Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

‘Some pianists make me shake with anger’: Vikingur Olafsson interviewed

The cult pianist explains the secret to his pianissimos, his love of metronomes and why he is no cheat

‘The soft palette that lies somewhere between triple piano and pianissimo is where the magic is’: Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson. Credit: Markus Jans 
issue 05 October 2024
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The extraordinary scale of the crisis facing the next pope

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At 9.47 a.m. on Easter Monday we heard the words ‘con profondo dolore’ from a cardinal standing in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta. Two hours earlier, Pope Francis ‘è tornato alla casa del Padre’ – ‘had returned to the house of the Father’. Most people won’t have noticed a curious detail: the cardinal

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