Igor Levit

Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas as the New Testament of piano music? It goes without saying that Igor Levit is familiar with Hans von Bülow’s overused bon mot. But he wouldn’t be likely to quote it himself. The 32-year-old pianist – nimble, physically fit, unpretentious and full of humour – is pretty much the diametric opposite of a devout interpreter, some kind of priest who explores the deepest truths of a sacred text in silent seclusion. Levit takes a different approach. »Of course I practise like mad, immersing myself in the score with the aim of understanding it better every time. But what’s really important happens out there in the concert hall, in the interaction between the artist and his audience,« the pianist believes.