DRESDEN OPERA FESTIVAL 2002
TRISTAN UND ISOLDE and DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN
Two gala performances in four days

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 underlines his high artistic level. Bravo!! (Saechsische Zeitung, March 10, 2002)

An opulent performance takes flight
There is no doubt that this “Die Frau ohne Schatten” has been the most sumptuous performance of this year’s Opera Festival in Dresden…  Ira Levin, who replaced Marc Albrecht, was in full control of the orchestra..these were four and a half hours of great opera where time flew by… (Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, March 25, 2002)

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9
“…Ira Levin was received as a savior and we sincerely hope he has the necessary strength. Musically he is a conductor with a disciplinary profile, which may be a good path to the salvation of the orchestra. Energy is his main virtue…High points of the performance of Beethoven’s 9th symphony: the orchestra’s new aerobic instinct, the fluidity even in the most difficult passages, an eloquent moment in the viola section in the last movement…Ira Levin’s arrival provided a new circumstance and opened doors to put an end to the ancestral vices not only of the Municipal Orchestra but of all professional groups of the theater…” 
(Folha de São Paulo, April 10, 2002)

PIANIST-CONDUCTOR
“Monday night at the Theatro Municipal was Maestro Ira Levin’s debut as soloist-conductor with the Municipal Symphony, playing a Mozart piano concerto. Mozart was preceded by Hindemith and followed by Respighi. A high price but the program was conceived so that orchestra and conductor could give a show…This not meant to criticize, much the contrary. Since his arrival, Maestro Levin has made efforts to give musical and professional dignity to the orchestra and a dose of exhibition and self-confidence is part of the project. Levin is a former student and assistant of the great pianist Jorge Bolet (1914-1990).Playing Mozart’s piano concerto nº 22. K. 482 he makes us remember the Cuban master’s great articulation.
However, he played as a conductor to a great extent: inside and outside the piano realm at the same time… it was a fluent Mozart…
it is always good to listen to music of that quality and it is a relief to know that the Municipal Symphony Orchestra can have a pianist of that stature at its disposition. Concerning the encores…It really became ‘the Ira Levin show’…” (Folha de São Paulo, June 19, 2002)

“The Symphonic Metamorphoses on a Theme by Weber is pure Hindemith with very stressed rhythms, angular melodies, brilliant orchestral writing and virtuoso exploration of the solo instruments. Ira Levin took advantage of all these qualities last Monday night conducting the Municipal Symphony Orchestra. It was a colorful rendering with rather lively tempi…As a soloist and conductor of Mozart’s piano concerto nº 22 in E flat major K 482, Levin proved to be a competent pianist with a clear technique and elegant approach which was nothing but confirmed in one of Domenico Scarlatti’s sonatas he offered as an encore…in the concerto’s extroverted final Rondo the pianist overcame well all the virtuoso demands…which was also the case in the execution, as another encore, of a Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody # 12 ….” (O Estaao de São Paulo, July 23, 2002)

MACBETH
“…the results achieved in Ira Levin’s first performance as opera conductor in São Paulo were appreciated…there were many moments in which Levin obtained a very satisfactory performance from his musicians. The introduction to the sleepwalking scene providing a nocturnal distressing mood was one of those moments…” (O Estado de São Paulo, July 23, 2002)

“…Independently from the more evident problems – such as the lack of creativity in the scenic direction – Macbeth’s music (the main reason to justify an opera) was brilliantly projected, on the highest possible level, by Maestro Levin’s competent hands. From the very first chords of the prelude one could notice that the musical choices made by this extraordinary conductor aimed at establishing the tragic atmosphere of the work, stylistically in the best tradition of Toscanini and de Sabata. Also in the fundamental scene of Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking Levin’s decision of slowing down the urgency of the musical narrative and emphasizing the remarkable dramatic ethos was of utmost correctness…”
(www.movimento.com, July 24, 2002)

SAMSON ET DALILA
“…With Samson and Dalila, Ira levin has given his most balanced performance as an opera conductor yet. Leading the São Paulo Municipal Orchestra, whose execution was admirably consistent, he demonstrated considerable affinity with French musical composition, especially in regards to textural transparency. His direction was just as effective in delicate passages – such as Dalila’s entrance in the first act – as it was in the more dramatic ones.
The entire second act finale, for instance, was filled with electricity.There were moments of particularly effective utilization of the orchestra – the passage from the first to the second scene of the third act was one such example –
and the players were fittingly unbridled in interpreting the kitsch pages of the Baccanale which is, after all, a bravura showpiece for them (this was in addition the only moment prompting the audience, certainly rather unaccustomed to hearing this rarely performed work, to interrupt the proceedings with applause). All in all, for these festivities honoring the 91st anniversary of the Municipal Theater, Levin led a performance on a very high level.”
(O Estado de São Paulo, September 19, 2002)

MAHLER  Symphony No. 6
The Semi-Resurrection of the São Paulo
Municipal Orchestra

