On the Berliner Philharmoniker’s tour, Víkingur Ólafsson is the soloist in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1, with Kirill Petrenko conducting. In this video, filmed at Carnegie Hall, Ólafsson talks about the work’s raw beauty and formidable challenges, and about the importance of spontaneity in performance. Even Brahms, he believes, would have played the concerto differently every time.
Behind the music: Víkingur Ólafsson