美国作曲家菲利浦‧葛拉斯，是今日乐坛极简主义的代表人物之一，与史蒂夫‧莱许、约翰‧亚当斯、泰瑞‧赖利等大老并列为极简主义之父。葛拉斯1937年生于巴尔的摩，祖先来自立陶宛的犹太移民，孩提时代曾在琵琶地学习长笛，后来进入茱莉亚音乐学院主修键盘乐器演奏，毕业后葛拉斯前往巴黎师事法国音乐教母娜迪亚‧布兰洁学习作曲，后来与西塔琴之父拉维香卡共事，为了鑽研佛教更旅行到北印度，逐渐发展出属于葛拉斯自己的音乐语言，葛拉斯也在1972年成为佛教徒。 葛拉斯的音乐虽归类在现代乐派，但是他的音乐是有调性的，甚至有些还带有浪漫、甚至是后浪漫的色彩；当然，他最为世人熟知的是他个人特色极明显的电影配乐。2017年是葛拉斯80大寿，这张专辑是DG新签下1984年出生的冰岛钢琴家欧拉夫森向葛拉斯的致敬之作，同时也是欧拉夫森的首张个人专辑。欧拉夫森在家乡冰岛早已是家喻户晓的音乐家，已经获得四次年度音乐家荣耀，对于音乐有著过人的品味，经常首演年轻作曲家的钢琴独奏及协奏曲，DG公司希望透过欧拉夫森的长处，双方长期合作并为乐迷带来更多崭新、动人的钢琴音乐。 This is a tribute to the master of minimal music, legendary Philip Glass, who turns 80 on 31.01.2017. A year ago Philip Glass handpicked some pianists to perform all of his Etudes together at the Barbican in London. Víkingur Ólafsson was one of them and according to the press he was “the highlight of the evening” (Sean and Heard International). The Financial Times claimed: “Best of all was Ólafsson in the supersensitive stillness of Etude 5”. Víkingur Ólafsson is an up-and-coming visionary pianist not only of technical sublimity but also of remarkable entrepreneurial abilities. Besides his growing career as a traditional concert pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has also collaborated with a range of contemporary composers and artists like Olafur Arnalds and Björk.