Hannah Vinzens; Gordon Safari - Wermann, Merkel & Reger: Comp Wks For Cello & Organ

With this brand-new Super Audio CD, Hannah Vinzenz and Gordon Safari accomplish a true pioneering feat: not only do they present the complete works for cello and organ by the Dresden composers Oskar Wermann and Gustav Merkel for the first time on sound recording; during the research for this special project, it also turned out that Wermann's Sonata op. 58 is probably the very first contribution to this genre. The two young artists continue the Dresden tradition that developed from this work. Hannah Vinzenz and Gordon Safari share a deep and extremely versatile artistic collaboration.

Now based in the musical metropolis of Salzburg, the two lead theBachWerkVokal ensemble, whose CD debut on MDG caused a sensation.

Dotzauer, Kummer and Grutzmacher - the great soloists of the Dresden Hofkapelle are not only familiar to cellists, they also shaped generations of virtuosos and orchestral musicians.

Wermann and Merkel, as organists at the Kreuzkirche andHofkirche, regularly relied on the vocal playing of the Hofkapelle's solo cellists; what's new with Wermann is the ambitiousorgan part, which in this instrumentation goes far beyond mere accompaniment.

The search for the right instrument led Vinzenz and Safari to the Jehmlich organ from the Christuskirche in Dresden-Strehlen, which, after extensive restoration, now shines again in its original 1905 glory.