lies behind the pianist Igor Levit.
Florian Zinnecker skilfully recorded the musician's metamorphosis.
And yet the book has weaknesses.
During the lockdown last spring, the pianist Igor Levit gave a house concert every evening at 7 p.m. via the short message service Twitter.
Across the board from Beethoven to Bach, from Morton Feldman to Billy Joel, he played his way through music history.
These living room concerts were "his salvation and his anchor of stability," Levit later explained.
Some had a similar experience, as can be seen from the Twitter comments.
The bustling musician only became known to others through his online appearances.
An amazing, to a certain extent web-based development - although Eminem fan Levit has long been considered a musical house god by many.
It was through him that a younger generation came into contact with serious music in the first place.
Levit wants to be more than "just the man who presses the buttons".
Even now, at just 34, his work goes beyond the world of music.
"Most other pianists, actually everyone else, sell themselves because of their harmlessness," he emphasizes.
This is nothing for the politically active artist for whom music “cannot be imagined without positioning”.
Levite defends himself against hatred, racism and anti-Semitism
The journalist Florian Zinnecker, born in Bayreuth in 1984, accompanied Levit through the 2019/20 concert season.
This resulted in the book “House Concert”.
At that time, the pianist vehemently fought against hatred, racism and anti-Semitism online, propagated climate protection and democracy and - like everyone else - had to struggle with the personal and professional effects of the pandemic.
"A pianist who is not allowed to give concerts and share his music with other people is actually no longer a pianist," he realized for himself.
And discovered the digital form of expression of the “house concert” on Twitter.
Hundreds of thousands saw and listened to him.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, from whose official residence Schloss Bellevue Levit also streamed an evening out into the world, praised him as a “great artist who shows us all how important art is and that music can also comfort”.
Zinnecker follows the piano virtuoso in “House Concert” through an unusual year marked by extremes.
In between he sketches important moments in Levit's career such as the legendary "FAZ" article that got his career rolling, various awards or the concert in Brussels the evening after Trump was elected US President, when Levit was first openly known as "Zoon politikon." “Position taken.
Zinnecker always stays close by his side, even when it threatens to get uncomfortable.
Many people shower the pianist with enthusiasm.
Others, however, send abuse letters and death threats.
Levit's memories of the barely concealed anti-Semitism with which he has been confronted since the beginning of his career are oppressive.
The text is written kneeling low
A relatively young man who is already available to answer questions from a biographer - that sounds very vain and arrogant at first.
In fact, there is a lot to be gained from this “house concert”.
Zinnecker skilfully sketches the metamorphosis of the initially inexperienced, somewhat naive musician into an increasingly mature and politically profiled artist who does not allow himself to be muzzled.
Levit's nervous drive is also a topic again and again: “I do a lot, a lot.
I just want to achieve a lot, ”the pianist confesses.
“And if someone questions that, then I'll fight for the law.
Yes, I can play all 32 Beethoven sonatas.
Yes, I can do six other programs at the same time.
Yes, I can also mess with Nazis at the same time.
I can read books at the same time, yes, I can do this, that and that at the same time.
I can because I want to. ”He does not accept objections.
"I will not be told: If you do so much at the same time, things become superficial - no, they are not superficial, they are my things."
But objections do come, and unfortunately this is the book's great weak point, rarely anyway.
Zinnecker's text is written low on the knees and, in parts, shows a disturbingly unreflected devotion.
Sober classifications are often missing in this modern hagiography.
Stylistically there is more pose than poetry.
Zinnecker comes very close to Levit, which is exciting to read in many moments.
Sometimes, however, it also seems strangely intrusive and almost involuntarily funny.
Igor Levit / Florian Zinnecker:
“House concert”.
Hanser Verlag, Munich, 304 pages;
24 euros.
Reading:
Igor Levit and Florian Zinnecker will present the book on April 30th, 8 pm, in the livestream of the Münchner Literaturhaus;
Tickets (from 5 euros) are available online at www.literaturhaus-muenchen.reservix.de.
