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The Listener

Carries the whiff of a hotel-lounge pianist: Vikingur Olafsson’s From Afar reviewed

26 November 2022

9:00 AM

26 November 2022

9:00 AM

Grade: B+

The 38-year-old Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson has an almost unique ability to make counterpoint sing, as his astonishing 2018 Bach recital for DG revealed. But his Proms debut last year in Mozart’s Piano Concerto K491 seemed over-thought, verging on the fussy. Now he’s been allowed the luxury of a concept double album, From Afar, in which he plays an eccentrically curated mixture of small pieces twice, once on a Steinway grand and once on an upright.

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