Video of the day: Víkingur Ólafsson plays Bach
Gramophone
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Víkingur Ólafsson plays Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E minor BWV 855 in the Yellow Lounge
Víkingur Ólafsson's recording of Bach's keyboard works for DG was an Editor's Choice recording in the November issue, with Harriet Smith noting: 'In terms of pianistic lineage, Ólafsson combines the fantasy of Maria João Pires and Martha Argerich with the contrapuntal élan of Piotr Anderszewski. But he is very much his own man, mixing original Bach with transcriptions that range from Stradal, Busoni and Rachmaninov via Kempff to the present day, with Ólafsson’s own rethinking of the luscious aria from the solo alto Cantata No 54, ‘Widerstehe doch der Sünde’, in which he channels the great transcribers of old, using left-hand octaves to give it a grounded feeling, and choosing a measured tempo more akin to Alfred Deller than Andreas Scholl.'
Ólafsson performed Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E minor BWV 855 from The Well-Tempered Clavier at DG's Yellow Lounge a few months ago, and the film is now live on their YouTube channel: