From Afar
Deutsche Grammophon, 2022
8/10
The Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson brings us his most personal work to date, where he looks back on childhood memories and his musical journey with 2 discs of work by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Bartók, alongside Icelandic and Hungarian folk songs, too.
On the Grand Piano disc, Robert Schumann’s “Study In Canonic Form” makes an early impression with its swift and precise keys that are quite melodic, and Bartok’s “Rubato” isn’t too far away, and emits a stirring intimacy that’s quite introspective.
Further along, the Icelandic folk song, Snorri Sigfús Birgisson’s “Where Life And Death May Dwell”, is a calm, poetic moment that radiates so much beauty and grace, while Johannes Brahms’ “Intermezzo In E Minor” is a dreamy and atmospheric deep disc highlight.
Disc 2, the Upright Piano portion, leads with Bach’s “Christe, du Lamm Gottes”, where mood is key amid the soft gestures, and approaching the middle, “Gyorgy Kurtág’s “A Voice In The Distance” is extremely minimal, but also impactful in its well timed, sparing keys.
Kurtág’s “Scraps Of A Colinda Melody-Faintly Recollected” exits the listen, and it’s also delicate, cautious and immediately striking.
This album came to life after a life altering meeting with György Kurtág in Budapest in September 2021, which left Ólafsson with “a feeling of lightness and joy” and triggered memories of music he loved as a child.
An extremely daring venture as Ólafsson recorded the album twice, one for each piano, this effort returns to his musical roots, and wife, Halla Oddný Magnúsdottir, is present on a few pieces that help the record resonate even more timelessness and warmth.
Travels well with: Daniil Trifonov- BACH: The Art Of Life; Buchbinder- Beethoven Piano Concertos