Igor Levit: Resistance album review – essential listening in a time of bullies and despots

Resistance is one of the inaugural offerings on Igor Levit’s own label, No Silence Records, released in collaboration with Sony Classical. Never afraid to stick his head above the parapet, the German pianist has chosen two works exploring ideas of human resilience in the face of political power, with Liszt’s transcription of Beethoven’s Symphony No 3, the Eroica, rubbing shoulders with Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon. The link, of course, is the French general whose self-proclamation as Emperor caused a disgusted Beethoven to scratch the forrmer’s name from the front page of what was to have been his Buonaparte Symphony.

Levit rightly sees Liszt’s piano realisation as a masterwork in and of itself and his dramatic interpretation is full of poetry, often surprisingly gentle, and with breathtaking pianissimos. When required, there’s no shortage of firepower, but at its heart is the long, drawn-out funeral march, an aching lament for the passing of a great soul. It’s here that Levit, whose finely balanced touch is exquisite, gets to the beating heart of the matter.

The Ode to Napoleon, Schoenberg’s thinly veiled condemnation of Hitler, features a commanding Levit alongside Kammerakademie Potsdam under Antonello Manacorda. Byron’s sardonic text is delivered in lacerating English by German actor Dörte Lyssewski. In a time of bullies and despots, this is essential listening.