Mozart and Schubert Among the Vikings
With British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor as a headliner, the Lofoten Chamber Music Festival in Norway sounds both appealing and exotic. On May 20, an unusually early heat wave stroke Provence, in the south of France, —early even by the region’s own standards. Since then, daytime temperatures have hovered around 40 degrees C (104 F) and have never dropped below 35ยบ C. To escape the debilitating July heat, I signed up for the weeklong Lofoten festival. Located above the Arctic Circle, the archipelago is known for its stunning landscapes and unpredictable weather and the concerts promised to make up for bad-humored weather. Europe is renowned for its large number of prestigious summer music festivals. I have attended Bayreuth, Salzburg, Munich, Glyndebourne, Verbier, Pesaro and Aix en Provence, etc. Over time, I realized that my ears were not refined enough to distinguish a genius performer from a merely good one. I also fou...