Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues for piano, Op.87

A complete cycle of 24 Preludes and Fugues mesmerises a packed Wigmore Hall for nearly two and a half hours.

Powerfully committed and expert singing from the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Kļava, paired with thoughtful and calm playing from Alexander Melnikov in two highly contrasting works by Shostakovich.

Shostakovich's mighty piano cycle is given a delicate and intense performance - truly an expidition into some of the most personal of the composer's music.

An extraordinary event took place on Tuesday evening in Saint-Paul-de Joliette, Quebec, a pleasant little farming community located about an hour’s drive northeast of Montreal.

It’s quite an achievement when a pianist can captivate an audience for a normal performance, let alone for one that lasts two and a half hours. For this reason pianists do not often tackle all of Shostakovich’s Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues in one evening, but this is precisely what Alexander Melnikov did at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

Wie sehr Igor Levit in dieser Musik lebte, ließ sich an seinen gelegentlichen, ausholenden Gesten der freien Hand ermessen. Eine erstaunliche, bewundernswerte Leistung, welche die Standing Ovations mehr als verdient hat!