“The American conductor Ira Levin has accepted the challenge of raising the level of our municipal orchestra…and the concert of September 30th was one more decisive step towards its recovery…Mozart’s Symphony # 34 is a short piece which worked very well as a kind of prelude to Mahler Symphony # 6. It received a correct interpretation stylistically in the best romantic tradition in which  Maestro Levin brought out all the energy demanded by the score…But the great moment of the night was Mahler’s music whose complexity represents a tour-de-force to any orchestra in the world. In this performance The São Paulo Municipal Orchestra was able to demonstrate all its potential… the high point of the performance was the third movement in which the orchestra showed perfect ensemble playing and attentiveness to the various sonorities…All in all, orchestra and conductor fulfilled this music’s main aim: to offer a real aesthetic experience.” (www.movimento.com, October 2, 2002)
  
Letter of the Month
“I would like Revista Concerto to publish this letter as my statement of a remarkable happening. I am talking about the performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony last September 29th, a memorable surprise to all those who attended it. The OSM, under the firm command of Ira Levin, played this monumental work with a kind of will and bravery we have not seen for a long time… Congratulations to the musicians and to the brave Maestro Ira Levin who has developed a paradigmatic work to recover the orchestra and make it shine again: a real challenge which deserves our compliment and support. I hope this magnificent undertaking does not suffer any interruption so that our city will soon be blessed with two orchestras on an international level.” (Concerto Magazine, October 2002)
.
Municipal Orchestra in a Great Phase
“It is bliss to realize that after a crisis period the Municipal Orchestra is recovering the shape of its best days. After a period of initial adjustments, Ira Levin has found a voice to his orchestra with a particular sonority and personality. It is not fair to concentrate our review on  small details of last Monday’s concert. From the perspective of the ensemble playing it was a satisfactory rendering of a work as difficult as Gustav Mahler’s Symphony in A minor.
The Sixth is classical from both structural and tonal points of view. It was named “Tragic” due to its tormented atmosphere and anguished ending (which was a kind of anticipation of the several personal miseries of the composer’s last years).
But, like Marc Vignal pointed out, the Sixth is a “great funerary monument to classical tonality and form” or, to summarize, an elegy to nineteenth century romanticism. Ira Levin was very successful in capturing this dimension of the symphony, bringing out a vigorous interpretation with a perceivable architectonic sense as if the work were a long arc, beginning in A minor (a tonality Mahler had always associated to negative feelings). The performance had some memorable moments: for instance, the central episode of the Allegro energico ma non troppo with its pastoral character in which the cowbells assume a fundamental role. Or the coda of that same movement built over the so-called “Alma Theme” (the composer’s wife) excitedly played by OSM. Levin knew how to stress the harsh mood of the Scherzo with its reminiscence from Revelge, one of the most tragic songs from the cycle “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”. In so doing, he enabled the necessary contrast preparing the best moment of the concert: the Andante with its discreet but intense lyricism (which can be put side by side by with the famous Adagietto from Symphony #5) played by the orchestra in a very noble way. The final Allegro moderato (an expanded sonata-form comprising three different themes linked by melodic ties) is complexly written due to the extent of its rhythmic flexibility and the need of binding all the fragmentary thematic materials. In this movement Levin was also very successful in balancing all of the light and shadow elements.The very end of this great arc formed by the four movements was particularly moving. The way the pizzicato in the strings put an end to this furious fight against the inexorable destiny was the conclusion of a sensitive and mature performance of one of the most important and difficult symphonic works of the twentieth century. The concert began with the wonderful Symphony # 34, in C major, K. 338 by Mozart, the last he composed in Salzburg. Levin established the exact energetic pace of the piece with a mood sometimes martial but always full of drama.
The vigorous Allegro vivace, the intimacy of the Andante di molto and the dynamic options of the Allegro vivace all received a warm approach from OSM and its musical director.
Symphony # 34 is undeservedly underestimated and its inclusion in this concert represented one more high point in the orchestra’s programs.” (O Estado de São Paulo, October 08, 2003)

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
A Very Good Mozart Performance
“Premiered last Thursday at Theatro Municipal,  Le Nozze di Figaro offered good acting combined with the proper physique-de rôle of the whole cast (there were no bad actors in the cast). Such a combination was able to guarantee a fluent and natural representation.
The quality of the voices was homogeneous and the remarkable ensemble singing brought a very good rendering…
Controlling all the events was Ira Levin who displayed the exact feeling to conduct Mozart. He favored fast tempi that are in fact demanded by such a long opera… In the Cherubino arias, for instance, Mr. Levin took great advantage of the tempo in order to suggest the emotions of an adolescent who is discovering love. Nevertheless, he knew exactly when to opt for more moderate speeds, for example in the Contessa’s aria.

