Tenor Benedikt Kristjánsson has his own view of the biblical figure of Judas, who has imprinted himself in the collective memory of Christianity as the arch-villain. He wants to see him not only as the explicitly negative figure responsible for Jesus' death, but as someone who played his part in the inevitable path of sacrificing the Messiah and thus in the core of Christian doctrine. Kristjánsson also has his own view of Johann Sebastian Bach. For his picture of Judas, he has chosen arias and recitatives from his oeuvre.

This recording is already the artist’s second encounter with Niccolò Paganini. After the 2014 album “Hommage á Paganini”, this is now the complete Opus 1 of the great Italian. The versatile Russian searches for starting points for creativity in dealing with the highly virtuoso music. Thus the 24 Capricci once again become a continuous story. The fast tempi, the lightness in seemingly unplayable passages is only the surface. Rather, Malov searches for the depth, the wit, the variety of colours in this ingenious music. In addition to the improvisations and ornamentations, effects (forest echo, birdsong) can sometimes be heard. Before the last, 24th Caprice, there is a subjective summary of what has been heard so far. In October 2021, the artist will be awarded with the German “Opus Klassik” in the category “Solo Recording Instrument of the Year” for his most recently released album “Bach – 6 Suites for Cello Solo played on a Violoncello da Spalla”.

The personal story of the cello played braced against the shoulder (violoncello da spalla) began when Sergey Malov first listened to a vinyl recording of Bach's cello suites played by the legendary Pablo Casals from his father's collection. Later on, when listening to the recordings he could not get rid of the feeling that this light and dancing music does not fit that well with such a heavy big instrument as a cello. Although perhaps he just wanted to play these amazing pieces himself. Malov was dreaming about playing them authentically. He had no idea though what that authentic way was or how he could place such a huge bass instrument on his shoulder.