Liszt: Transcendental Etudes Yoav Levanon

• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139:
• 1 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 1, Preludio 00:51
• 2 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 2, Fusées 02:13
• 3 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 3, Paysage 04:43
• 4 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 4, Mazeppa 08:00
• 5 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 5, Feux follets 03:42
• 6 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 6, Vision 05:54
• 7 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 7, Eroica 04:52
• 8 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 8, Wilde Jagd 05:30
• 9 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 9, Ricordanza 11:21
• 10 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 10, Appassionata 04:33
• 11 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 11, Harmonies du soir 09:59
• 12 Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139: No. 12, Chasse-neige 05:31
• Total Runtime 01:07:09

Info for Liszt: Transcendental Etudes

For Yoav Levanon, Franz Liszt is “an artist whose impact on the music world is immeasurable,” and “a supportive, loving and understanding presence that has accompanied me throughout my journey as a pianist and musician.” Works by Liszt have graced two of Levanon’s three previous Warner Classics recordings, and now the young Israeli-born pianist has recorded the twelve Transcendental Etudes, a high point in the Romantic repertoire for piano. The term ‘transcendental’ applies to the capacities required of the performer, but it also embraces the mystical and spiritual implications of the music. “When I approached the Transcendental Etudes – that name of glory which still strikes awe in the world of pianists – I knew I wanted to make one thing clear,” says Levanon. “That this project was never about virtuosity for its own sake. Instead, it was about what virtuosity allows us to uncover … The deeper I went, the more I recognised the extraordinary expressive range of the Etudes – emotional, spiritual … even symphonic in scale. Each piece is a universe of its own. These works are layered, complex, and endlessly revealing. They invite us into vast inner landscapes, full of hidden colours and meanings that demand something far deeper than brilliance …”

Yoav Levanon, piano

Yoav Levanon
Having started his professional piano education at the age of 3, Yoav Levanon, although just turned 18, already has an impressive list of prizes, competitions and concerts to his name.

Highlights of the coming months include his UK debut at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, recitals in the Boulezsaal, Berlin, Munich and Paris and concerto appearances in the Concertgebouw Hall Amsterdam as well as concerts with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra.

Yoav first appeared on stage at the age of 4 and soon became a winner of his first National Piano Competition in Israel. He won his first Gold Medal at an International Piano Competition in the USA a year later and performed on the prestigious stage of Carnegie Hall in New York. Following his orchestral debut with the Israel Chamber Orchestra he went on to take part in the Tsinandali Festival, Georgia, where he played Mozart and Bach Concertos for Two Pianos and Orchestra with acclaimed pianist Sergei Babayan. And he received the ​‘Young Talent Award’ of the Excelentia Foundation and performed in a ceremony at the National Auditorium Madrid with the presence of her majesty Queen Dona Sofia. During 2018 Yoav performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra

More recently Yoav appeared as the youngest pianist in the festival history of the renowned Verbier Festival and was celebrated as a ​“discovery”. His debut solo recital, broadcast globally on medici​.tv, gained the largest online audience of any of the 2019 Festival’s events.

Further concerts included a solo performance in a ​‘Piano Summit’ with Martha Argerich at Schloss Elmau, Germany followed by a recital at the Piano aux Jacobins Festival in Toulouse. His performance was highly praised in a critic in Diapason: ​“Yoav Levanon is not only a stunning virtuoso. His assertive interpretative choices already make him an authentic musician, who has everything to become one of the major pianists of this century.”

At the beginning of 2021, Yoav took part in a filmed project with maestro Daniel Barenboim and soon after he signed an exclusive artist agreement with Warner Classics. Yoav’s debut album with the label is released in May 2022.

Yoav has already performed on some of the most prestigious stages and festivals in France, Germany, Israel, Latvia, and recently, with the Orchestre de la Swiss Romande in Geneve, Switzerland. Among his concerts, Yoav performed in the Louis Vuitton Foundation and Radio France Grand Auditorium, Paris.

Yoav is guided by top piano professors and musicians in Israel and abroad. He is privileged to take part in the ​‘Piano Program for Outstanding Young Pianists’ at the Jerusalem Music Center, working with the prestigious American concert pianist, Murray Perahia as well as working under the guidance of distinguished pianist Sir Andras Schiff in his artist performance studio at the Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin.

Booklet for Liszt: Transcendental Etudes