Album Notes - Víkingur Ólafsson - Debussy - Rameau
Stress comes easier than hand sanitizer these days. Everyone's lives have been impacted. Some are worried about losing their jobs. Others are juggling kids in one hand and their boss the other. Nobody can touch their face.
A temporary reprieve? How about a 21st-century Icelandic pianist celebrating two iconic French composers born nearly two hundred years apart. Víkingur Ólafsson set out to create "a dialogue between two of my favorite[s]," and does just that on his recent Debussy - Rameau. As he shuffles their works and stylistic differences together, Ólafsson allows the Baroque-era legend to do more "talking" than his Impressionist compatriot. Yet the result feels like a balanced conversation. One that can, however temporarily, beautifully drown out all the other noise in our lives.