As the Aldeburgh festival celebrates its 75th year, its programming continues to invite curiosity and challenge assumptions in the best possible way.
Violinist Daniel Pioro, one of this year’s artists-in-residence, seems by nature to be an explorer, his imagination unconfined by boundaries. In his concert with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Ryan Wigglesworth, Pioro’s approach to the Britten Violin Concerto was one of magnetic intensity. Music whose soul-searching and questioning betrays all the anguish of its 25-year-old composer – a conscientious objector exiled from Britain and facing the likelihood of war in Europe – carried a fresh authenticity. In his performance, the sense of living-in-the-moment risk-taking was always implicit, Pioro connecting anew with the composer and with his audience. Wigglesworth further ensured that the wonderful intricacies of the third movement Passacaglia – Britten’s first foray into the form that would become a signature – were tightly interwoven with Pioro, both conductor and violinist realising the aching sadness and the absence of any final resolution with the utmost reverence. After a long silence came the tumultuous reception but, as though still communing with Britten, Pioro looked almost dazed before finally relaxing into a smile.