He was also very successful in balancing the orchestral volume with the stage…The Municipal Orchestra has shown a considerable evolution and it’s participation in this opera was decisive in making this ensemble work truly worthwhile to attend.” (O Estado de São Paulo, October 28, 2002)

OPENING CONCERT
The Opening Concert of 2003 showed an orchestra in a favorable phase of renewal
 “…the impression that the São Paulo Municipal Orchestra is  experiencing a rich renewing phase was fully confirmed during the opening concert of the season.  Proof for this statement is the way  the orchestra faced the very demanding program, from Don Juan (the first great tone-poem by Richard Strauss) to The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky’s threshold to the modernism of the 20th century. The ability of Ira Levin to balance both epical and lyrical dimensions in Don Juan  was clear from the very beginning of the Allegro com brio. It was a very well finished rendering with some highly convincing moments (such as the  introduction of the second main theme in the horns). The restatement, which leads to the coda, was also very expressive, with its echoes in the brass and dying chords which  end the work. Mr. Levin will conduct a Salomé staging in the present year and demonstrated complete command of the language and  poetry of Richard Strauss. The Rite of Spring demands enormous precision from all the orchestra’s sections whether in the bewitching opposition between horns on the one side and oboes and clarinets on the other in the Ritual of the Two Rival Tribes or in the rhythmic diversity and disturbing descending figures played by the trombones in the Sacrificial Dance. With its wildness and primitive accents full of paganism, The Rite of Spring is able to provoke the same impact it had in 1913 in an audience of the 21st century. It definitively is a  survival test for any group and the Municipal Orchestra proved to be  ready to defy the obstacles of  this kind of repertoire. Commandingly led by Ira Levin, the orchestra offered an exciting performance of this essential masterwork of the 20th century followed by the enthusiasm of the enormous audience which filled the Municipal Theater last Sunday morning.”
(O Estado de São Paulo, March 21, 2003)

MAHLER Symphony No.10
OSM causes a sensation with Mahler
 “…British musicologist Deryck Cooke worked on the edition of Mahler’s uncompleted 1910 Tenth Symphony for more than ten years. Cooke efforts are a true prove of love but is irregular in its results.
Our aim here, however, is to assess the interpretation of Maestro Ira Levin and OSM last Monday.There were some accidents, a broken string in the viola section  and a few moments when the synchronization between the many instruments was not perfect. However, all those things did not prevent Levin to design, with a firm hand, the arc of such a long piece, which runs the risk of being erratic without an organic total view.

The most successful moments were the long and austere initial Adagio and the ghostly third movement – Allegro Moderato – full of anguish from a phase marked by the death of the composer’s daughter and his conjugal crisis…The interpretation of both scherzos were also correct…Despite its irregularities, the Finale causes great impact and Levin conducted it in a very intense way: oscillating between the violent strokes at the beginning and the beautiful melody first presented by the flute.”(O Estado de São Paulo, April 30, 2003) 

FALSTAFF
“Balance and fluency are the words that describe best the Falstaff production premiered last Wednesday at Theatro Municipal…Its clearly perceptible how carefully the musical direction by Ira Levin succeeded in integrating all the aspects of this opera made of multiple details…like the work of a clockmaker, synchronizing all the many instruments which played very well within the complex subtle declamation of unexpected beauty. The ensemble result was very good…and it was the first opportunity for many people to attend a performance of this prodigious opera live, with our own singers who performed with all the respect and care demanded by the score.” parts were carefully built by Mr. Levin who proved a great sense of dramatic pace. (O Estado de Sao Paulo, May 29, 2003)

“…the musical work of this production is totally compatible with the scenic quality achieved by José Possi Neto. The Municipal Orchestra, under the firm and detailed baton of Ira Levin, respected all of Verdi’s many score indications and offered a solid basis to the developmentof the action. In the pit, as on the stage, the conducting was perfect in rhythm and development
giving a light and enchanting pace to the performance. The cast presented is an example of intelligence in the art of casting. From the title character to the minor roles all the singers (all without a single exception) had a rendering of musical and scenic proficiency. Something very rare, by the way! The great ensemble at the end of the opera will be remembered as a souvenir of the magnificent production which was a lesson of how an opera must be done whether in Europe, America or Brazil.” (Movimento.com, May 24, 2003)

“The cast is the highest point of the new production directed by José Possi Verdi for the Verdi opera. In the exit of the Theater a man in his seventies could only exclaim ‘What a beauty, what a beauty’…Ira Levin conducted with excitement, contributing all the fluency needed…” (Folha de São Paulo, May 27, 2003)

SHOSTAKOVICH   Symphony No.4
An excellent concert
“Ira Levin made the Municipal Orchestra face this disturbing work, Shostakovich’s Symphony # 4, in a surpassingly persuasive way…All the ambiguity of the artist (the composer attempts to express a kind of optimism which was impossible to believe in face of the reality of his time) was made clear from end to end of the rendering. The Municipal built up the brilliant scherzo section of the Finale with the utmost tension. 
In its Brazilian premiere, this truly intimate testimony of the composer reached its summit at the close of the last movement. Just after the coming back of the funeral march which opened the Finale, Ira Levin conducted the epilogue in a very impressive manner: the hopeless pianissimi chords in the strings – punctuated by entrances of the horn, flute, celesta with which Shostakovich expressed his feelings towards the betrayal of his fellow citizens.”
(O Estado de São Paulo, June 9, 2003)

