Debussy – Rameau Víkingur Ólafsson

• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918):
• 1 Debussy: La damoiselle élue, L. 62: Prélude 03:51
• Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764):
• 2 Rameau:Le Rappel des oiseaux 02:40
• 3 Rameau: 6. Rigaudons 1, 2 & Double 01:01
• 4 Rameau: Musette en rondeau 03:13
• 5 Rameau: Tambourin 00:56
• 6 Rameau: La Villageoise 01:19
• 7 Rameau: Gigues en rondeau 1 & 2 03:42
• Claude Debussy:
• 8 Debussy: Estampes, L. 100: 3. Jardins sous la pluie 03:57
• 9 Debussy: Children's Corner, L. 113: 3. Serenade for the Doll 01:58
• 10 Debussy: Children's Corner, L. 113: 4. The Snow Is Dancing 02:24
• Jean-Philippe Rameau:
• 11 Rameau: Les tendres plaintes 02:36
• 12 Rameau: Les tourbillons 01:42
• 13 Rameau: L'entretien des Muses 02:58
• Claude Debussy:
• 14 Debussy: Préludes / Book 1, L. 117: 6. Des pas sur la neige 03:52
• Jean-Philippe Rameau:
• 15 Rameau: La joyeuse 00:57
• 16 Rameau: Les Cyclopes 02:52
• 17 Rameau. The Arts and the Hours 04:46
• Claude Debussy:
• 18 Debussy: Préludes / Book 1, L. 117: 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin 02:23
• 19 Debussy: Préludes / Book 2, L. 123: 8. Ondine 04:13
• 20 Rameau: Cinquième concert: 2. La Cupis 04:11
• Jean-Philippe Rameau:
• 21 Rameau: Quatrième concert: 2. L'indiscrète 01:06
• 22 Rameau: Quatrième concert: 3. La Rameau 02:13
• 23 Rameau: La Poule 02:39
• 24 Rameau: L’Enharmonique 03:53
• 25 Rameau: Menuets 1 & 2 02:43
• 26 Rameau: Les Sauvages 01:22
• 27 Rameau: L’Égyptienne 02:12
• Claude Debussy:
• 28 Debussy: Images - Book 1, L. 110: 2. Hommage à Rameau 07:14
• Total Runtime 01:18:53

Info for Debussy – Rameau

Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as an artist who "creates unique aural landscapes," Icelandic pianist V¡kingur Olafsson continues his acclaimed recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon with the release of Debussy & Rameau. Following two albums featured in NPR Music's Top 10 Classical Albums (Glass in 2017 and Bach in 2018), Olafsson`s third album pairs works by two French composers separated by well over a century: Jean-Philippe Rameau and Claude Debussy.

Fresh from his hugely acclaimed and multi-award-winning album Johann Sebastian Bach, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s third Deutsche Grammophon recording pairs works by two revolutionary French composers separated by a century and a half: Jean-Philippe Rameau and Claude Debussy.

Debussy is most often called an impressionist. “People get lost a little bit in sound for the sake of sound”, Ólafsson comments. But the composer was also “a real perfectionist… there is this incredibly refined structure at work.” Rameau, “the bad boy of the French baroque”, likewise combined a strong sense of structure with a fondness for breaking conventions: “He broke the rules and paved the way for new ideas, new creativity, new spontaneity.” What unites the two composers, Ólafsson comments, is “a kind of freedom and discipline, juxtaposed”.

The album 'Debussy · Rameau' alternates music by the two composers, creating an enthralling dialogue between them. Works are drawn from across both composers’ careers, with the Debussy selection including well-known miniatures such as La Fille aux cheveux de lin as well as the less familiar Prelude to La Damoiselle élue arranged for piano solo. Rameau’s works are mainly drawn from his Pièces de clavecin collections of between 1724 and 1741. One of the album’s centrepieces is Ólafsson’s own Rameau arrangement The Arts and the Hours.

“For me, Rameau is up there with Handel, Scarlatti, and second only to Bach," said Ólafsson as he introduced the evening. "It is simply genius keyboard writing.". His new album juxtaposes Rameau's music with that of Debussy, describing it as a "dialogue" between the two composers. He said that together they "defeat time and space with music".

Ólafsson gave the audience an insight into his repertoire choices for the album and performed a selection of works, including Debussy's Prélude from La Damoiselle élue, Rameau's Le Rappel des Oiseaux and his own transcription of an interlude from the opera Les Boréades entitled ‘The Arts and the Hours’.

Víkingur Ólafsson's Debussy Rameau follows his critically-acclaimed 2019 recording Johann Sebastian Bach which was on numerous album of the year lists and named one of the greatest ever Bach recordings by Gramophone, plus it won Best Instrumental and overall Album of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2019. Ólafsson was honoured at the Opus Klassik Awards, he was named Gramophone's Artist of the Year and Limelight's International Artist of the Year.

Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

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