Philip Glass Tribute – Vikingur Olafsson

   in Piano International (Sep, 2017)
Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson, signed to the Yellow Label in 2016, provides his own eloquent booklet notes for this important release. In them, he acknowledges his connection to the composer, and indeed throughout there is the feeling of a certain rightness.

Take the opening of Glassworks. Previously I much enjoyed Nicolas Horvath’s account of this (GP677), quicker than Ólafsson. Yet it is the newcomer who seems to draw us into a perfectly ululating wave of ‘Glassness’. The DG sound (from Rejkjavik’s Harpa Hall) is more inviting, too: warm yet allowing through every detail. The end hangs deliciously in the air. Christian Badzura’s ‘reworking’ which closes the album, sheds new light, softening …