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Víkingur Ólafsson: Mozart & Contemporaries

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Jan 25, 2022
Category: Classical

When I wrote about Víkingur Ólafsson in 2021, it was to praise his recording of Philip Glass piano pieces. For Head Butler readers, who mostly had never heard of him, that CD was a revelation. Philip Glass: Piano Works became a popular addition to many home playlists. It was reasonable to believe his fans would welcome more.

“Mozart & Contemporaries” is that, and then some. Are you familiar with Galuppi and Cimarosa? I’d never heard of them. Here’s Cimarosa’s Sonata No. 42 in D minor:

The shorthand explanation for his appeal goes like this: You can have the showboat pianists. This is music for listening. Which is to say: his selections of material and his interpretations are fresh without calling attention to the novelty. And his touch is so light! He views classical pieces as contemporary because he operates in the now — for him, all music becomes “new” as soon as it’s played. This is a crude way to say it: to listen to Ólafsson is like being given new ears. No wonder a friend with a heavy workload plays this often: it is both calm and energizing, a neat trick. [To buy the CD of ‘Mozart & Contemporaries” from Amazon, click here.]

Here’s Haydn’s Piano Sonata in B Minor:

Yes, but how does he refresh Mozart? Here’s his Ave verum corpus:

And this, Mozart’s Adagio in E Flat (arranged from String Quintet No. 3 in G Minor, K. 516)



BONUS ARTISTRY

Andante, from Bach Organ Sonata No.4, live at BBC Proms 2021