Víkingur Ólafsson on the Unpredictable Futurism of Rameau

All classical musicians are devoted to the art of reinterpretation — of trying to make the old feel new again. Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson actually manages to pull it off. Whether he’s performing keyboard music hundreds of years old or a piece hot off the press, one has the feeling that they’ve never heard this music before, or this music played in this way. As Ólafsson puts it, “I have this feeling that everything I do is contemporary.” In this episode, Ólafsson reflects on some of his earliest musical memories, what it was like to grow up amid the harsh and unpredictable beauty of Iceland, and how discovering the keyboard music of Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau changed his life. To learn more about Víkingur Ólafsson and his latest recording, J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations , visit his website at . This episode of The Open Ears Project had additional production assistance from Curtis Macdonald. The recording of “Le Rappel des Oiseaux” featured was performed by Víkingur Ólafsson on the 2020 Deutsche Grammophon album, “Debussy · Rameau.”

You can listen to Víkingur Ólafsson on the Unpredictable Futurism of Rameau online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Víkingur Ólafsson on the Unpredictable Futurism of Rameau is an episode from The Open Ears Project by WQXR & WNYC Studios.

This episode is 00:16:21 long.

This episode was published on Apr 22, 2024.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Open Ears Project when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.