Finnish-Cuban Pianist Anton Mejias Releases First Solo Album THE ART OF MEMORY
Featuring the world premiere recording of Philip Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory, a companion piece to Book II of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 12, 2025
On March 28, 2025, Deutsche Grammophon releases Finnish-Cuban pianist Anton Mejias' first solo album, The Art of Memory, featuring the world premiere recording of Philip Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory, a companion piece to Book II of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.
On this bold, live recording from the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Mejias deftly interweaves Lasser and Bach, taking listeners on a journey that reveals both composers' music in a new light. In addition to the digital album release, Mejias' filmed performance at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele will premiere on Stage+ on March 22, 2025, a production by Bernhard Fleisher Moving Images & Dorn Music for Deutsche Grammophon. Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory was co-commissioned for Mejias by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Newport Classical.
J.S. Bach has fascinated Anton Mejias, who is considered one of the most exciting talents on the international classical scene, since his childhood. He says, “In performing Bach I strive to emphasize the incredibly rich emotional side and the heart of the music, without overlooking the intellectual side and the style of the music. The most beautiful thing is that these two sides belong together and it is not about one or the other, but about the fact that both can enrich the other enormously.”
Of his companion piece for Book II of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, an exploration of memory in music, composer Philip Lasser writes, “I began my Twelve Preludes many years ago with the idea of creating a set of works wherein as we went from one to the next, each prelude would collect remembrances of the past preludes until, at last, we reach the twelfth, which would be entirely made up of memories. . . I began to realize that this was a metaphor for human memory. With each new day, we become richer with new events, emotions, apperceptions; and yet, we receive the new only through the filter of our own personal experience which is then nothing more than a sum of our past remembrances. . . I am deeply honored that Anton Mejias has taken the bold move to perform and record my Preludes inside Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and I hope that my work nests quietly in Bach's great work and offers yet another rhythm to the mastery of his unfolding of time.”
Born in 2001, Anton Mejias made his recital debut at the age of eight, and by ten, he had already learned the entire Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I. Since then he has added the complete French and English Suites, all six partitas, and the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, to his repertoire. In August 2023, Anton Mejias made his US debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl under conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. He has played with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra Manchester. Mejias made his debut with The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at Musikfest Bremen in 2024 performing Beethoven with conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, where he was awarded the Musikpreis Bremen sponsored by Deutschlandfunk. He has performed Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and has toured extensively with baritone Matthias Goerne. For more information: www.dornmusic.com/portfolio/anton-mejias
Philip Lasser is a composer with both French and American cultural roots. His music creates a unique sound world that blends the colorful harmonies of French Impressionist sonorities with the dynamic rhythms and characteristics of American music. Recent commissions include works written for Anton Mejias, Simone Dinnerstein, Emmanuel Music, The American Brass Quintet, Natalie Dessay and Ensemble Connect, Juilliard415 and Cantori New York. His works have been performed worldwide by artists such as Susanna Phillips, Midori, Simone Dinnerstein, Jan Vogler, Chad Hoopes, Zuill Bailey, Natalie Dessay, Elizabeth Futral, Sasha Cooke, Lucy Shelton, Brian Zeger, Frank Almond, Margo Garrett, and Cho-Liang Lin and many others as well as by the Atlanta, Seattle, Boulder, Shreveport and Colorado Symphonies, and the MDR Leipzig and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestras. For more information: www.philiplasser.com
Track List:
The Art of Memory: Anton Mejias, Piano
Release Date: March 28, 2025 | Deutsche Grammophon
J.S. Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II
Philip Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory
1: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 1 in C Major, BWV 870/1 [2:39]
2: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 1 in C Major, BWV 870/2 [1:30]
3: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 871/1 [1:16]
