Vikingur Olafsson – Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations (UHQCD)

Born in 1984, Vikingur Olafsson has, in just a few years, become one of the most sought-after pianists of our time. For 25 years the Icelander, who has won numerous awards for his Bach recordings, has dreamed of recording the Goldberg Variations, a dream that came true in 2023 when Deutsche Grammophon released his interpretations of this monumental work. An accompanying world tour took him through six continents with this theme – and so that you don’t have to travel so far, this audiophile release from Universal Japan brings the wonderful sounds into your listening room.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

Johann Sebastian Bach

Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

1. Aria

2. – 31. Var. 1-30

32. Aria da Capo