Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2019, Síða 35

Music 35The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 11— 2019
Blurring The
Boundaries
Reykjavík Midsummer Music Festival
Makes Chamber Music Modern
Words: Felix Robertsson Photo: Leifur Wilberg Orrason
Festival
Reykjavík Midsummer Music took
place at Harpa June 20th-23rd
You could be forgiven for thinking
a piece entitled ‘Homage to Robert
Schumann’ would sound like mu-
sic by Schumann. I’m guessing that
most of the audience who attended
the Reykjavík Midsummer Music
Festival on June 21st might have
thought the same. But, dear reader,
how wrong they were.
György Kurtág’s haunting com-
position may reference Schumann
in the title, and it is often per-
formed interspersed with works
by Schumann, but the similarities
largely end there. Instead, the audi-
ence was treated to a set of six dis-
cordant movements, where piano,
clarinet and viola flutter up and
down chromatic scales and clash
in stark crescendos. It was another
reminder that the Reykjavík Mid-
summer Music Festival never fails
to surprise.
Contemporary classics
While Reykjavík Midsummer Mu-
sic, which ran for the seventh time
this year from June 20th to 23rd, is
technically a festival of chamber
music, you can quickly dispense
with any notions of old-fashioned
stuffiness. For starters, it’s direct-
ed by Víkingur Ólafsson, the vir-
tuoso Icelandic pianist for former
Grapevine coverstar whose provoc-
ative and brilliant recordings of
Bach and Philip Glass have brought
him international renown. Víkin-
gur has often argued that any mu-
sic is contemporary if played today,
and this sentiment suffuses the
programming of the festival. And
then there’s the venue, Reykjavík’s
magnificent Harpa Concert Hall;
it’s award-winning architecture
reminding you that this is, in every
sense, a fiercely modern affair.
Technical brilliance
Admittedly, there was no short-
age of ‘old’ music. The festival
opened with Austrian baritone
Florian Boesch giv-
ing a heart-rend-
ing performance of
Brahms’ final song
cycle, but it was in
his performance of
four Bach arias that
he really came into
his own, bringing a
sense of drama and
calm in equal meas-
ure. Another high-
light was violinist
Yura Lee, who was almost as busy
as Víkingur and switched effort-
lessly between times and genres.
Her stunningly technical playing
in Shostakovitch’s unprogrammed
piano quintet deserves high praise,
as does her unprogrammed fid-
dling in ‘Blue Grass,’ displaying her
extraordinary versatility.
Perhaps the most contemporary
and abstract set was by Hans-Joa-
chim Roedelius. Late in the evening
of the 22nd, the so-called ‘father
of ambient music’ treated us to a
beautiful, increasingly psychedelic
soundscape, complemented by me-
ticulously restrained piano. It was a
profoundly meditative experience,
and I wanted to throttle the group
behind me who inexplicably whis-
pered through most of the hour. Of
course, no concert with Víkingur
would be complete without Phillip
Glass, but it was actually the bril-
liant French piano due, the Labèque
sisters, who closed the festival, first
with Glass’ ‘The Poet Acts’ and then
‘Four Movements for Two Pianos’,
bringing the festival to a close with
a great cascade of keys and chords
which roiled and plunged and gar-
nered a standing ovation from the
audience
Making you think
There were doubtless some
challenging moments in the pro-
gramme. In Kurtág’s homage in
particular, there was a fair bit of
shifting in the audience, especial-
ly in the pointedly
long pauses between
the movements. It
was, invariably, not
a relaxing listen. But
M id su m mer Mu-
sic has loftier goals
than that. Such was
the range of music
that one would al-
most certainly have
found something
that struck them,
and the technical and musical ex-
pertise on display was a privilege
to behold.
Ultimately, Reykjavík Midsum-
mer Music was a towering success,
not least because it did what all the
best classical music does —it made
you think.
“I wanted to
throttle the
group who
inexplicably
whispered
through most
of the hour.”
A team effort
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