Ira Levin, conductor and pianist, is known internationally for the great versatility of his musical activities. Equally at home conducting opera and concert, an award winning concert pianist, a recording artist and a composer whose published transcriptions for piano and orchestra are being performed and recorded, he is a complete musician in an age of increasing specialization.
BRUCKNER SIXTH SYMPHONY RECORDING
“Ira Levin suprises the Brucknerians with a masterly reading of the Sixth Symphony from Lindoro”
“The interpretation of Levin and the Norrlands Opera Symphony Orchestra is excellent. To begin, it is meticulous in regards to the numerous indications in the score. There is not one questionable decision about the tempos, which Levin manages with intelligence, or the phrasing. The transparency of texture and perfectly calibrated dynamics are impacted from the first notes, everything is heard, each note as written. And this is not only attributable to the edition, but also the preparatory work as well as the minute analysis of the score. There is a great conviction behind the whole interpretation, both with the baton as well as the orchestra, which plays with a high level. It converts the recording into a vehement defense of the 1899 edition. Without a doubt this recording is one of the most interesting of the recent Bruckner panorama.”
(Miguel Ángel González Barrio in Diverdi, December 2010)
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE DRESDEN OPERA FESTIVAL 2002
“Complete Wagner”
“Countless bravos and stormy ovations concluded the performance of Wagners Tristan and Isolde…The real star of the evening was the Staatskapelle, giving the performance such urgent passion, such indomitable lust and magic glorification and thus gave the work it’s true breath of life. Ira Levin conducted this performance at very short notice, replacing Semyon Bychkov, and did so without rehearsals. This speaks for his sovereignty and strong nerves. The performance expressly underlined his high artistic level. Bravo!!”
(Jens Daniel Schubert in Saechsische Zeitung, March 10, 2002)
WOLF and WAGNER
Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP)
“After such a performance, it remains a mystery why Wolf’s symphonic poem Penthesilea is not heard in the great concert halls more often. With a clear technique and intense concentration, Levin was able to achieve both great tension and transparency of the thick textures throughout the long work. At times, there was a chamber music-like finesse of great tenderness, floating strings and excellent harp playing contributing to the effect. The vehemence of the final section was projected in its full force, up to the final, transfigured f-minor chord. A great ovation from the public ensued for this unknown work!”
For the second part, Levin was joined by the excellent, internationally celebrated singers Violetta Urmana, Stephen Gould and Stephen Bronk, for the first act of Wagner’s Die Walküre. Levin concentrated on the psychological aspects of the score, which he was able to communicate through transparent music making. He was able to achieve a convincing building of the tension from the first, tentative meeting of Siegmund and Sieglinde to the powerful moment of the taking of the sword from the tree. It is not easy, especially in this act, perhaps the most moving of the entire Ring, to project all the various emotions through the music only, without the support of the staging. Ira Levin managed to do just that with his sensitive conducting of the exceptional orchestra and singers and showed once again the high level of his competence in Wagner.”
(Klaus Billand in Der Neue Merker, Vienna, July, 2006)
“The orchestra, the conducting, the soloists, everything was united, in Hugo Wolf as well as in Wagner, to show OSESP in one of its greatest moments. It was a concert that will not easily be forgotten.”
(Lauro Machado Coelho in Estado de São Paulo 17.4. 2006)
