New music featured prominently in the Aldeburgh festival’s opening weekend. And, given both the Britten legacy and the super-intent listening the Snape audiences afford such works, it’s clear that Aldeburgh’s platform continues to be of particular significance to composers.
The Kreutzer Quartet’s fundamental commitment to new music was palpable in their two recitals. In the four movements of Sadie Harrison’s The River Dreams of Winter, the descriptive flow inspired by the paintings of the Kreutzer’s first violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved made for even closer connections. But in this first public performance it was Harrison’s addition of a final movement reflecting on the death of George Floyd that made an emotional mark.
