Starry Night
Debussy: Préludes, Book I and other works
Sono Luminus
Review
Lewin clearly has this music in his blood and brings out the very essence of each work on this generous program. Lewin provides another terrific Debussy recital.
Recordings
An award-winning discography spanning Debussy, Liszt, Griffes, Scarlatti, Gottschalk, Bolcom, and more.
Beau Soir
Debussy: Préludes, Book II and other works
Sono Luminus Records
Review
Unyielding brilliance of technique and artistic intelligence…an intimate discourse between a great composer and a preeminent interpreter of his music.
Piano Phantoms
Music inspired by phantoms and the spirit world
Sono Luminus Records
Review
Lewin’s eclectic recital is a delight from start to finish…virtuosic panache and real affection. Lewin’s notes are a model of accessibility and erudition—the recording quality is sensationally vivid.
If I Were a Bird
A piano aviary
Sono Luminus Records
Review
A diverse, charming selection that brings together 20 avian pieces from the Baroque to the 20th century. Lewin plays the Firebird transcription with ferocious intensity—it’s a real show-stopper.
William Bolcom: The Four Sonatas for Violin and Piano
With The Graceful Ghost Rag · Irina Muresanu, violin
Centaur RecordsCR2910
Review
The Bolcom Sonatas are phenomenally difficult, something that seemed of no consequence to Muresanu and Lewin…almost telepathic rapport…Their playing was marked by passion and tremendous rhythmic vitality.
Bamboula!
The piano music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Centaur RecordsCRC2549
Program
The Banjo; Ricordati; Bamboula; Berceuse; Pasquinade; Souvenir de Porto Rico; Ojos Criollos; Ynes; O ma charmante, épargnez-moi!; Ballade; Polka in B-flat; Manchega; Le Bananier; Souvenir de Lima; La Savane
Review
Michael Lewin’s Bamboula! is a selection of the delightful piano music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, America’s first international virtuoso-composer; Lewin has the chops and the charm for these pieces.
Domenico Scarlatti: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Naxos8.553771
Program
19 sonatas: K. 492, K. 3, K. 32, K. 33, K. 208, K. 209, K. 20, K. 398, K. 27, K. 436, K. 141, K. 213, K. 14, K. 322, K. 109, K. 146, K. 39, K. 481, and K. 517
Review
Michael Lewin is as dexterous and assured as he is audacious. Here there is no sense of studio caution but only of liberating and dazzling music-making, live and on the wing.
Piano Music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Vol. 1
Naxos American Classics8.559023 · Marco Polo 8.223850 outside Canada and the U.S.
Program
Piano Sonata; Three Tone Pictures; De Profundis; Roman Sketches; A Winter Landscape; Rhapsody in B Minor; Barcarolle (Offenbach); Legend; Prelude
Review
Michael Lewin, a crackerjack pianist with a larger-than-life command of these ferociously complex works, turns in pristinely detailed, passionate, big-boned readings of affective and intonational precision.
Piano Music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Vol. 2
With Janice Weber in the two-piano works
Naxos American Classics8.559046
Program
The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan; Three Preludes; Dance in A Minor; Three Piano Pieces; Three Fantasy Pieces; Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Overture for two pianos; Symphonische Phantasie for two pianos
Review
Michael Lewin offers superb readings and has a marvelous partner in Janice Weber for the two-piano works. The engineering is first-rate, as is the pianist’s annotation.
A Russian Piano Recital
Balakirev, Glazunov, and Scriabin
Centaur RecordsCRC 2134
Program
Balakirev: Islamey, Toccata, and The Lark (Glinka); Glazunov: Theme and Variations in F-sharp minor; Scriabin: Sonata No. 2, Four Études, Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand
Review
Lewin’s Balakirev and Glazunov are similarly firm. His Islamey is refreshingly modernist, favoring the tight spring of the rhythms; Centaur’s sound, too, is impressively solid and immediate. Warmly recommended.
Michael Lewin Plays Liszt
Debut recording
Centaur RecordsCRC 2066
Program
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8; Transcendental Étude No. 10; Concert Fantasy on Bellini’s La sonnambula; four song transcriptions; Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen Variations
Review
This is an important debut marking Lewin as an artist to be attended closely. In this art concealing art there is an astonishing maturity suffused with youthful ardor—a winning combination.