Right on the heels of an exceptional performance by the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko and violinist Augustin Hadelich, the Lucerne Festival served up another gem. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson joined Finnish conductor and percussionist Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a sublime evening of music-making. The programme included Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony.
Lucerne © kkl-luzern.ch
Ólafsson certainly has the natural ability to communicate both on and off stage, as witnessed in a delightful post-concert talk, and he seems temperamentally best suited to the recital stage, where his fascination with colour and musical architecture can unfold with unusual intimacy and concentration.
Yet, this same intensity and his never-ending search for the right balance between freedom and discipline, and between rubato and strict rhythm also apply to the concerto stage, as borne out by the opening and Rondo movements of the Beethoven concerto.
Víkingur Ólafsson
Ólafsson has played the Beethoven “Emperor” countless times, yet he tries to create something fresh and unexpected in every performance. The opening “Allegro” unfolded almost improvisationally, with unexpected pedalling allowing phrases to overlap and wash into one another. This was contrasted by exceedingly dry passages that managed to gather irresistible momentum. In harmony with the orchestra, although Ólafsson communicated some phrasing details to the first violins, this was no mere reproduction of a masterpiece; it was music made and created in that specific moment, for that specific audience and location.
The concluding “Rondo” revealed Ólafsson’s signature intellectual approach, with an emphasis on architectural clarity that completely avoided heavy monumentality. However, his playing remained unpredictable. Rapid passagework seemed to teeter on the brink of losing control, yet this is precisely the tightly controlled risk-taking we have come to expect and love. Completely in step with Beethoven’s ideas of the Enlightenment, Ólafsson creates music that contains both romantic freedom and classical restraint.
The absolute highlights, however, were found in the “Adagio un poco mosso.” This is undoubtedly the concerto’s poetic core, with Ólafsson creating an extraordinary sense of calm. Meticulously crafted lines and phrases, beautifully supported by a highly subtle and sensitive orchestra, created a discourse that whispered a heartfelt confession. These most delicate pianissimo passages created a vast musical space of openness and stillness, qualities that Ólafsson also attributes to his Icelandic home.
The same qualities emerged in his encores, the Bach transcription of the “Adagio” from Marcello’s oboe concerto, and a movement from Bach’s Organ Concerto. Ólafsson, who won the BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year with his recordings of Bach piano transcriptions and original keyboard works in 2019, has spent many years playing Bach in three-dimensional ways, breathing new life into polyphony. He once compared himself to a theatre director controlling three or four characters at the same time; all of them have to be completely alive, even when they have completely different roles to play.
Santtu-Matias Rouvali © Chris Lee
In his performances, Víkingur Ólafsson speaks to individual listeners, and never simply to the masses. Perhaps therein lies the secret of his extraordinary communicative power, and he once again reminded us in Lucerne that the most powerful musical experiences need not be overwhelming, but can speak quietly and personally.
High praise must also be accorded to Santtu-Matias Rouvali and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, whose performance of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony combined infectious energy with rhythmic bite, biting sarcasm, restless momentum, and exuberant passages seemingly taken straight from ballet and film music.
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra © Eduardus Lee
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