JENUFA
Brazil/ São Paulo 17.8.2003
“Ira Levin is not only a well-known conductor at German opera houses, who, among many other things, made a great impression jumping in without rehearsal with Tristan und Isolde and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the 2002 Dresden Opera Festival. He also took over the position of music director of the Theatro Municipal of São Paulo, and its symphony orchestra, in March of 2002. In less than one and a half years, he has turned the orchestra into an ensemble of a significantly high quality, which we were able to hear in August at the premiere performance of Leos Janacek’s Jenufa, the first time a Janacek opera was ever played in Brazil.
The orchestra has excellent strings and a good concertmaster, but the warmth of the woodwinds and strength of the brass were equally evident and convincing. The orchestra projected the full-blooded dramatic moments as well as the many folkloric elements very impressively. Levin controlled everything through exact entrances and well considered tempi that supported the singers throughout.”
(Klaus Billand, Der Neue Merker, Vienna – Austria www.der-neue-merker.eu)

MAHLER  Symphony No.3
Mahler in the passionate conducting of Ira Levin.
“One is proud to listen to the Municipal Orchestra playing such a complex work as Mahler’s Symphony # 3 Maestro Ira Levin proved to have the most rare attribute: the ability to clearly sustain the enormous arch from the initial movement  (Kräftig-Entschieden). This quality made his rendering of last Friday very logical and persuasive. The rigorous sonata form from the first movement was very well defined. The rendering of the Menuetto was very sensitive and the Scherzo, with its horn solo, was full of vitality… But the highest point of the concert was the splendorous way in which the Municipal Orchestra played the final Adagio…Ira Levin conducted it in a passionate way, leading the execution to a fantastic climax in the vibrating and sensual coda. ….. what remains is the pride of witnessing the OSM facing a complex work like this in such great form.” (O Estado de Sao Paulo, September 14, 2003)

SALOME
Orchestra and singers were the high points…
“The orchestra was the star in last Friday’s premiere at Theatro Municipal. Its instrumental sections were well balanced through the richly colored designs of Strauss’ score. The brass gave a nice performance and Ira Levin showed a judicious sense of the musical line conducting the opera Gabriel Faure referred to as “a tone poem with obligato voices”.
Not only in the Dance of the Seven Veils but also in passages like Jokannaan’s return to prison, the orchestra demonstrated itself to be in great shape besides providing a secure and not intrusive support to the good singing throughout… the quality of the musical performance balancing the scenic equivocations.” (O Estado de São Paulo, October 29, 2003)

MAHLER Symphony No.2
“The interpretation of Mahler’s Symphony nº2 in C minor, which opened the Theatro Municipal’s Season last Sunday, was marked by a meticulous preparation of each orchestral group through an analytical vision of the work which, however, never lost the broad sense of form. Maestro Ira Levin achieved an excellent artistic result from both orchestra and chorus in this large piece that begins with a funeral march and culminates in the statement: What you have conquered will bear you to God. The building of the long initial Allegro maestoso was very clear…Levin made a judicious choice of the many tempi, balancing them in a logical and consistent manner without rushing but keeping the tension throughout.
In contrast to the first movement, he brought a delicate rendering of the Andante moderato with its accent of Viennese ländler…The chorus had a remarkable participation in the last movement with its long instrumental introduction whose parts were carefully built by Mr. Levin who proved a great sense of dramatic pace. Following Mahler’s express instructions, Maestro Levin kept the chorus seated when singing the moving a cappella enunciation: Arise, yes, you will arise from the dead…asking the singers to stand only to the exulting final luminous affirmation.” (O Estado de São Paulo,March 16, 2004)

DUKAS-PROKOFIEV
“The opening work of last Sunday’s concert was Paul Dukas’ tone poem The Sorcerer’s Apprentice The many technical demands of this brilliant piece found good response in the enthusiastic execution presented by the Municipal Orchestra under Ira Levin. In the most popular of Prokofiev’s symphonies, the fifth, the orchestra was always very precise in the agitated phrases and rhythmic inflections typical of Prokofiev’s dynamism, but it was in the solemn lyricism of the Adagio that Ira Levin found his greatest moments. He was also very convincing in conveying the happy, popular expression of the final movement through which the Russian composer expressed his hopes even while composing the work in 1944 during the Second World War.

