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Artist: Vikingur Olafsson
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Vikingur Olafsson:

Continuum - Johann Sebastian Bach

CONTINUUM, a new six-track EP of music by Johann Sebastian Bach from pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, is out now on Deutsche Grammophon. The release comes just days after Ólafsson’s recording of the same composer’s monumental Goldberg Variations was honoured with the prestigious OPUS KLASSIK Bestseller of the Year award. CONTINUUM presents piano arrangements of six works by Bach, four of them realised by Ólafsson himself, and all of which he recorded at Reykjavík’s Harpa concert hall in January. The EP is part one of a new series of recordings in which the pianist continues his dialogue with Bach’s music and pays tribute to his genius. “Not a day goes by without me playing Bach on the piano,” says Ólafsson. “This is the first instalment in what will be an ongoing Bach diary.”

CONTINUUM is released digitally and on vinyl today, 18 October 2024, with a deluxe version available exclusively from the DG Store. The latter features a 180g crystal-clear vinyl disc; high-quality prints of the individual black-and-white covers produced for each track’s single release over the last few months; and an LP-format signed art card.

Vikingur Olafsson:

VIKINGUR GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BACH

Celebrated for his visionary interpretations of J.S. Bach, Víkingur Ólafsson, one of the greatest pianists and musical minds of today, now embraces Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations. Ólafsson devotes his entire next season to touring the work globally across six continents, while October 2023 marks the anticipated album release on Deutsche Grammophon. “I have dreamed of recording this work for 25 years,” says the Icelandic pianist.

The album follows Ólafsson’s hugely successful DG recording of works by the composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (2018), which won BBC Music magazine’s Album of the Year, Opus Klassik’s Solo Recital award, numerous other recording of the year accolades and led to him being named Gramophone magazine’s Artist of the Year. Now Ólafsson brings his unique musical vision, and an affecting, meticulous recorded sound to Bach’s masterpiece. It marks the first time Ólafsson records a complete work and he begins with one of the most demanding in the piano repertoire.

Ólafsson dedicates his 2023-24 season to a Goldberg Variations world tour, performing the work across six continents throughout the year. He brings Bach’s masterpiece to major concert halls including London’s Southbank Centre, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie de Paris, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, Harpa Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, LA’s Walt Disney Hall, Sala São Paulo, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, KKL Luzern, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Mupa Budapest and Teatro Colón, to name a few.

Vikingur Olafsson:

From Afar

Celebrated for his innovative programming and award-winning recordings, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is offering a window into his musical life story with his new album, From Afar. Due for release on 7 October on Deutsche Grammophon, the highly personal double album reflects Ólafsson’s musical DNA, from childhood memories growing up in Iceland to his international career and contemporary inspirations.

Recorded on both upright and grand pianos, the album captures two distinct sound worlds with works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Bartók, alongside Icelandic and Hungarian folk songs, a world premiere by Thomas Adès, transcriptions by Ólafsson himself, and interconnecting pieces composed by his hero, 96 year-old Hungarian composer and pianist György Kurtág. The first single, Ave Maria by Sigvaldi Kaldalóns, is released today (listen HERE) along with a new video of Ólafsson introducing the album.

Vikingur Olafsson:

Mozart & Contemporaries

After the global successes of Philip Glass · Piano Works, Johann Sebastian Bach, Debussy · Rameau and Debussy · Rameau Reflections (227.5 million career streams to date and over 320K albums sold), multi-award-winning pianist Víkingur Ólafsson now turns his attention to the music of MOZART. Ólafsson presents some of his favourite Mozart keyboard works in the company of pieces by a selection of the composer's leading contemporaries. Juxtaposing works by Mozart, Haydn and C.P.E. Bach with rarely-recorded Galuppi and Cimarosa, Mozart & Contemporaries dispels the image of Mozart as the angelic and prodigious idiot savant, instead presenting a mature composer through music primarily dating from the 1780s: a resourceful, hard-working adult who had come to know adversity. All is artfully brought together by Ólafsson's signature thought-provoking programming. 

Vikingur Olafsson:

Debussy - Rameau

Debussy has been with me as far back as I can remember, but my first encounter with the keyboard music of Rameau was Emil Gilels' 1951 recording of "Le rappel des oiseaux", which I came across during my student days in New York. I was immediately fascinated by the music and how well it lends itself to the modern piano, at least in Gilels' noble rendition, with its layered textures and light and shades. But it wasn't until the spring of 2019, as I waited for the birth of my first child that I finally had the chance, having cleared some weeks in my concert schedule, to sit down with all of Rameau's published keyboard works and read through every one of them. A world of wonder revealed itself: ingenious works of remarkable diversity, rarely programmed or recorded on the modern instrument. - Vikingur Olafsson

Vikingur Olafsson:

J.S. Bach Works & Reworks

Following his critically-acclaimed Johann Sebastian Bach album, pianist Vikingur Ólafsson releases a double LP of Bach Reworks, featuring new arrangements of his Bach transcriptions from electronic artists such as Valgeir Sigurðsson and Ben Frost (Prelude BWV 855a), Peter Gregson (Above and Below, B Minor), and Ryuichi Sakamoto (BWV 974 – II Adagio – Rework).

Vikingur Olafsson:

Johann Sebastian Bach

Following his critically acclaimed recording of piano works by Philip Glass, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson will release his second concept album, Bach, on Deutsche Grammophon on September 7, 2018 (CD released 9/14). The album is available for pre-order everywheretoday.

Renowned for his innovative musical projects, Ólafsson offers listeners a very personal vision of Bach's intricate keyboard music on his new recording – artfully weaving Bach's original works together with transcriptions by Busoni, Kempff, Ziloti, Rachmaninov and Ólafsson himself. Ólafsson will also perform some of the repertoire from the album live at venues including London's LSO St Luke's, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk (Denmark), Hamburg's Laeiszhalle, and the Berlin Philharmonie during the 2018-19 season.

Vikingur Olafsson:

Philip Glass - Piano Works

For Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson's debut album on Deutsche Grammophon, he is performing selections of Philip Glass's Piano Etudes to be released on January 27, in time for the composer's 80th birthday. Ólafsson's fascination with reinterpreting the Piano Etudesgrew as he toured and performed the works with Glass himself. "On the surface, they seem to be filled with repetitions. But the more one plays and thinks about them, the more their narratives seem to travel along in a spiral," he explains. "My approach to each of the etudes is to enable the listener to create his or her own personal space of reflection."