Víkingur Ólafsson Wants To Change Your Mind About Mozart

[Japo_Japo]

When Víkingur Ólafsson was 8 years old, he threw a tantrum over Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As he tried to play the runs in the deceptive little Sonata facile in C major, the so-called “Easy Sonata,” he grew so frustrated that he literally scratched out the notes with a pencil.

Since then, the 37-year-old Icelandic pianist has made peace with Mozart. Ólafsson has included the popular sonata on Mozart & Contemporaries, a new album that aims to dispel myths about the famous composer while shedding light on the music scene of the late 18th century. To better understand Mozart, Ólafsson presents his music cunningly mixed with composers who thrived alongside him.

Víkingur Ólafsson: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

TINY DESK

Víkingur Ólafsson: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Conversation Between The Keys: Víkingur Ólafsson Meets Debussy And Rameau

DECEPTIVE CADENCE

Conversation Between The Keys: Víkingur Ólafsson Meets Debussy And Rameau

The wildly successful opera composer Baldassare Galuppi probably never met Mozart, and slipped into obscurity not long after dying in 1785. Still, Ólafsson notes in his booklet essay, the combination of refinement and nervous energy found in Galuppi’s Piano Sonata No. 9, which opens the album, reminds him of the uneasy mood that launches Mozart’s 40th Symphony.

An even darker mood pervades Mozart’s powerful Piano Sonata No. 14, music that looks far ahead of its time. Ólafsson highlights the Beethoven-esque violence and Mozart’s shattering use of silence.