The many nuances of the orchestration, the dialogues between strings and woodwinds and the eloquence of the cellos at their entrance in the Allegro giocoso were all attentively realized. It is gratifying to listen to a work performed in such a satisfactory way, especially when written by a composer who does not appear very often in our concert programs.” (O Estado de Sao Paulo, May 2004)

A CYCLE WORTHY OF BRAHMS
“The conducting of Mr. Levin in the first two concerts of the Brahms cycle was marked by an extreme care with all the details of the scores, respecting its tempi oscillations as well as the clarity of the inner voices achieved by the transparent treatment given to the orchestral fabric. Levin showed a vigorous conception of the overtures: the Academic Festival, opus 80 overflowed with joy and exuberantly presented the themes from German student songs.
On the other hand, the Tragic Overture, opus 81 offered a remarkably dramatic contrast between its central episode,shaped in a spiritual way, and the external declamatory sections…It was in Symphonies 1 and 4 in which the Municipal Orchestra demonstrated its maturity. Both renderings showed an orchestra conscious of its potential and able to respond to all the details of Mr. Levin’s meticulous reading, always attentive to details that are rarely observed. An example of the above was his organized view of Symphony nº1, clearly unfolding it´s structure and details while playing with dynamic contrasts, Levin led it to an effervescent coda with an extremely dramatic pace. The ability to balance all the complex contrapuntal lines, control rubati, judiciously explore the dynamic nuances and easily assimilate the composer´s technical hurdles were some of the challenges to which the Municipal Orchestra responded with security, always prepared to react to it´s conductor´s demands. To summarize, the Municipal Orchestra and Ira Levin showed themselves to be fully prepared for such an ambitious artistic marathon”. (O Estado de São Paulo, May 28, 2004)

WHEN A PIANIST SHOWED BRAHMS’ GENIUS
The passionate vision showed by Ira Levin as soloist in Brahms´ Piano Concerto nº1, opus15
This was the highlight of the second part of Theatro Municipal’s Brahms Cycle. The simple presence of Maestro Levin on stage, even as a pianist, is enough to make us feel a different energy in his orchestra. Carefully working the passages of the initial Maestoso, stating the second main theme (poco più moderato) with great elegance and attacking the dialogues between piano and orchestra with a vigorous touch, Mr. Levin successfully built the long first movement. His reading of the Adagio had plenty of delicacy and solemnity, in agreement with the tradition that takes this movement as a posthumous tribute paid by Brahms to his friend Schumann. The final Allegro ma non troppo was full of imagination in both it´s cheerful and introspective moments. The pianist showed an extremely brilliant technique throughout. It was a performance which deserved the electrifying applause through which the audience manifested its excitement at the end of the concert”. (O Estado de São Paulo, June 4, 2004)

BRAHMS, SCHOENBERG, BARTOK
“The mere inclusion of Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quartet in B flat – as far as I known performed for the first time in Brazil– made the Municipal Orchestra’s subscription concert last Sunday a very special occasion. The rendering given by the Municipal String Quartet to this meeting between baroque and modern music (the work is a free adaptation of Haendel’s Concerto Grosso opus 6, nº 7) was admirable and extrovert. From the opening Largo/Allegro to the exuberant Hornpipe…the technical difficulties become more and more evident at every measure but were all brilliantly overcame by the quartet, enthusiastically supported by the conducting of Ira Levin.To play Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra well (as the Municipal Symphony did) is to pass a test of fire represented by one of the most incredible pieces from the 20th century orchestral literature. One at a time, all the sections are employed whether in the development of two ideas built in the Introduzione or in the game of the winds in the second movement or even in the opposition between the delicacy of a folk theme and the truculence of the Shostakovich quotation in the Intermezzo Interrotto. And we cannot forget the moto perpetuo of the finale to which Mr. Levin gave a vertiginous speed. The work is a challenge for all the musicians, inviting them to display their soloistic potential. The dark, introverted night music of the Elegy brings back – in its poco agitato passage – a theme heard in the introduction, the cultivated interpretation of this movement was probably the most satisfactory moment of the whole concert. The program opened with Brahms’ Variation on a Theme by Haydn; a wonderful addition to the composer’s cycle offered to us by OSM a few weeks ago. Here too the reading was of the highest quality whether in the vivacity presented by variations 5 and 6 and in the melodic enchantment of 4 and 7. The majestic closing passacaglia was played by Ira Levin and OSM with fantastic energy”. (O Estado de São Paulo, July 23, 2004)

