The final day of the Ragged Music Festival (the brainchild of two young Russian pianists, Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy) begins with a high-energy morning concert: The Rite of Joy. Our percussion drives both pianos forward in a Spanish-flavoured rhapsody by Maurice Ravel, propelled by the fire of castanets. Equally exhilarating are the surging waves with which the two pianists sweep the listener along in Philip Glass’s minimalist classic Mad Rush. The tightly hand-clapped rhythms of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music are also a highlight, in excellent hands with the percussionists of HIIIT and the dancers of Rosas.
Classical balance reigns in Mozart’s radiant Sonata for Two Pianos in D, a key he associated with the warmth of summer. Violinist Alina Ibragimova appears in a set of variations by Olivier Messiaen, in which his ideas about the blending of colour and harmony resonate so powerfully that the music can almost be experienced as colour itself—the way Messiaen heard all music.