Tom Huizenga | March 28, 2024
Top-tier concert pianists commonly perform on nine-foot grand pianos. However, when they visit the Tiny Desk, it's our job to convince them to scale down to our diminutive upright. We got no argument from Víkingur Ólafsson, the 40-year-old star pianist from Iceland.

His eyes lit up when he saw our instrument. He immediately removed its upper panel, then secured the practice pedal, which drops a curtain of felt between the hammers and the strings, producing a muted, intimate sound, allowing the music to be practically whispered to us.

The pieces Ólafsson chooses are gentle, and for him nostalgic, recalling the countless hours spent at his own upright piano in his childhood bedroom.

J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations is "an encyclopedia of how you can think and dream on the keyboard," Ólafsson says, after opening with the work's featherlight Aria and vigorous first variation. His phrasing is warm and lilting, and as detailed as a Vermeer.

Ólafsson is also a gifted arranger. His rendition of an interlude from Jean-Philippe Rameau's 1763 opera Les Boréades unspools as a calm procession. Ólafsson titled it "The Arts and the Hours" because, he says, "art is long and life is short."

Filtered through Béla Bartók, Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík have been part of Ólafsson's repertoire since childhood. The wistful melodies and tangy harmonies are irresistible. And Ólafsson closes with another personal arrangement, "Ave María," something close to Iceland's national prayer.

The pianist insisted on placing our grumpy-looking Bach bobblehead on the piano for companionship, joking that the frowning little toy "seems permanently displeased with everything I do." But judging from this performance, and his wise words, Ólafsson is doing everything just right.

SET LIST
J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations - Aria, Variation No. 1
Jean-Philipe Rameau (arr. Ólafsson): "The Arts and the Hours"
Béla Bartók: Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík
Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (arr. Ólafsson): "Ave Maria"

MUSICIANS
Víkingur Ólafsson: piano

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Tom Huizenga
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Technical Director: Hannah Gluvna
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Kwesi Lee
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Team: Kara Frame, Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

#nprmusic #tinydesk #vikingurolafsson