Víkingur Ólafsson places Mozart's piano music in the context of his contemporaries Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Joseph Haydn, Baldassare Galuppi and Domenico Cimarosa. It is certainly beautiful. You could characterise Víkingur Ólafsson's charisma as Icelandic purity with a not too pearly touch. The overall atmosphere of the album has something of Guck's ethereal Dance of the Blessed Spirits, but
… that piece is missing. Something has been sacrificed to this atmosphere. The beautiful Fantasie in D is unfortunately broken off, with which, incidentally, it logically continues into the Rondo in D. In the booklet, Ólafsson tells how, as an eight year old, he scratched the score of Mozart's famous Sonata Facile (easy sonata) out of pure frustration. The sonata for beginners was not that easy. His mother had the kindness and patience to erase all scratches. The score is still in Ólafssons possession with the scars on the paper still visible. (HJ)more
