After dedicating his previous albums to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, the Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson returns with a selection of works by another great Baroque composer, Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). Debussy-Rameau is an album in which short pieces of all genres follow one another in rapid succession. Rameau’s works range from the suite (Rigaudons, Gigues and Menuets), to imitative pieces (Le rappel des oiseaux) and works of character (Les tendres plaintes), to more virtuosic moments (Les tourbillons). These are interspersed with works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), notably from Préludes, Estampes and Children’s Corner. Ólafsson’s playing is imbued with a clarity that this repertoire cannot do without, giving it a unique sense of simplicity. The album humorously concludes with an excerpt from Debussy’s Images, Livre 1, L. 110, known as L’Hommage à Rameau, closing the gap of almost two centuries between the two composers.
