G.a.p. Ensemble/dorothee Mield - J.S. Bach & D. Shostakovich: Salvation [CD]

This innovative concept album brings together two composers worlds. Centuries apart, but still intensely and closely connected: Johann Sebastian Bach and Dimitri Shostakovich. Shostakovich about Bach: : "Bach's influence is truly enormous. I play Bach every day. For us, Bach's legacy is an embodiment of flaming emotion, soulful humanity and true humanism, which stands in contrast to the dark world of raw evil and contempt for humanity." Shostakovich played both volumes of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier already at the age of twelve. For him: "Every prelude and fugue by Bach can be played at any tempo, with or without any nuance, in any case it will be wonderful. That is how one must compose". The concept of Salvation, the healing and connecting power of music, shines through in the works presented here: arias from Bach Cantatas, a Bach Trio Sonata, two Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich, as well as his Piano Trio Op. 8 and the Romances on Poems by Alexander Block. Soprano Dorothee Mields is one of the leading interpreters of 17th- and 18th-century music and is admired for her unique timbre and moving interpretations. Dorothee Mields regularly collaborates with the Collegium Vocale Gent, Orchestre des Champs- Elysees, Netherlands Bach Society, Freiburger Barockorchester, Bachakademie Stuttgart and many others. The period instrument G.A.P. Ensemble consists of Emilio Percan, violin, Oriol Aymat Fuste, violoncello, and Luca Quintavalle, harpsichord/fortepiano. They worked with artists like Viktoria Mullova, Daniel Hope, Cecilia Bartoli, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Julia Lezhneva, Raffaella Milanesi and Hille Perl and performed at some of the most renowned concert halls in the world, for example Berliner Philharmonie, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Tokyo Opera City Center Hall and Palau de la Musica Barcelona.