". . . Beth Levin's live concert recording of the "Hammerklavier," done at the University of Maryland in 2019, is one of the most successfully realized performances of this sonata that I have heard -- live or otherwise."
"I especially admired [...] the discreet contrasts between the more noble aspects of Beethoven’s writing (as in the initial fanfare of the first movement Allegro) and the arrestingly chromatic progressions that follow. . ."
Recorded at Festival Baltimore, Linehan Concert Hall, University of Maryland, 29 June 2019
Record Label | Aldilá Records
Recording Engineer | Alan Wonneberger
Recording Producer | Peter Karl
Executive Producer | Christoph Schlüren
Design | Daily Dialogue (Maximilian Schachtner, Malin Schoenberg, Raphael Wicki)
Year of Publication | 2020
The final movement, with its glorious main theme, is given a superb performance. You’ll be smiling throughout.
Every time I think Beth Levin can’t possibly surpass herself, she does. . . . . Were she a painter she would be Raphael, Leonardo and Dalí all rolled into one.
Recording Session Producer | Neil Rynston
Executive Producer | Bob Lord
Executive A&R | Sam Renshaw
A&R | Alex Bourne
Audio Director | Jeff LeRoy
Engineering Manager | Lucas Paquette
Mastering | Shaun Michaud
Art & Production Director | Brett Picknell
Graphic Design | Emily Roulo
Marketing | Scott Murphy
Year of Publication | 2017
French Suite recorded November 26, 2014 at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn, New York
Wind Power recorded February 18, 2015 at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn, New York
Divertimento recorded April 20, 2015 at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn, New York
Partita recorded January 27, 2015 at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn, New York
Ninety-Six Strings and Two Whistles recorded June 1, 2015 at Peter Karl Studios in Brooklyn, New York
Recording Session Producer Peter Karl
Recording Session Engineer Rick Van Benschoten
Produced by Rick Van Benschoten and Eight Strings & a Whistle
Executive Producer Bob Lord
Executive A&R Sam Renshaw
A&R Alex Bourne
Audio Director Jeff LeRoy
Mastering Shaun Michaud
Production Engineer Nate Hunter
Art & Production Director Brett Picknell
Graphic Design Emily Roulo
Marketing Morgan MacLeod
The regions of Austria and Hungary have a rich history of music, art, and culture, where composers such as Beethoven, Artur Schnabel, and Emanuel Moór, among many others, developed their craft and influenced the traditions of European art music. On his debut release on Navona Records, CELLO MUSIC FROM AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, cellist Sam Magill presents works by Beethoven, Schnabel, and Moór that not only expand the cello repertoire and illustrate the cellist’s virtuosity, technical aplomb, conviction, and expressiveness, but enrich our understanding of these composers, their music, and their heritage.
An extensive and demanding work, Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9, Op. 47 (1803) is a virtuosic piece originally written for violinist George Bridgetower (1779-1860), yet dedicated to Rodolphe Kreutzer who never actually played the Sonata. Working from an 1822 arrangement of the piece for cello and piano by Beethoven’s pupil Carl Czerny, Magill and pianist Beth Levin perform the challenging work with aplomb and austerity, restoring certain passages from the original manuscript to expose the Sonata’s virtuosic elements while retaining clarity of sound.
Artur Schnabel (1882-1951), a gifted pianist and composer who was influenced by Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone system as well as other less restrictive atonal techniques, wrote Sonata for Solo Cello in 1931, utilizing Schoenberg’s concept of developing variation, with passages reminiscent of the extreme chromaticism of Max Reger. Incorporating one of Schnabel’s unique compositional techniques of Aposiopesis, the use of frequent stops and gaps in the music, the Sonata creates a manic fleeing from one direction and emotion to another, eventually fading eerily away to nothing.
To finish off the program, Magill and Levin present the world premiere recording of Ballade for Cello and Orchestra, in E Major, Op. 171 by Emanuel Moór (1863-1931), a piece that is late-Romantic in language, with moments of nationalistic themes and virtuosic passages. It was dedicated to Pau Casals in 1913 but was never published. In 2010 a version for cello and piano which the composer made himself was engraved by the Henrik and Emanuel Moór Society, and which Magill and Levin evocatively present here.
Samuel Magill | Cello
Beth Levin | Piano
Date of Publication | 2016
That Beth Levin’s playing of Schumann is different from other pianists’ is what makes her work unique and markedly elevates the intrinsic merit of Personae.
What a beautiful performance--assured, sensitive, and personal. Brava, Beth! I look forward to purchasing the Navona CD when it is released in January.
Enchanting and mesmerizing, dear Beth! You have honored Chopin's fine music with your usual charm and class. Brava!!!
Bravo Beth!!! Beautiful rendition of Chopin, both delicate and assertive! Thank you for sharing! ~ IWO xx
Power, bright identity, deep immersion in musical idea. Really outstanding interpretation.
Date of Publication | 2016
Composer | Anders Eliasson
Liner Notes | Beth Levin
Liner Notes | Gil Reavill
Liner Notes Translation | J. Bradford Robinson
Liner Notes | Christoph Schlüren
Date of Publication | 2016
Beth Levin has approached Opp. 109, 110, and 111 with this sense of continuity in mind, and her interpretations show more than just a consistency of expression between the works, but also a kind of rapt introspection that is seldom encountered on CD.
I could hardly catch my breath as I fired off an email to “Beth Levin,” the pianist who moved me to tears as she rippled through the Allegretto movement of Beethoven’s “Tempest” Sonata, Op. 31.
Executive Producer | Leonard Bogat
Public Relations | Rory Cooper
A&R | Renée Dupuis
Graphic Design | Ryan Harrison
Mixing, Recording Editor | Peter Karl
Product Manager | Jeff LeRoy
Executive Producer | Bob Lord
Mastering | Shaun Michaud
Engineer | Joseph Patrych
Art Direction, Production Director | Brett Picknell
Liner Notes | Gil Reavill
Year of Publication | 2013
She's emphatically on Beethoven's side, so to put it. And at the same time, her playing suffers neither from being too much in awe of the composer's ability to conjure so much from so little, nor does it underestimate that achievement.
Liner Notes | James David Jacobs
Engineer | Peter Karl
Photography | Tess Steinkolk
Date of Publication | 2010
This is not just a version of the Goldberg Variations on piano, but one that unashamedly disregards its origins on the harpsichord, with old-school heavy pedaling and other pianistic effects that would have made Liszt proud.
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Onomé Ekah | Cover Art
Peter Karl | Engineer
Peter Schaff | Photography
Year of Publication | 2008