Products featured on Pianodao are selected for review by ANDREW EALES.
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October has brought us a rich harvest of new CD releases, including several truly superb new piano recordings. It’s time to unveil my Recordings of the Month, so here’s my selection of the highlights…
Continue reading Recordings of the Month: October 2022photography: Ari Magg
Products featured on Pianodao are selected for review by ANDREW EALES.
PIANODAO REVIEWS POLICY
For a second month in a row, my piano recording of the month choice comes from the fingers of a young player whose playing I did not immediately warm to, but who has more recently completely won me over.
Víkingur Ólafsson’s DG debut recording focused on the music of Philip Glass, while for his award-winning follow-up he turned to Bach, mixing the composer’s originals with transcriptions and various reworkings. The Icelandic pianist proved his mettle with an ultra-crystalline approach and technique that dazzled critics and music-lovers alike; but it left me just a little cold.
Ólafsson’s latest offering, bringing together a joyous collection of pieces by the French baroque master Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) interspersed and offset with an eclectic set of beloved and lesser-known pieces by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), is the clincher.
A disc replete with musical marvels, Ólafsson’s album of French keyboard wizardry is revelatory in its insights and deserves the highest plaudits…
Continue reading Víkingur Ólafsson: Debussy meets Rameau
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