Víkingur Ólafsson fordyper seg i musikkens åndelige og tidløse natur, og reflekterer over personlig vekst mens han navigerer i kunstnerisk identitet midt i musikkindustriens utfordringer, samtidig som han feirer Bachs dype arv gjennom Goldbergvariasjonenes transformative kraft.

Rick Rubin er en anerkjent amerikansk musikkprodusent kjent for sitt arbeid med en rekke artister på tvers av sjangre, inkludert Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers og Jay-Z. Han er også vert for podcasten "Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin", hvor han gjennomfører dybdeintervjuer med ulike personligheter.

Episoden av podcasten "Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin" publisert 25. desember 2024:

Because making the work our own is the enduring and unique challenge of the Goldberg Variations. In a work "not of an age, but for all time," to borrow Ben Jonson's words on Shakespeare, we performers must somehow feel like we have taken part in its creation, that we have reinvented it in some way for our contemporaries. It truly is a performer's work if there ever was one, and as such, the title fits perfectly.

- Fra intervju i The Guardian

Bach is the musical love of my life. I cannot go more than a couple of days without playing his works. For me, Bach's music does not belong to a bygone era, it belongs to the here and now. That's one of the reasons he fascinates every new generation of musicians – because of how inherently open this music is to new ideas, styles and emotions. His music always reflects the world it finds itself in, past, present and future.

- Fra intervju i The Guardian

Without the spiritual component, the artist works with a crucial disadvantage. The spiritual world provides a sense of wonder and a degree of open-mindedness not always found within the confines of science. The world of reason can be narrow and filled with dead ends, while a spiritual viewpoint is limitless and invites fantastic possibilities. The unseen world is boundless.

― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

"The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner landscape, one that is beyond our understanding. Art is our portal to the unseen world."

― Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being