‘It is trance-like’: pianist Igor Levit performs Erik Satie’s Vexations 840 times

The marathon performance, a collaboration with the Serbian conceptual artist Marina Abramović, began at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday morningGiven that he was about to start playing the same piano piece 840 times, for no less than 16 unbroken hours, you could have forgiven Igor Levit for appearing panicked as he walked on stage at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday morning.But the German pianist, who this morning began a marathon concert in which he would play Erik Satie’s Vexations to hundreds of people for hours on end, simply arranged his sheet music, gave a little laugh – maybe at the absurdity of what he had signed up for – and began to play. Continue reading...

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