Beth Levin

At three Beth Levin fell in love with her first piano, an old Lester upright in the basement. She would go down for hours and create a little world for herself. Made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12, and performed with them again at 16. (Her teacher was the great Chopin interpreter, Maryan Filar.) On her first day as a pupil of Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute, she roamed the halls of practice rooms wondering how anyone could practice for six hours. Her best moments have been as soloist with orchestras in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle, touring in Music From Marlboro and with chamber groups she has founded, most recently the American Arts Trio. She writes: “I live with my family in Brooklyn. I very much wanted children and was eager for the challenge of balancing a musical life with a home life. One of my favorite tasks is to pop a lasagna into the oven while doing some intense practicing, thereby fulfilling two roles at once — mother and musician.”

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Beth Levin and Max Derrickson discuss Beth’s upcoming recital and recording featuring Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Beth Levin and Max Derrickson discuss Beth’s upcoming recital and recording featuring Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Four Poems

The clocks don’t lie
yet here am I

Four Poems

The clocks don’t lie
yet here am I

Music in the Midst of the Plague: A Conversation with Beth Levin

I was always saying things like, “I wish I had a year to learn that concerto,” or, “I wish I had two years for that set of variations.”

Music in the Midst of the Plague: A Conversation with Beth Levin

I was always saying things like, “I wish I had a year to learn that concerto,” or, “I wish I had two years for that set of variations.”

How to Practice During a Pandemic II

Look at a page of music as a space to breathe

How to Practice During a Pandemic II

Look at a page of music as a space to breathe

Three Poems

Gray-pink light, my shoes by the door

Three Poems

Gray-pink light, my shoes by the door

Letter to Bill (after performing the Hammerklavier sonata at Festival Baltimore)

The Hammerklavier felt like playing a great role like King Lear.

Letter to Bill (after performing the Hammerklavier sonata at Festival Baltimore)

The Hammerklavier felt like playing a great role like King Lear.

Observations on the Hammerklavier Slow Movement

Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata as a whole, and its third movement in particular, has always elicited mournful superlatives from commentators.

Observations on the Hammerklavier Slow Movement

Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata as a whole, and its third movement in particular, has always elicited mournful superlatives from commentators.

Diary of a Pianist’s Day

The morning went quickly
starting with unidentified birds
hidden in the trees

Diary of a Pianist’s Day

The morning went quickly
starting with unidentified birds
hidden in the trees

Creating in the Moment: A Q&A with Beth Levin

“A pianist’s work just begins at the opening of the concert. It can’t be wiped away and begun again. For a long time I preferred music to simply fly out to the atmosphere.”

Creating in the Moment: A Q&A with Beth Levin

“A pianist’s work just begins at the opening of the concert. It can’t be wiped away and begun again. For a long time I preferred music to simply fly out to the atmosphere.”

A Look at Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 35

The music unfolds in a great arc of color, motion and sweep. One is reminded of an hallucination owing to the music’s lack of obvious form – as if no bar lines or structure existed. Arthur Rubinstein called it “wind howling around the gravestones.”

A Look at Chopin’s Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, Op. 35

The music unfolds in a great arc of color, motion and sweep. One is reminded of an hallucination owing to the music’s lack of obvious form – as if no bar lines or structure existed. Arthur Rubinstein called it “wind howling around the gravestones.”

Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Composed in 1838 and dedicated to his friend F. Chopin, Kreisleriana is a pianistic standout, worth perhaps two Carnavals.

Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op. 16

Composed in 1838 and dedicated to his friend F. Chopin, Kreisleriana is a pianistic standout, worth perhaps two Carnavals.