Fantasia & Fugue in A Minor - BWV 904 - 2. Fugue

Vikingur Olafsson won the BBC Music Magazine Recording of the Year in 2019 with his recording of Bach piano transcriptions. We reflect on these fresh, exciting interpretations and explain what it was that made our jury fall in love with Olafsson's album.. From the first track, listeners will be struck by the evenness of Olafssons touch, the immediacy of his articulation and, particularly in the slower tracks, a rich, almost organ-like depth of tone. "I really spent many years forming my own ideas about Bach, he says, trying to make sense out of his structures and finding the right balance between freedom and discipline, between rubato and strict rhythm. And I tried, too, to play him in a three-dimensional way, giving life to the polyphony, like a theatre director controlling three or four characters at the same time. You have to make sure that they're all alive, even when they have different roles.' His album ends with with the magisterial, expansive eight-minute A minor Fantasia and Fugue BWV 904.