Steven Osborne - Edinburgh International Festival: Chamber Music Highlights 2021 - Seen and Heard

 I have heard a piano a couple of times already in this years’ EIF, but so far it has been accompanying either a trio or a singer. This is the first time I have heard one alone, played by local hero Steven Osborne, and the first thing that struck me was how fantastic it sounds in the Old College Quad tent, the concert hall which the Edinburgh Festival has, in Osborne’s words, ‘created out of thin air’. His piano playing sounds clean, clear and perfectly resonant in an acoustic where you would expect it to disappear completely. That is partly a tribute to the superb acousticians who have worked on the venue, and partly thanks to Osborne’s own playing. In Osborne’s Schubert, the dark bass of the opening theme dissolves into pellucid trebles and quivering arpeggios, all done with fluid, poetic beauty.