Page 506 - Aldeburgh Festival 2022 FINAL COVERAGE BOOK

hear one member of the production team say, “Five stars. From The
Telegraph!”

Dwarfed by the large expanse of Snape’s wooden stage, the sight of Piatti
Quartet members and oboist Nick Daniel made their performance of Benjamin
Britten’s Phantasy Quartet a touching celebration of a man who’s output still
connects with musicians and audience alike. Written when he was 19, the
work fizzes with Britten’s characteristic musical language and treatments and
sounds as though it makes a great many demands on the oboist.

Vikingur Olafsson

My concluding concert before I return to London was the most spectacular.
Pianist Viknungur Olfasson disarming the audience from the stage as he
introduced his playlister-programme, awkwardly shuffling from side to side
as he did so. After which he turns to the keyboard and plays with such
stillness and focus that there are moments when it’s doubtful whether the
audience will ever move again. A collective sigh when Olafsson segues from a
fragment of Mozart’s D minor Fantasia to a D Major Ronda confirms that, like
me, everyone had been unwittingly carried along by the tension the pianist
had created curating the programme in the way he had. The ability to create
this kind of experience, and to experience it in a remote place is very special
indeed.