THE SCORES WHICH CAME FROM THE COLD
Excellent performances of Nordic composers
“To associate a favorite musical piece to other two great but unfamiliar works is a good strategy to bring listeners to the theater. Last Sunday, this formula worked again in a concert played by the Municipal Orchestra to a sold out and very receptive audience. Sibelius’ symphonic fantasy Pohjola’s Daughter, based on an episode from the Kalevala,  was vividly conducted by Ira Levin, the way OSM played this work composed in 1906 was very convincing and functioned as an interesting opening to a program dedicated to Nordic composers. The eloquence of the Grieg piano concerto was of such a degree that the soloist, Arnaldo Cohen and Maestro Ira Levin could not respond to the ensuing ovation but to repeat the final movement as an encore. The reading given by OSM to Nielsen’“Inextinguishable” Symphony was the high point of Sunday’s concert. The strength of the initial Allegro – developed around two opposing thematic groups, suggesting chaos and order – was followed by the idyllic Allegretto dominated by bucolic colors in the woodwinds.
The melody of the Poco Adagio is pure Nielsen and was delicately shaped by the orchestra without, nevertheless, any loss of its inner tension. In the closing Allegro, it was very exciting to listen to the dialogue between the two tympanists, displayed at the extreme corners of the stage, interrupting the long melody played by the violins in the high register. At this point, it was irreproachable the way Ira Levin built the movement, leading it to an epilogue of ultimate beauty, restating the principle of life and its force, endowed with a permanent value which resists all pressures and can never be extinguished”.(O Estado de São Paulo, July 27, 2004)

THE VIRTUOSITY OF THE MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA
Conducted by Ira Levin, this week’s concert excited the audience
The huge and vibrating sonority of his cello combined with the expressive but sober interpretation of Antonio Meneses offered a highly mature reading of Dvorak’s B minor Concerto, opus 104 last Sunday at Theatro Municipal.
The players were carefully and enthusiastically conducted by Ira Levin and interacted movingly with the soloist in all the crucial moments of the piece: the dialogue between flute and cello in the second part of the initial Allegro, in the woodwinds comments on the soloist’s cantilena from the Adagio non troppo and in the musical games played by the first violin and the cello soloist in the final subject of the Allegro moderato. The varieties of instrumental color and rhythmic combinations as well as the melodic invention make the Bachianas Brasileiras nº2 one of the most successful works of the whole cycle and a summit in Villa-Lobos production. The irresistible lyricism present in Canto do Capadócio or in Canto da Nossa Terra, the dance impulse in Lembrança do Sertão, the sensual effects obtained by the inspired orchestrator from the saxophone or from the trombone were all stressed by the vibrating approach of Ira Levin. The Municipal Orchestra, with its delicious virtuosity, presented its final closing toccata (Trenzinho do Caipira), full of imitative effects, with all the ingredients and naïve charm that enchant the audience.
Bachianas nº2 is seldom found in our concert programs which is an additional reason one must have to take advantage of the opportunity to listen to it live again.Through its orchestral opulence and kaleidoscopic rhythmic variety, Ravel’s choreographic poem La Valse is the kind of music which matches very well with Villa-Lobos. This work, whose elegance and (at the same time) vigorous textures never fails to enthuse, received an exciting performance leading to a culminating point of a concert which developed gradually both in the vigor of the realization and in the audience’s response. (O Estado de São Paulo September 18, 2004)

IRA LEVIN AND NELSON FREIRE IN RIO
The concert of the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira at the Theatro Municipal last Saturday was completely sold out. The first work on the program, conducted by the celebrated maestro Ira Levin, was Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras#7 and the excellent performance was intensely applauded by the audience. Needless to say, the following Grieg Piano Concerto was played at the highest level by Nelson Freire…..The Franck Symphony in d-minor is very French, very clear and melodious and rich in it’s harmonies and orchestration. All of these elements were devotedly realized by the musicians of the OSB. The conducting of Ira Levin was vibrant and enthusiastic and maintained the very highest level of playing throughout. (Heitor Churchill in Movimento October 14, 2004)

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 5
The Municipal Orchestra did a surprisingly good job playing the most difficult work of the composer
Among Bruckner cycle of symphonies the fifth is doubtless the most technically demanding and presents many obstacles to the orchestra and conductor due to its intricate counterpoint and great length. An additional problem is the challenge to keep its gigantic structure coherent. The acoustics of a large and more reverberating auditorium like Sala São Paulo is suited to the grandeur of Bruckner 5, a symphony that is seldom played here.The symphony obtained from the OSM not only a vigorous and sound interpretation of the inter-related three themes from which the Allegro is made but also a serene (although not deprived from inner tension) rendering of the Adagio, rich in variations and canonic imitations. Here, as well as in the Scherzo molto vivace, Ira Levin managed to keep the tension throughout, not allowing it to dissipate in such a long and intricate piece. Yet it was in the Finale (a closing that is comparable to the ninths by Beethoven and Schubert, which are also present in this work) that the orchestra found its most persuasive accents. The way Mr. Levin built the chorale leading to the coda  – a climax of grandiose sonority – constituted a landmark in the history of the Municipal Orchestra, now including in it’s repertoire a work once called “a cathedral built to the faith of its composer”. (O Estado de São Paulo, October 26, 2004)

