Hommage a Pablo Casals

With this program Yorick-Alexander Abel honors the unsurpassed cello legend Pau Casals who as a Catalan is mainly known under his Spanish name Pablo Casals. When at 97 years old Casals died in Puerto Rico he had made the cello as a solo instrument more popular than anyone else - and he had won worldwide respect and affection as UN ambassador for peace. Pau Casals was the son of a Catalan father and a Puerto-Rican mother. After World War II he went into exile in Puerto Rico. YorickAlexander Abel is the son of a German father and a Cuban mother with Catalan ancestors. It is more than the European-Creole ancestry that links Abel with the legendary Casals, it is also the conviction in the power of the spiritual message, and of course - as with all the cellists - the love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach whose six suites for cello solo were recognized as the peak of cello literature due to Casals's celebrated performances and recordings. "Hommage à Pau Casals" is a journey between epochs and styles, a journey with many cross connections.