I mean Víkingur Ólafsson (from Iceland, not really viking territory) who has put together a seventy-nine-minute recital of twenty-eight selections juxtaposing Debussy (1862-1918) & Rameau (1683-1764). It works very well as a seamless listen, the Rameau a particular success, engaging harpsichord music (whether swinging or sublime) that is tailor-made for a modern piano and for Ólafsson’s sparkling and sensitive fingers (also ideal for Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas, I suggest). Ólafsson’s Debussy choices (drawing the short straw in terms of numbers, a mere eight) are scarcely less fine, if somewhat hard-edged at times and less Impressionistic than we may be used to or wish for, if not unpersuasive in debunking Debussy as a water-colourist. The programme closes, appropriately, with Hommage à Rameau (from Images, Series I), Debussy’s deeply-felt tribute to a faraway French time in which he remains true to himself. Deutsche Grammophon 483 7701.

And I have finally caught up with Ólafsson’s celebrated Bach release, DG 483 5022, and find the plaudits for it are fully justified, thirty-five Johann Sebastian movements (some arranged by Rachmaninov, Busoni or Wilhelm Kempff) extending to a seventy-seven-minute compilation that, similarly to Debussy/Rameau, make for life-enhancing/transcending listening. I’ll be playing both of these recordings a lot, keeping them by my side.