During his tenure as the New Yorker’s classical music correspondent in the 1970s Andrew Porter made a special plea for the reissue of Ernst Levy’s American Unicorn recordings from the ’50s. More than two decades later his wish came true via a double CD set from Marston. Volume Two restores the remainder of these collector’s items to circulation. This is big playing from a technical and intellectual standpoint, to say nothing of the Swiss musician’s proud, deep-in-the-keys sonority, excellently captured via Peter Bartók’s engineering. Disc one opens with four Haydn sonatas, all projected with fleetness and wit in the finales, with operatically inspired slow movements. Levy’s way with late Beethoven (the Op. 90, 101, 109, and 110 Sonatas, plus the Appassionata Op. 57) proves equally compelling and individual. His style fuses the best qualities of several eminent Beethovenians: Backhaus’ elemental spirit, Schnabel’s thundering angularity, Arrau’s spacious detail, and Serkin’s nervous energy. As an addendum, producer Ward Marston includes two rare Levy 78s recorded in 1929: the Mozart D minor Fantasy K. 397 and Johann Strauss, Jr.’s Voices of Spring. The Mozart is a shade reticent, while the Strauss is dispatched with dutiful efficiency, yet little charm. Excellent, insightful annotations from Donald Manildi, Gregor Benko, and Frank Cooper add luster to this significant reissue.
