Receiving 4 stars in The Guardian, Robert Levin’s performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Isabelle Faust, Steven Isserlis and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the Queen Elizabeth Hall has been receiving much critical acclaim. In The Times, Hilary Finch delighted in the “mercurial fingers of Robert Levin at the fortepiano”, and elsewhere, Graham Rogers found that “Nominally directed by Robert Levin, the performance bristled with stirring passion…it was a terrific performance, both beautiful and thrilling” (Classical Source).
This performance was preceded by another collaboration with Steven Isserlis at London’s Southbank Centre in two concerts dedicated to the complete Sonatas for Piano and Cello by Beethoven. In a 4-star review, The Guardian describes the playing as simultaneously “intimate” and “hair-raising”. A programme subsequently repeated in New York, The New York Times has determined the musicians to be “kindred spirits”, commenting that “what was most impressive — and Beethovenian — was the power of their climaxes…These players, pushing each other to the limit, achieved a gripping excitement seldom heard in these works”.
Robert Levin’s and Steven Isserlis’ complete cycle of Beethoven Cello Sonatas is to be repeated in San Francisco, Aldeburgh and Japan, culminating in a recording project for Hyperion.
Read all the reviews of Robert Levin’s performances here.