       
LOHENGRIN THE TRIUMPH OF IRA LEVIN
Conductor obtains a performance of excellent level from the Municipal Orchestra
It is comforting to attend a performance like the Lohengrin premiered last Friday at Theatro Municipal. Good taste and simple but efficient theatrical effects…But, most of all, this Lohengrin production was a triumph for conductor Ira Levin who from the first chords of the Prelude – with its magical divided strings – managed to capture and hold the audience’s attention. Levin obtained a performance of excellent level from the OSM, in fact one of the most convincing given during the present administrations’ term, and gave a tense, fluent dramatic rhythm to the performance. We are not only talking about succeeding well in the more obvious instrumental passages, like the exuberant Prelude to Act III, but most of all to have understood the narrative function of the orchestral commentary and to give an organic reading to the work. A good example of this was the effect he obtained just after the scene between Elsa and Ortrud during which Telramund can see the result of his wife’s work of manipulation. Working very carefully with  all the nuances of this opera (which puts an end to the composer’s first creative phase), Levin and the OSM, together with the wonderful cast and the sensitive and responsible scenic direction, honored a title which São Paulo has not heard for 64 years. (Lauro Machado Coelho in O Estado de São Paulo, November 24, 2004)

A SMOKING LOHENGRIN
…I have been known to criticise Ira Levin notwithstanding his apparent qualities and being as well one of the best pianists I have ever heard. I have complained about his tempestuous energy and sound sometimes covering the singers’ voices. However, I have attentively followed his career and I do not hesitate to state that yesterday’s “Lohengrin” must have been his most perfect rendering of an opera and I believe no one could have done it better. The American Ira Levin made our orchestra sound like the Berlin Philharmonic. The Municipal Orchestra played splendidly and the tempi were as correct as what Wagner must have imagined when he wrote the opera. It is commonplace to say that Wagner is difficult to listen to. It is music for initiated audiences which are able to understand the accumulation of the many motifs he used in his music. Maestro Levin managed the miracle of bringing all those motifs together in a clear and coherent manner, giving the audience an orgiastic and unforgettable ecstasy. Bravi, conductor and players from the Municipal Orchestra! (Edson Lima in Movimento November 18, 2004.)

A NEW LOHENGRIN IN SAO PAULO
19.11.2004 – In October of 2003, we reported about the first performance of Jenufa in Brazil, under the musical direction of Ira Levin, who has continued his policy of new and unconventional programming in São Paulo.
With a new staging of Lohengrin, he offered a work that was last heard 64 years ago in São Paulo. That not only calls for a certain amount of courage, but also a good orchestra. And, it was exactly that which contributed to the most impressive success which we witnessed. The great growth of the orchestra, which we heard at the Jenufa performance in 2003, has continued and Levin’s hard and consequent work has created an impressive Wagnerian sound-body. He moulded the work perfectly, concentratedly and certain, throughout the evening, and led the singers well. The ensemble between orchestra and stage was excellent. With all of this, one should bear in mind that there is no Wagner tradition here. (Klaus Billand in Der Neue Merker, Vienna  www.der-neue-merker.eu)

WOLF and WAGNER
Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP)
 “Penthesilea” / I. Act “Walkuere” in concert 15.4.2006 – Ira Levin and OSESP made clear this evening the strong connection between Hugo Wolf and Richard Wagner. 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 Walkuere. Levin concentrated on the psychological aspects of the score, which he was able to communicate through transparent music making an clear delineation of the many solo entrances of the orchestra, for instance of the cellos when the Waelsung motive is first heard. 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 www.der-neue-merker.eu)

A WAGNER FULL OF SUBTLETIES AND DRAMA
The conducting of Ira Levin, in front of the State Orchestra, revealed the genius of the Die Walkuere score. The vocal soloists demonstrated a great variety of expression

The only extended orchestral piece of its author, the symphonic poem Penthesilea, by Hugo Wolf, occupies an outstanding position in the history of its genre.
Assimilating, in a deeply personal way, crossed influences from Liszt, Berlioz and Wagner, Wolf writes a score in which we can recognize clear forecasts of Mahler and, mainly, of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. The first Brazilian performance of this brilliantly disturbing work was performed by Ira Levin in the concert he conducted, on Thursday, at Sala São Paulo, as a guest of São Paulo State Orchestra (OSESP). Transparency is the word that adequately describes the way Levin tackled the dangerously dense writing of this score, managing to make its orchestral textures sound extremely clear – to the point that it was perfectly possible to hear an instrument like the harp through the more massive passages of Aufbruch der Amazon nach Troja or the violent Kämpfe, Leidenschaft, Wahsinn, Vernichtung that evokes Achilles destruction by Penthesilea’s hounds. Contrasting with these tragic sections, there was intense poetry in Der Traum Penthesileas vom Rosenfest, with its refined chromatic harmonies of clear Tristanesque origin, in which the strings glared with flaming sensuality. After these savage explosions, Levin led the piece to a conclusion of extreme suavity. The Brazilian premiere of Wolf’s symphonic poem was a welcome introduction to the evening’s greatest attraction, the concert form presentation of act 1 of Die Walküre – which confirmed Levin as an authoritative interpreter of Wagnerian music. The OSESP responded spectacularly to the conductor’s suggestions, emphasizing every inflexion of a narrative which has in the orchestra one of its main characters. Levin knew how to hold the dynamics in check, never covering the singer’s voices. But, every time it was possible, he unleashed the orchestral forces in a most exuberant way, creating thrilling moments – as when Notung, the sword, is taken away from the oak’s trunk; or in the sensual final celebration, by brother and sister, of their newly-found love. In addition he gave the strings, especially the cello section during the first scene, a radiant glow, when Siegmund and Sieglinde feel their mutual attraction, and made the brasses sound glorious when the hero sees, in the oak, the sword his father promised to leave there for him. The quality of the conducting was matched by the high level of the singing. Stephen Bronk was a surprising good Hunding…….Stephen Gould, owner of an equally huge voice, has a beautiful somber tone…..The soprano, Violeta Urmana, offered a marvelous interpretation of Sieglinde……………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)

