He’s done it again…it is clear from the outset that this is no lazy selection of favourites…His playing never feels self-indulgent of inappropriate…There is never any doubt that this is Ólafsson’s vision of Rameau and Debussy, but it is also clearly rooted in love for each and their intertwining opens the eyes and the ears, highlighting especially that, like Bach, Rameau’s music is fertile ground for pianists.

It could have been a triumph of style over substance but, like the Bach, the programming here is truly inspired...Where else could Ólafsson end but with ‘Hommage à Rameau’ from Images, Book 1? It not only brings the two composers together but offers the perfect distillation of all that has gone before.

Ólafsson’s touch is malleable: suggestive in the Debussy pieces and bracingly gritty for Rameau. The centrepiece of the collection is his own transcription of an interlude from Rameau’s final opera, Les Boréades, which comes over as a meditation.

This may be his finest recording yet. Apart from the sheer virtuosity on display, what impresses me most is the variety of tone and touch that he applies...I've lost count of the number of times I've listened to this album over the past few weeks, and yet it hasn't forfeited an ounce of its magic. If anything it keeps revealing more secrets and depths each time.

Each piece sounds a brightly polished jewel in Olafsson’s hands, his fingerwork emulating the plucked sound of the harpsichord in the Rameau, his impressionistic flourishes in Debussy Préludes complementing each other to perfection. Exhilarating.

In Olafsson’s hands these pictures and sensations, transmuted into music, radiate with lightness, elegance, and a delight in every variety of life. Key to this success is his fingering, always sensitive and crisp...Then there’s Olafsson’s programming skills...here everything flows freely, with items solely linked by the music’s spirit and whims. It’s like riding a magic carpet, and I didn’t want the journey to end.