4: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 871/2 [2:17]
5: Lasser: Prelude 1[1:12]
6: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 3 in C-Sharp Major, BWV 872/1 [1:43]
7: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 3 in C-Sharp Major, BWV 872/2 [1:55]
8: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 4 in C-Sharp Minor, BWV 873/1 [3:57]
9: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 4 in C-Sharp Minor, BWV 873/2 [2:07]
10: Lasser: Prelude 2 [0:45]
11: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 5 in D Major, BWV 874/1 [2:28]
12: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 5 in D Major, BWV 874/2 [2:56]
13: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 6 in D Minor, BWV 875/1 [1:47]
14: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 6 in D Minor, BWV 875/2 [1:56]
15: Lasser: Prelude 3 [1:13]
16: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 7 in E-Flat Major, BWV 876/1 [2:33]
17: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 7 in E-Flat Major, BWV 876/2 [1:26]
18: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 8 in D-Sharp Minor, BWV 877/1 [1:55]
19: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 8 in D-Sharp Minor, BWV 877/2 [3:21]
20: Lasser: Prelude 4 [1:13]
21: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 9 in E Major, BWV 878/1 [2:07]
22: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 9 in E Major, BWV 878/2 [2:57]
23: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 10 in E Minor, BWV 879/1 [1:53]
24: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 10 in E Minor, BWV 879/2 [2:42]
25: Lasser: Prelude 5 [1:59]
26: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 11 in F Major, BWV 880/1 [2:55]
27: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 11 in F Major, BWV 880/2 [1:48]
28: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 12 in F Minor, BWV 881/1 [2:12]
29: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 12 in F Minor, BWV 881/2 [1:37]
30: Lasser: Prelude 6 [1:38]
31: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 13 in F-Sharp Major, BWV 882/1 [2:44]
32: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 13 in F-Sharp Major, BWV 882/2 [2:18]
33: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 14 in F-Sharp Minor, BWV 883/1 [3:05]
34: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 14 in F-Sharp Minor, BWV 883/2 [4:24]
35: Lasser: Prelude 7 [1:38]
36: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 15 in G Major, BWV 884/1 [1:10]
37: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 15 in G Major, BWV 884/2 [1:25]
38: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 16 in G Minor, BWV 885/1 [2:45]
39: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 16 in G Minor, BWV 885/2 [2:23]
40: Lasser: Prelude 8 [1:24]
41: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 17 in A-Flat Major, BWV 886/1 [3:26]
42: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 17 in A-Flat Major, BWV 886/2 [2:06]
43: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 18 in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 887/1 [1:40]
44: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 18 in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 887/2 [4:22]
45: Lasser: Prelude 9 [1:43]
46: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 19 in A Major, BWV 888/1[1:44]
47: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 19 in A Major, BWV 888/2 [1:05]
48: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 20 in A Minor, BWV 889/1 [1:49]
49: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 20 in A Minor, BWV 889/2 [1:28]
50: Lasser: Prelude 10 [1:37]
51: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 21 in B-Flat Major, BWV 890/1 [3:43]
52: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 21 in B-Flat Major, BWV 890/2 [1:41]
53: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 22 in B-Flat Minor, BWV 891/1 [2:07]
54: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 22 in B-Flat Minor, BWV 891/2 [3:01]
55: Lasser: Prelude 11 [2:08]
56: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 23 in B Major, BWV 892/1[1:45]
57: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 23 in B Major, BWV 892/2 [3:09]
58: J.S. Bach: Prelude No. 24 in B Minor, BWV 893/1 [1:48]
59: J.S. Bach: Fugue No. 24 in B Minor, BWV 893/2 [1:34]
60: Lasser: Prelude 12 [2:34]
Total Running Time: 2:25:21
Album Credits:
Piano: Anton Mejias
Executive Producer: Tanja Dorn
Executive Producer: Bernhard Fleischer
Produced by Romualdas Urba
Recorded by Stefan Folprecht
Digital Editing Engineer: Romualdas Urba
Mixing Engineer: Romualdas Urba
Mastering Engineer: Romualdas Urba
A&R: Valerie Groß
PCM: Joe Davies
Creative: Lars Hoffmann
(C) 2025 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin
Recorded live on May 18, 2024 at Palais im Großen Garten, Dresden, presented by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele. Philip Lasser's Twelve Preludes: The Art of Memory was co-commissioned for Anton Mejias by the Dresdner Musikfestspiele and Newport Classical.
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