Videobeitrag (Youtube)
Details about the book
- date of publication: 12.04.2021
- 304 Pages
- Hanser Verlag
- hardcover
- ISBN 978-3-446-26960-6
- Deutschland: 24,00 €
- Österreich: 24,70 €
- ePUB-Format
- E-Book ISBN 978-3-446-27005-3
- E-Book Deutschland: 11,99 €
Igor Levit is one of the best pianists of his generation; his playing captivates the music world and audiences everywhere. But his work goes far beyond music. He speaks out against racism, anti-Semitism and every other kind of hatred towards people. He is committed to climate protection. And he stands up for democracy and protests injustice. What drives him? Where does his energy, vehemence and restlessness spring from – and where does he want to go?
Florian Zinnecker accompanied Igor Levit throughout the 2019/20 concert season. Together they experienced a time of extremes. It was the year in which Levit publicly condemned online hate speech, for which he received death threats. In the same year, he played concerts from his living room for hundreds of thousands of listeners on Twitter. And lastly, it was the year in which he found himself – as a pianist, artist and citizen, public figure and as a mensch.
“Anyone who has read this book can now picture Levit’s whole personality while listening to his music – his energy and spontaneity, but also his doubts and tendency to overtax himself.”
- Gustav Seibt, Süddeutsche Zeitung
“Once you start [the book], you stick to it, like a good piece of music. And afterwards, you feel enriched in every way.”
- Henning Queren, Neue Presse
“Levit has described working on this book as ‘a furious journey’ as well as a ‘confrontation with himself.’ Zinnecker has achieved the great feat of making these revelations in intelligent leaps, rather than in chronological shorthand. This lends the book a melody all of its own. It never feels like
a static walk through the past but rather opens up the life of a highly exemplary artist.”
- Wolfram Goertz, Rheinische Post
“This book is like a fast piece of music, [written in] short sentences, short paragraphs, variations, repetitions and refrains. (...) Importantly, it is based on statements Levit makes himself – not as a discussion of his biography in chronological form, but as a psychogram in wild leaps starting with the year of the Corona pandemic in 2020. It is as impulsive, truth-seeking and sometimes as dramatic as its subject. (...) Igor Levit is a radically contemporary pianist.”
- Christiane Peitz, Tagesspiegel
“This new publication is a thrill and asset to the musician biography genre. The book not only offers readers a wealth of first-hand information; its open narrative also leaves room for your own interpretation without concealing the rough edges of Levit’s feisty personality”.
- Georg Waßmuth, SWR2 Treffpunkt Klassik
Foreign Sales
English World (Polity Press), Italy (Il Saggiatore)