PORGY AND BESS in South Africa
With the Cape Town Opera,Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and Voice of the Nation Chorus. Artscape Opera 21 –30 September.
The Cape Philharmonic Orchestra gave one of its most memorable performances in quite a while. Conductor Ira Levin did a sterling job of steering the orchestra through a quagmire of complex rhythms. (Carl Fourie in Die Burger 23. 9 2006) 
 The orchestra, conducted by Ira Levin, and singers all succeeded in conveying the very difficult music directly and sincerely. (Matildie Thom in The Argus – 24 September 2006)
Gershwin’s evocation of “original negro folk music” produced a richly evocative score, heavily reliant on the Spiritual as well as secular blues traditions. The score is an extremely taxing one, and conductor Levin’s careful preparation was evident in a well-executed accompaniment, crafted to demonstrate as much the lyrical, even elegiac, episodes in the score as the  jazzy.  The only criticism is perhaps that the bigger numbers lacked the necessary brassy oomph. (Deon Irish Cape Times – 27.9 2006)

Orchestra of Brasilia at Campos de Jordao festival
Levin manages everything with elegance. In a memorable presentation, the Orchestra of the National Theater displayed an exact sense of style in Campos do Jordao. 


The orchestra of the National Theater of Brazil could be heard for the first time outside Brasilia since Ira Levin assumed the position of its artistic director and chief conductor at the beginning of this year. And, in relation to the previous phases of the orchestra, a vast leap in quality has been made under its new conductor. The program, including classical works, and then moving to Danish post-romantic and Brazilian nationalistic, demonstrated the exact sense of style with which Levin made the orchestra address each piece.
Transparency of textures and elegance of phrasing marked the Symphony No 82 in C Major, the “Bear” the first of the series of Joseph Haydn’s Paris symphonies. The martial tone of the opening Vivace assai, the double variations of the Allegretto, the subtlety of orchestration in the Minueto all prepared the explosion of sound in the Vivace, where the elegance of the strings matched the accuracy of the woodwinds. In this final movement, one of the most surprising in the vast Haydn edifice, Levin and OSTNCS reached an enviable level of polish of execution. After this, Alison Dalton played the Hummel trumpet concerto with a spectacular demonstration of elegance and virtuosity. The sensual Negro Dance with which they opened the second part was a tribute to the centennial of Camargo Guarnieri. This was followed by the real culmination of the evening, the Symphony No 4 of Carl Nielsen, an anthem to the will to live, whose structure of connected movements and growing intensity justifies the title of ‘Inextinguishable. With this work Levin showed how he could extract from his band the most subtle expressive gradations, the convulsive crescendos and fortissimos of the opening, incandescent Allegro, contrasting with the sudden pianissimos and the sweet song of the oboe against the string pizzicatos of the Poco Allegretto and, above all, the dramatic dialogue in the finale of the two tympanis that, according to the indication of Nielsen, should be placed at opposing sides of the orchestra.
Especially in this work, the quality of the brass section, which has many passages of extreme complexity, was notable. Finally, the intense lyricism of Nimrod, the most beautiful of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, was a perfect encore to end a very good concert. (Lauro Machado Coelho in Estado de Sao Paulo, July 24, 2007)

LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK in Duesseldorf
After a slight delay due to technical problems with the curtain, the wait was more than worthwhile. For three hours, a blistering tension and intensity came from the stage and orchestra pit, proving the impressive capacity of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Ira Levin and the Duesseldorf Symphony made Shostakovich’s effective mixture of symphonic flow, bombastic film music and luxurious Mahlerian lyricisism into a heart-stirring sound experience. At the end, cheering and applause for the singers and the conductor.
(Michael-Georg Mueller in Neue Ruhr Zeitung, Feuilleton 3. 11 2008)

The chorus and orchestra achieved great things and Ira Levin held all of the threads together, serving both the work and the singers at the same time. It was a great evening of opera.
(Armin Kaumanns in Aachener Zeitung / Aachener Nachrichten 3.11 2008)