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Attention music lovers: ten Levi songs have now been recorded on CD

2022-09-09T07:13:02.935Z


Attention music lovers: ten Levi songs have now been recorded on CD Created: 09/09/2022, 09:00 By: Margot Schäfer Herman Levi. © Archive GAP - What touching songs by Hermann Levi (1839 - 1900)! How many more would have been written if he had not listened to the advice of his friend Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897), who, after harsh criticism, suggested that he stop composing. At least ten of his


Attention music lovers: ten Levi songs have now been recorded on CD

Created: 09/09/2022, 09:00

By: Margot Schäfer

Herman Levi.

© Archive

GAP - What touching songs by Hermann Levi (1839 - 1900)!

How many more would have been written if he had not listened to the advice of his friend Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897), who, after harsh criticism, suggested that he stop composing.

At least ten of his songs have now been recorded on CD.

Bass-baritone René Perler from Strasbourg and the English-Swiss pianist Edward Rushton performed it in Bayreuth's Villa Wahnfried on Richard Wagner's original 1876 Steinway grand piano.

He had given concerts on the instrument with the beautiful, warm sound, just like Wagner himself, Franz Liszt or Arthur Rubinstein.

On the city's 'green hill', Levi was celebrated as conductor of the premiere of Richard Wagner's “Parsifal”.

Nevertheless, he was already exposed to anti-Semitic propaganda and hostilities during his lifetime.

It is admirable that he always managed to put the music above everything else.

He was later defamed and hushed up.

Now there is a culture of remembrance for Levi and also a comeback as a song composer.

In addition to well-known musicologists, Perler and Rushton have been studying his oeuvre for years.

They have already presented a selection of songs at Ettal Abbey, in Bayreuth and at the Richard Strauss Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Here, in the market town, his last place of residence, where he wanted to rest, get healthy and died far too early, there were efforts to make amends with the memorial concert conducted by Kirill Petrenko in 2021, a special exhibition, symposium and the song recital.

Partenkirchner honorary citizen Levi has now received a dignified grave on the Riedberg.

The bronze plaque and the memorial trail with information boards that have already been designed are still a long way off - also due to delays caused by the pandemic - but the commissioned artist Franka Kaßner is working on them.

She named the burial place “The Last Greeting” in reference to the composer’s song of the same name.

"The Last Greeting" is also the title of the released CD.

On the cover is a shepherd boy painting by Franz von Lenbach, who also portrayed Levi.

In the accompanying booklet, in addition to the song lyrics, important information about Levi in ​​the context of his time can also be read in English and French, there are facsimiles and historical pictures to look at.

It's worth picking up the book, while Perler's singing, his voice,

The straightforward tones, often in a beautiful pianissimo, bring the settings to poems by Heinrich Heine, Joseph von Eichendorff or Adolf Böttger closer, making poetry audible.

After the first few passages one thinks one recognizes Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856), and yet it is Levi's handwriting that defines the composition.

The three songs based on poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which were written later and only published shortly before his death, stick in my mind.

The CD is supplemented with songs by Schumann, Brahms, Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843 - 1900) and Heinrich Duparc (1848 - 1933), which are related to Levi.

Also interesting for music lovers is the twice sung Goethe song "Twilight lowered itself from above".

Once in the setting by Levi, then by Brahms,

who demonstrably used his friend's composition.

It's a good thing that Levi didn't give up composing completely after Brahms broke their friendship, and what a pity that there weren't more songs.

PROSP0018, 0630835523865, CD digibook with 44 page booklet

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Source: merkur

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