Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

ALBUM REVIEW May 13, 2020

Víkingur Ólafsson: Debussy • Rameau

Read "Debussy • Rameau" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson had a recording career before signing with the German monolithe Deutsche Grammophon, having released three recordings for his own label, Dirrindí. In 2016, Ólafsson signed with DG, releasing the next year Philip Glass -Piano Works. It was an interesting debut for the august label, featuring Philip Glass's Études, “Opening" from Glassworks, and a surprise rework of Glassworks by Dutch pianist and composer, Christian Badzura. Ólafsson fashions himself a progressive traditionalist, intensely focused on the music and ...

INTERVIEW April 12, 2020

Vikingur Olafsson: Music Can Take Us To A Better Place

By Nenad Georgievski

The Icelandic classical pianist Vikingur Olafsson has built an impressive international career. Sought after by top orchestras and major concert venues worldwide, his records are published by the renowned Deutsche Gramophone. Olafsson's playing impresses with its brilliance, projection and exactitude, eliciting an impressive range and diversity of colors from his piano. On the other hand, Olafsson also refuses to be pinned down, as evidenced by the diversity of his recorded output. He has explored the music of composers like Philip ...

ALBUM REVIEW November 24, 2019

Víkingur Ólafsson: J.S. Bach Works & Reworks

By C. Michael Bailey

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has found himself soaked to the skin in accolades in 2019. It all began auspiciously enough with the pianist with Ólafsson beginning piano early, taught by his mother, a music teacher. Ólafsson eventually attended and matriculated from the Juilliard School in New York, with a Bachelor's and Master's degrees directed by Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald. The pianist went on to blaze and international trial with concerts and recitals. He released three recordings on his own ...

ALBUM REVIEW January 5, 2018

Víkingur Ólafsson: Philip Glass – Piano Works

By C. Michael Bailey

Captain Obvious once said, “The appeal of Philip Glass' music is its simplicity." The minimalist school, which includes Glass, as well as La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich, produces music that uses limited or minimal musical materials, or as defined by composer Tom Johnson, as ..."any music that works with limited or minimal materials: pieces that use only a few notes, pieces that use only a few words of text, or pieces written for very limited instruments, such ...