• NO.1 – GERMAN CLASSICAL CHART
• NO.2 – US TRADITIONAL CLASSICAL CHART

“He’s got the keys to brighten the darkness … It’s like riding a magic carpet.” - The Times 5* (London, 3 April 2020)

07 APRIL 2020 [TORONTO, ON] – Víkingur Ólafsson’s latest recording for Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Canada, the country's leading music company, has soared to the top of the classical charts in the United Kingdom and the United States within a week of its release on 27 March 2020. Debussy · Rameau, the Icelandic pianist’s third solo album for the Yellow Label, raced to No.1 in the UK specialist classical chart and No.2 in the US classical chart.

Ólafsson’s programme of twenty-eight interleaved miniatures by two of the greatest French composers of all time has also entered the top 20 in the German pop chart and taken the No.1 position in the German classical chart and the Icelandic album chart. The Sunday Times (London) named Debussy · Rameau its Album of the Week on 29 March, noting that “Everything the Icelandic Klaviertiger touches sounds freshly conceived”, while its sister paper The Times has given it a five-star rating and the Guardian Guide, Classic FM, NDR Germany, ABC Classic FM Australia, RBB, Presto and Le Figaro have all also made the recording their classical album of the week.

“I am grateful that my album has found its way to so many. In the time of quarantine, music has the power to take us to beautiful, distant places. I wish everyone health, contentment and happy listening in the times that lie ahead.” – Víkingur Ólafsson

Debussy · Rameau follows the chart-topping success of Ólafsson’s Johann Sebastian Bach, winner of the 2019 Opus Klassik Piano Recital Album award and Album of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2019. Ólafsson himself was named the 2019 Gramophone Artist of the Year and Limelight magazine’s International Artist of the Year 2019. His latest choice of repertoire continues a journey of creative discovery that began in 2017 with his equally acclaimed debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Philip Glass – Piano Works.