Víkingur Ólafsson

Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.6 • 908 Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2024

⏱️ 133 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Víkingur Ólafsson is a world-renowned Icelandic pianist. Celebrated for his profound artistry and visionary programming, he has performed with premier orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2023, he performed his album of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations on a world tour, showcasing his musicianship across six continents, totaling 88 performances. Ólafsson’s latest release, an EP entitled Continuum, is described as his “personal Bach diary,” a work that blends his innovative approach to classical music with the 18th century composer’s iconic work. As a two-time recipient of the Opus Klassik Solo Recording of the Year, CoScan’s International Nordic Person of the Year (2023), and Album of the Year at BBC Music Magazine Awards (2019), Ólafsson continues to captivate audiences worldwide. His upcoming tour dates can be found here. ------ Thank you to the sponsors that fuel our podcast and our team: Athletic Nicotine https://www.athleticnicotine.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Squarespace https://squarespace.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Vivo Barefoot http://vivobarefoot.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA25' ------ LMNT Electrolytes https://drinklmnt.com/tetra Use code 'TETRA' ------ Sign up to receive Tetragrammaton Transmissions https://www.tetragrammaton.com/join-newsletter

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tetrogrammaton
0:02.0	Tetracketka
0:07.0	Tenerat
0:09.0	I think there's a certain kind of an instability about an island in that specific location in the North Atlantic Ocean where with the kind of volcanic eruptions every other, every third year it seems these days and the
0:39.7	earthquakes and the high contrast between the seasons. We have basically two seasons, the dark and the
0:46.9	bright season, the winter and the summer. And every year, you know, the idea of autumn and spring is just a deception
0:56.7	and we fall for it every year, you know.
0:59.6	You might have snow in May and you never know what's going to happen.
1:03.3	So Icelandic winter is May?
1:07.0	No, Icelandic winter is basically from October.
1:12.1	So we basically have, we just have a summer season like June, whatever, July, August.
1:17.0	But it's brief and it's wonderful.
1:20.5	You know, it has a white night, so, you know, complete daylight.
1:24.2	It's amazing to actually make music at summer solstice in Iceland you
1:28.8	know it's amazing but it has the light but it also has the kind of focus of the
1:33.6	slightly colder temperatures you know the kind of crispness of here but I
1:40.0	think also growing up in Iceland is a different question to ask like me as opposed to asking my sons.
1:47.0	Because growing up in the 90s is such a, in retrospect, wonderful thing, growing up without the internet, without YouTube and without all of it, right?
1:57.0	Without Spotify and all those things. It's kind of so wonderful to grow up not aware of anything
2:05.7	really outside of your little island and just get the kind of luxury of being the best
2:10.5	at playing piano. Building it sort of, you know, I thought of myself as an international pianist
2:17.3	since I was like 10 and I wasn't, of course.
	...

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