Philharmonia/ Rouvali/ Olafsson review orchestra opens 80th celebrations with sparkle and style

"Legions of keyboard fans know that Vikingur Olafsson does reflective like few others. Calmness, softness of touch and introspection are among the Icelandic pianist's widely admired trademarks. It helps make him a perfect performer for the AirPod age. But how does Olafsson respond to a full orchestra in a large-scale work such as Beethoven's third piano concerto? The answer, in this opening concert of the Philharmonia's season, is that he does it with enviable ease."

"Looking at times as if he might happily conduct the whole thing from the piano, Olafsson's characteristically clear playing went from imposing and lyrical in the grandly constructed opening movement, through rapt and contemplative in the largo, which he began in the 18th-century manner with a tiny decorative flourish of his own, to brilliant and witty in the rondo finale."

"Before the concerto, Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducted the UK premiere of Gabriela Ortiz's Si el Oxigeno Fuera Verde, which the orchestra had premiered in Amsterdam the previous day. Described by the composer as a fragile green murmur of life, the environmentally inspired work is delicately scored as a bubbling forest of gentle arpeggios and trills, which eventually coheres into an insistent dance with echoes of John Adams and the Stravinsky of The Rite of Spring."

Vikingur Olafsson performed Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with calmness, softness of touch and introspection, projecting clarity and control across movements. He moved from imposing and lyrical passages in the grand opening through rapt, contemplative largo — begun with an 18th-century-style decorative flourish — to a brilliant, witty rondo finale. Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducted the UK premiere of Gabriela Ortiz's Si el Oxigeno Fuera Verde, an environmentally inspired piece that unfolds as a bubbling forest of arpeggios and trills, coalescing into an insistent dance with echoes of John Adams and Stravinsky. Olivier Latry played the Royal Festival Hall organ prominently alongside Rouvali's orchestral direction.

Read at www.theguardian.com