Víkingur Ólafsson

Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Víkingur Ólafsson, an Icelandic pianist from Reykjavik. We’ve featured his performances on three prior mixes this year alone, but this is our first full rec of his work. In 2017, the New York Times called him “Iceland’s Glenn Gould” which could not be more true now, after the composer recently released his own Goldberg Variations. The record is evidence that “Bach is the musical love of my life,” as Ólafsson recently wrote in a Guardian op-ed. “I cannot go more than a couple of days without playing his works.” Though we recently featured the Goldberg Variations in our August recommendation of Ylan Chu, one can never hear these particular canons and arabesques enough. We’re also playing Ólafsson’s brilliant 2017 collection of Philip Glass performances.

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations - Víkingur Ólafsson (70m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Philip Glass Piano Works - Víkingur Ólafsson (90m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

Have a really nice Wednesday.