エンカウンターのアナログ盤＜完全生産限定盤＞

希望と出会いとを希求する極めてパーソナルなメッセージ

「エンカウンター(=邂逅)」と題されたイゴール・レヴィットの最新作は、2018年発売の亡き友人に捧げたパーソナル性の高い「ライフ」と同じ2枚組で、壮絶なまでの内面感情の葛藤と社会的体験を経て生み出されたアルバムである。レヴィットがコロナ禍の中で激しい感情を抑えることを試み、音楽から喜びや慰め、自由に演奏することの可能性を模索し、あらゆる種類の「邂逅=エンカウンター」を見つけ出そうとする過程で構想され、2020年5月下旬にベルリンで録音された。一部を除き、原曲は歌詞を伴う(もしくは歌詞に基づいて作曲された)作品からピアノ独奏用にアレンジされたもの。いずれも研ぎ澄まされた美しさを持ち、穏やかで内面を見つめるような静かな音楽となっている。

ノヴゴロド生まれのピアニスト。2012年10月にソニー・クラシカルと専属契約を結び、以後大掛かりな作品集を精力的にリリースし続けている。
ソニー・ミュージック

Following on his Life album, pianist Igor Levit enters similarly cosmic conceptual territory with Encounter, an album that, one may learn from the graphics, stages encounters between people and time, heaven and earth. The essay that follows does not add any degree of specificity to this, and one does not come any closer to knowing why, say, Bach-Busoni and Brahms-Busoni would stage an encounter between people and time, heaven and earth, while plain old Bach and Brahms would not. Indeed, apart from the grand finale, Morton Feldmans Palais de Mari, nothing here was originally for the piano, and it is unclear how this layer of mediation is meant to affect the listeners encounter. Set all this aside, however, and Levit is his usual brilliant self. The program follows a big trajectory from dense to, in the Feldman, near-absolute sparsity, and Levit is masterful in realizing both. In the Busoni transcriptions of Bachs Ten Chorale Preludes for organ, Levit has an uncanny way of differentiating the original material from Busonis embellishments, and the Busoni versions of six of Brahms Chorale Preludes for organ, Op. 122, the last works Brahms wrote, show a compelling duality between the chorale melodies on top and the absorbing, murky counterpoint beneath. The second disc (of the physical version) is mostly devoted to Max Reger, either transcribing Brahms songs or on his own, and this too is a composer who is unforgiving of anything less than the virtuoso treatment he receives from Levit. Best of all is the Feldman, nearly 29 minutes of music at the edge of silence; its intermittent notes are really the most virtuosic ones on the recording, for to maintain energy here is a tall order, and it is filled spectacularly. The Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin, usually too ponderous for a piano recital acoustically, fits Levits aims well, and the major question for listeners is likely to be how easily they can set aside Levits concept.