Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Sebastian Bach version on vinyl 2LP in Standard edition. This particular edition was published in Germany in publishing company Deutsche Grammophon on 7. September 2018.
Product info:On his new album for Deutsche Grammophon, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson explores Johann Sebastian Bach as an original source of music. His interpretation is an event - experimental, innovative and timeless. Víkingur Ólafsson is a free musical spirit with a mission. This clever interpreter has already made the classical music world take notice - it was in early 2017 when his recording of Philip Glass's solo piano etudes was released, in which he wandered captivatingly through space and time in minimalist structures. Glass is now followed by Bach. In September, Ólafsson's second album, Bach, will be released on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring a virtuosic fusion of Johann Sebastian Bach's original works and transcriptions. "Without Bach, everything would be nothing," says Víkingur Ólafsson. "If Glass's music is minimal music, then Bach is maximal music." The pianist has explored Bach's contrapuntal works and reveals various aspects on his album. In excerpts from the Well-Tempered Clavier, such as the Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 855, or in contrapuntal gems such as the Sinfonia No. 15 in B minor, BWV 801, he presents Bach as a "master of the short story," while the playful Aria variata, BWV 989, is the architectural centerpiece of the album. The original compositions are excitingly complemented by Rachmaninov's arrangement of Bach's Gavotte from Partita No. 3 for Violin in E major BWV 1006, Busoni's transcription of the chorale "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" or Ólafsson's own fascinating arrangement of the first aria from the solo cantata for alto voice "Widerstehe doch der Sünde". As with Glass, Ólafsson shows himself to be a highly intelligent and innovative explorer of sound, deftly breaking out of the usual categories and redefining the classical genre. The slender and straightforward, but at the same time extremely expressive, 34-year-old player enchants and fascinates with his sensual joy of experimentation and suggestive density of expression. The inspirational power of Bach's music is immense. This is evidenced in the next album by musical frontiersman Ólafsson, to be released on Deutsche Grammophon in late 2018/early 2019, which combines atmospheric reworkings by composers such as Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Ben Frost, Peter Gregson and Valgeir Sigurðsson, in which Bach's compositions are artfully defragmented. In addition, Ólafsson dedicates a touchingly intimate memorial piece to his late colleague and friend Jóhann Jóhannsson. "Bach has it all: perfect architecture and deep emotion," says Ólafsson. Bach is the universe. Ólafsson lets it shine in a new way.
Album spans genres Classical and Baroque. 180g Gatefold Vinyl.