A crime, not a shame, to leave this incomplete

I love how he throws his entire being into the performance and turns it into a psychedelic experience

I've been listening to various Hanmerklavier recordings for 60 years (old & contemporary) having started with John Ogdon back in the '60's. But this one is truly incredible. For me, Herr Levit is the most enlightened of Beethoven pianists these days. This is very special stuff. Revision: this recording cuts off the final moments of the 4th movement. It needs to be fixed.

I love Levit. I love pianists that bend the rules but in the right way. Levit does just that, this performance is so explosive and full of energy I love it!

Levit is both a maverick and a visionary. One of the most exciting painist of our times.

I heard him play this live in Berlin, actually before he was very well known, and - as you'd expect - he was incredible. He interpreted the architecture of this massive piece in a very great way. Probably was 2008. A true star, and indeed he just keeps improving.

Yuja Wang, Murray Perahia and this outstanding pianist play this difficult and extraordinare Hammer Klavier Sonata precisely with the real tempo Beethoven named for this enormous master piece. The way Andras Schiff says it must be played and exactly the way it sounds glorious...as it should.

BRAVO, Igor Levit! Daring, unique moments, lovely moments and took Ludvig's marking seriously. I shall search out your recordings after this.

00:15：I. Allegro 10:02：II. Scherzo. Assai vivace - Presto - Tempo I 12:48：III. Adagio sostenuto. Appassionato e con molto sentimento 29:49：IV. Largo - Allegro risoluto. Fuga a tre voci, con alcune licenze

I've decided that this (first movement, maybe the rest) is a historic recording. A few times in a century, there is a performance/recording, that is a one-time revelation. And i feel this is one. More often with more ancient recordings.

Extraordinary. I like this even better than his studio recording. Levit's Hammerklavier is some of the most exciting keyboard playing I've ever seen or heard. I don't understand the KZfaq search algorithm as this video is kind of buried.

My most favourite performance of this masterpiece!

What a SHAME this extraordinary performance, one that seems, at least in my 70-year experience of listening, to come closest to the impossibility Beethoven was trying for, has been left incomplete. It is considerably better, by the way, than his recording. Not surprising since it was recorded a few years later.

Impecable interpretación.Beethoven único para mí.Gracias!

Amazingly well done. Bravo!

great first movement! i am so happy to hear this tempo

Extraordinary! 👍👍👍 This is the only version that interprete Hammerklavier to become a single piece Other version easily sounds putting many sections togather

Went from his fast Brahms 2 1st mov . and here he gives the incredible tempo Beethoven asked for seemingly rapt and spiritual aura of this music is always there ! Those Gb octaves before reprise of 1st subject really stand for something here ! A thinking musician not just another pianist ! Musically I feel like he charts the progress and movement of this music really making a trajectory we feel him ! 7:16 was never like this before ! I feel many of the smaller phrases weren't given their due but he achieves often the right piano color he seems to want the big line most of all .The Adagio is my favorite music of course. The scherzo felt right here the scale and tremolo felt out of place somehow (my fave moment in scherzo then the Bboctaves .Mighty music .

Superb performance

Classique , Romantique, Contemporain , le Grand Beethoven dans cette Interprétation Remarquable, Merci 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Phenomenal performance ❤🎉

Наконец-то вычитала из комментариев имя исполнителя : это Игорь Левит !

Man sollte oben noch erwähnen, WER der Pianist ist. Es ist super! Endlich einer, der das Tempo des 1. Satzes ungefähr so schnell spielt, wie es von Beethoven geschrieben wurde.

best hammerklavier confimed

This might be the best recording out there! Simply amazing, i held my breath the entire time!

Where's the rest of Finale? Why did you post an incomplete video?

This song is rated 1000000/10

Amazing! He does what he wants with Beethoven! This is the End of the World [as it is].

Genius.

Quel gâchis de couper la vidéo en plein milieu du dernier mouvement !!!!!! Et pourquoi ?!?!?! C'est une des plus magistrales interprétation de cette sonate stratosphérique !!!! Quel immense ARTISTE !!!

Brilliant, the best recording of the work I’ve heard, besides perhaps Stephen moller and certainly myself

The name of this fantastic pianist is not mentioned. I had to check the commentaries to know who him is.

It is a pity the video is incomplete. (There was a complete one but possibly deleted due to copyright issue) It is a great live performance, a bit different from Levit's audio recording. I hope his full Beethoven sonata cycle live performance video can be published in the future.

Some images or feelings can only be evoked by this very fast tempo as (if Beethoven's own metronome was well calibrated) Beethoven intended. Forget about tension-free technique and beautiful tone. This Hammerklavier has other intentions. It is all human, all its emotions, and life experienced.

I'm appalled that the ending of the final movement was cut. A crime against Beethoven himself.

