Vikingur Olafsson

The Icelandic megastar revisits selections from his 2020 recording of keyboard jewels, including Debussy’s impression of “Gardens in the Rain,” dancing snow, and a porcelain doll come to life. Treating each piece “like a sculpture, worth studying from all angles in search of new interpretations and surprises” (The New York Times), Víkingur Ólafsson also weaves Philip Glass etudes with three suites originally written for the harpsichord by Rameau—the composer Ólafsson calls “the bad boy of the French baroque.”

Listening to Ólafsson is “like riding a magic carpet,” writes The Times of London. “These pictures and sensations, transmuted into music, radiate with lightness, elegance, and a delight in every variety of life.”

This series is generously supported by the Colburn Foundation.