Víkingur Ólafsson Wants To Change Your Mind About Mozart
On his new album, Mozart & Contemporaries, the deep-thinking pianist from Iceland aims to debunk the image of Amadeus as the giggling savant by contrasting his music with that of his peers.
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,, 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.