This is the best Hammerlavier I have ever heard, mostly.

What a shame the last part of the fugue is missing. Is there any chance of finding it for a re-post? This has the potential to be a reference performance - but we do need it to get to the end that Beethoven wrote!

Where is the rest of the 4th movement? Why the video isn't complete? So it is impossible to mesure the exact speed of the first fugue and to hear if he really manages the prescripted speed of 144 Mälzel like HJ Lim does!

He plays his own interpretation, same level as Beethoven. This is the End of the World.

👏👏👏

It is only the tortured Beethoven, not the thankful for the friendship with Rudolf that is here speaking.

Masterful Adagio!! Incredible performance! I'll take the missing fugue for now, but please post it later on. I would love to hear his live performance.

AT LAST - my god - a pianist that tries to respect Beethoven's own metronome mark!!! Thank you so much! (unfortunately, I cannot see the pianist's name....)

For those who believe in the Beethoven mm numbers as I do, you should want to listen to the performances of Peter Serkin and Beveridge Webster. Nobody, despite adhering to the markings for the quick movements, has dared to play the adagio at 92. Webster comes the closest at ca 84. Adagio at 92 makes perfect sense, though, if you hear the pulse in dotted quarters. Why these otherwise fastidious and wonderful musicians can't believe in 92 is very puzzling.

I initially put a 'Like' but then, on second thought, I removed it on charge of 'Hammerklavierus interruptus"😅! Furthermore, Levit follows Beethoven's metronome marking for the 1st movement as close as is humanly possible, but then, in the Adagio, he strays away completely! Instead of Beethoven's ♪=92, he plays at ♪=66 throughout...What was going through his mind??

I wish i could discuss this with he himself. At any rate, the dynamics are brilliant! e.g. the end of the 1st movement, i mean, when it is fading out. Like a string quartet.

Unbelievable not to write down who the pianist is...

Levit defies the limits of physical reality. He turns the piano -- the hammerklavier -- from the voice of a lonely poet into a glorious chorus, then from something orchestral into something celestial. He is the greatest pianist who has ever lived.

Why does it cut off?

00’15“--> ：I. Allegro 10‘02”--> ：II. Scherzo. Assai vivace - Presto - Tempo I 12’48“--> ：III. Adagio sostenuto. Appassionato e con molto sentimento 29‘49”-->?：IV. Largo - Allegro risoluto. Fuga a tre voci, con alcune licenze

You're wasting your time watching this video. Because it ends in the middle of the 4th movement. Even if you notice it at the end, it's too late.

It would be really nice to mention the pianist's name!

WHERE IS THE END OF THE SONATA???

For the love of God, the video stops before the end. Otherwise, a brilliant performance.

I could totally play that part at 7:08

And it is fucking cut!!! This is the End of the World [as we knew it].

Lol, even sokolov's playing cannot be compared. Absolute mastery, extraordinary speed and cleanness

29:39

28:40 Is he super nervous or is it that some kind of technique?

Strange thought, Clássicos dos Clássicos, that you in the introduction never mention the pianists name, Igor Levit. This must be a great mistake, isn´t it? I think it is.

14'11'' ?

What a journey, but it's a shame to cut it off like that!

Why did HE not FINISH????

I'm not mad keen on the fugue either; but that seems a poor reason for cutting it off after two minutes.

Who is the pianist?

Wieso steht nicht der Name des Interpreten? Ist es Igor Lewit?

Two recordings of Beethoven's should be known : the interpretations of Maurizio Pollini (CD and live Salzburg 1989) and that of Michael Korstick, which has reference character.

On reste sur sa fin...

괴물이다 한국에서 제발 이곡을 쳐주세요

Hervorragende technische Leistung. Aber warum so schnell? Da gehen viele interessante Details verloren. Schade drum.

Magnifique interprétation ! Quelqu'un aurait le nom du pianiste ?

Why is the pianist UNNAMED????????

Why does the piece cut off short before the end?! That's terrible, whoever downloaded this!!!

🤦🏼😆🤦🏼😆🤦🏼😆🤦🏼😆🤦🏼

Y en a qui s'extasient sur une captation qui coupe la fugue au tiers...

なんで途中で終わってしまうの！

wtf... just cut him off like that

Haha! They didn’t put the pianist’s name in the title or description… “idiots” - isn’t that favorite European description?

OK. This is a very difficult sonata. However, some notes are not in the right place. Andras Schiff is much more interesting.

Some wrong notes, unclear phrasing. Rough around the edges.

Klingt alles irgendwie, wie ein Nervenbündel. Völlig neurotisch Beethoven. Wem soll sowas gefallen ...

Wie schade .... so sad .... such a wonderful technique producing so bad music. Typically our time. No emotion, no passion, only notes, notes, notes, and notes .... internet music, IA musicality. That means : so much efforts for nothing.