Grade: A+
In 2018, the Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson released a solo Bach album. It bounced along unforgettably. Olafsson’s subsequent albums for Deutsche Grammophon were all lovely, but like many ‘intellectual’ pianists blessed with a pearly touch he could sound a bit precious. I missed the playfulness of his Bach, and so when he announced he was recording the Goldberg Variations I was excited. Could he sprinkle the magic of his original album over this famous Aria and its 30 tightly argued variations, at a time when there are more than 200 rival recordings on piano floating around – and roughly the same number on harpsichord? (When Glenn Gould cut his sensational Goldberg Variations in 1956, the only competition was a forgotten disc from Claudio Arrau.)
The answer is: yes, he’s pulled it off. Olafsson’s Goldbergs begin by passing a big test: he doesn’t moon over the Aria, but just plays it. And then he piles one triumph on top of another. He can bring out the structural logic of the most virtuosic variations by throwing tiny spotlights over shifts in harmony at gravity-defying speed. Admittedly, the best of the modern competition – my favourites are Ji, Kolesnikov and Perahia – can match him for dexterity. But, as Olafsson’s fingers fly ever faster towards the Quodlibet, there’s a flavour of Schumannesque fantasy that I can’t find anywhere else.
So I’ll go out on a limb and say that the Goldberg crown has settled on a new head after an interregnum of 41 years. I remember Gould so fondly. It’s startling to realise that Olafsson wasn’t even born when he died.
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