31ST SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL: ROBERT LEVIN Lecture-Recital / ROBERT LEVIN IN RECITAL / Review

 

31ST SINGAPORE 

INTERNATIONAL PIANO FESTIVAL

PERFORMING MOZART

LECTURE RECITAL BY ROBERT LEVIN

Victoria Concert Hall Dance Studio

Saturday (28 June 2025)

ROBERT LEVIN IN RECITAL

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (29 June 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 1 July 2025 with the title "Improvisation jazzes up Robert Levin's lecture and recital".

In a rare lecture-recital organised as part of the Singapore International Pianist Festival, American pianist Robert Levin, a leading Mozart scholars, asserted that musicians today have become too dogmatic in the performance of the classics, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s keyboard music. By strictly and unwaveringly following printed scores, they have lost the spirit of risk-taking, experimentation, and ultimately, spontaneity.

Mozart, had he lived in the 20th century, would have aligned with jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Count Basie, rather than concert pianists Artur Schnabel or Edwin Fischer, who were renowned for their puritanical faithfulness to the last note. Mozart improvised freely and often did not notate these in manuscript or musical shorthand. When he did so, it was purely for the benefit of students.

With numerous examples demonstrated on a grand piano, his illuminating lecture was full of humour and erudition, wholly tying in with his recital, the first all-Mozart concert in the festival’s 31-year history. Levin opened with a generically-titled Piano Piece in C major (K.42), which he had completed, a spirited Rondo-like number, which segued into the first of four Preludes, an improvisatory caprice that modulated into in B flat major.

This led directly into the well-known Sonata in B flat major (K.333), illustrating the art of preluding, which is all but lost in today’s music making. The exposition was performed straight, as written, but its repeat was where all the fun began.

Added notes appeared, as did ornamental details and decorative devices, with passages even altered as imagination overflowed the confines of black and white. At Mozart’s mercurial speeds, much of these appeared like a magician’s sleights of hand. In slow movements, these became mellifluous arias crafted by singing divas.

This sonata is remembered for being the only example with a fully written-out Cadenza Ad Libitum by Mozart, in its third movement. Here, Levin left it unchanged, trusting instead Mozart’s judgment, a demonstration of good taste and letting things be.

Photo: Nathaniel Lim

Another Prelude, this time in B flat major, morphed into the Sonata in E flat major (K.282). This early sonata saw Levin adding repeats where there were originally none, and its finale had several added bars of improvisation. Did it sound better? Levin’s persuasiveness was the only affirmation one needed.

After the intermission, Levin selected four themes volunteered by the audience and improvised in the style of Mozart for a solid ten minutes. What began like the austere Fantasie in C minor (K.475) soon broke out of its strait-jacket for a breathtaking excursion which included three other sonata themes thrown into the mix. This is what jazz people do for a living.

Mozart’s reduction of his Overture to The Abduction from The Seraglio was obscure despite the familiar Turkish-flavoured tunes, but there was room for further embellishment before arriving at the final work, the popular Sonata in C major (K.330). By now, everyone was familiar with the drill, and would soon be rushing home to try out new keyboard doodles.

Following encouraging applause, Levin’s encores included an unpublished little piece in G major which only existed as part of an oil portrait of a 14-year-old Mozart when he toured Verona, Italy. As expected, Levin filled in the bits cut-off at the edge of the canvas. The other encore was the Minuet in D major (K.355), known for its striking dissonance, which had its final sequence of notes reversed. This sounded better, of course.