The Risør Festival at the Wigmore Hall

The Risør Festival at the Wigmore Hall | reviews, news & interviews

The Risør Festival at the Wigmore Hall

Pianists Andsnes and Hamelin go ballistic in the Rite of Spring

by Igor ToronyilalicSunday, 28 November 2010

Risør, Norway, home to an impressive and not so little music festival

A hell of a lot of talent was on display last night at the Wigmore Hall, where pianist Leif Ove Andsnes's home festival of Risør was stationed for the weekend. The big draw was a performance of The Rite of Spring for two pianos. The work is violent enough in orchestral form but when jammed onto two keyboards it has the potential to degenerate into the most unimaginably demented hand-to-hand combat you'll ever see. Last night's performance - Andsnes facing off against a man that gets pianophiles like me pant-wettingly excited, Marc-André Hamelin - was little short of psychopathic.

Efficiency and brutality was the name of this game. And it was mesmerising

Buy

Find Martin Fröst on Amazon

Explore topics

Share this article

The future of Arts Journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

more Classical music

Gromes, Hallé, Chauhan, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - new concerto and music of triumph Spirit of Germany in the 1930s captured in Herz’s tense and despondent work

Helen Charlston, Sholto Kynoch, Temple Church review - fine singing, powerful stage presence Coups de théâtre in a well-constructed programme

Ridout, 12 Ensemble, Wigmore Hall review - brilliant Britten and bombastic Brahms Dazzling solo and ensemble playing in pieces inspired by music of the past

Argerich, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Papadopoulos, Barbican review - the great pianist as life and soul Her delivery of the Beethoven made it clear that she still merits legend status

Jessica Duchen: Myra Hess - National Treasure review - well-told life of a pioneering musician Biography of the groundbreaking British pianist who was a hero of the Blitz

Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Morlot, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - blasts of Boulez, magical Ravel Celebration of the two French masters continues in big bangs and gentleness

Classical CDs: Snow, shards and swinging oars Contemporary choral works, revamped lieder plus piano music from Ireland and Scotland

Bach's Mass in B minor, The English Concert, Bezuidenhout, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - solemnity and splendour The greatest of choral anthologies smoulders, then flies

Sidorova, Philharmonia, Alsop, Royal Festival Hall review - ladies of the dance Vitality, virtuosity and sensuality on a pan-American trip

MacMillan's Ordo Virtutum, BBC Singers, Jeannin, Milton Court review - dramatic journey of a medieval soul Choral music's finest advocate runs the gamut in an epic battle of heaven and hell

Gilliver, Liverman, Rangwanasha, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a rainbow of British music Poetic Maconchy and Walton, surging Vaughan Williams bursting its confines

Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Fernandes, Gent, 229 review - a beguiling trip around the world Engagingly humble and empathetic work from three talented musicians

Follow @theartsdesk