Igor Levit / Piano Recital

Existential engagement

24 preludes. 24 fugues. One composer. Bach set the bar with his »Well-Tempered Clavier« – and many a composer followed that model, seeking an existential engagement with the keyboard employing all musical keys and styles. But no one took that as far as Dmitri Shostakovich, who in 1950–51 composed a cycle that included all forms of expression from humour and the absurd to melancholy, violence and despair.