Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The Goldberg crown has settled on a new head: Vikingur Olafsson’s Golberg Variations reviewed

This new recording of Bach's celebrated work is a triumph

  • Comments

Grade: A+

Most popular

Gavin Mortimer

France isn’t buying Macron’s excuses after the Eiffel Tower terror attack

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.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Read next

Trending

Niall Gooch

In defence of a ‘British culture’

From time to time, a would-be edgy Tweeter or columnist will shock us all by stating or suggesting that the boring white people who until the last third of the twentieth century made up almost the entire population of the United Kingdom, have no real culture to speak of. There is a twofold implication to

Because you read about albums

Also by Damian Thompson

Latest

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in