From afar / Víkingur Ólafsson.
Material type:
MusicPublisher number: B003649102 | Deutsche Grammophon486 1681 | Deutsche GrammophonPublisher: [Berlin] : Deutsche Grammophon, [2022]Copyright date: ℗2022Description: 2 audio discs (1 hr., 43 min., 43 sec.) : CD audio, stereo ; 4 3/4 inContent type: - performed music
- audio
- audio disc
- Recording producer & engineer, editing: Christopher Tarnow.
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult CD
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | CD | CLASSICAL Víkingur Ólafsson | Available | 33111009984291 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Piano sensation Vikingur Ólafsson here draws on dual inspirations, a meeting with 96-year-old composer György Kurtág and the memory of an upright piano Ólafsson played in his youth and . The program is made up of short pieces in a consistent nostalgic mood, with those by Kurtág running as a thread through Bach, Schumann, Mozart, Brahms, Bartók, and a pair of contemporary Icelandic composers. Schumann's Träumerei is especially affecting in this context. The concept works, and it showcases Ólafsson's uncanny ability to drop familiar pieces into unexpected new contexts. As for the second aspect of Ólafsson's inspiration here, he takes the startling step of replaying his entire program on an upright piano, and one on which the strings have been covered with felt, at that. The idea, one supposes, is to generate an atmosphere of memories viewed, as the title has it, from afar. Listeners may register their own reactions to this, and it certainly shows Ólafsson's trademark originality, but a track or two might have conveyed the same things effectively enough; listeners will register this either as another masterstroke from one of today's true stars or as a rather contrived device. It doesn't help that Deutsche Grammophon mikes Ólafsson too closely on the upright piano section of the program, creating a lot of ambient noise that adds nothing to Ólafsson's argument. However, even detractors will have to concede that the pianist has once again grabbed a lot of people's attention; this double, full-price album showed up on classical best-seller lists in the fall of 2022. ~ James Manheim
Title from disc label.
Compact disc.
Recording producer & engineer, editing: Christopher Tarnow.
Víkingur Ólafsson, Grand (CD 1) and upright (CD 2) piano ; featuring Halla Oddný Magnúsdóttir, piano.
Recorded 2022 April 11-15 Harpa Concert House, Norðurljós Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Program notes in English with German translation in booklet inserted in container.
CD 1 (Grand piano) & CD 2 (Upright piano). Christe, du Lamm Gottes, BWV 619 / Johann Sebastian Bach ; arr. Kurtág -- Study in canonic form. op. 56/1 / Robert Schumann -- Sonata for violin solo no. 3 in C major, BWV 1005. Adagio / Johann Sebastian Bach ; arr. Víkingur Ólafsson -- Játékok. Harmonica / György Kurtág -- 3 Hungarian folksongs from the Csik District, BB 45b, Sz. 35a / Béla Bartók -- Intermezzo in E major, op. 116/4 / Johannes Brahms -- Játékok. A voice in the distance / György Kurtág -- Where life and death may dwell (Icelandic folk song) / Snorri Sigfús Birgisson -- Trio sonata no. 1 in E-flat major, BWV 525. Allegro moderato / Johann Sebastian Bach ; transcr. Kurtág -- Ave Maria / Sigvaldi Kaldalóns ; arr. Víkingur Ólafsson -- Játékok. Little chorale / György Kurtág -- Laudate Dominum / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ; arr. Víkingur Ólafsson -- Játékok. Sleepily / György Kurtag -- Träumerei / Robert Schumann -- Játékok. Flowers we are / György Kurtág -- The branch / Thomas Adès -- Játékok. Twittering / György Kurtag -- Vogel als Prophet, op. 82/7 / Robert Schumann -- Intermezzo in E minor, op. 116/5 / Johannes Brahms -- Játékok. Scraps of a Colinda melody - faintly recollected / György Kurtág.