Jan+vogler

German Cellist Jan Vogler's new album features two modern cello concertos. The first is the world premiere recording of the cello concerto "Three Continents" by Nico Muhly (*1981), Sven Helbig (*1968) and Zhou Long (*1953). Three Continents Cello Concerto is a unique collaborative work celebrating the sheer diversity of three composers from three different continents (USA, Germany, China) and almost three different generations. Each movement of the concerto takes a different view of the role of the soloist: Muhly's Cello Cycles uses the large orchestra to striking effect to create a soundscape full of color.

Recorded at the Palais in the Großer Garten Dresden, Concerti di Venezia was released on October 24 on SONY Classical. The CD focuses on Venetian cello concertos and includes the Vivaldi double concerto with violinist Giuliano Carmignola and a world premiere recording of Vandini’s cello concerto in D major.

The survival of classical music may hinge on its ability to appear prominently outside the standard venues of concert halls and recording studios, thereby reaching a much larger audience of listeners who might otherwise never be treated to the masterworks of the canonical repertoire. New York-based ensemble the Knights seeks to do that by coupling its impressively broad repertoire (ranging from classical to jazz to world music) with a desire to play in locations where one might not expect to see an orchestra.

Jan Vogler's new album was recorded in a small studio in New York. He teamed with the fantastic Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen for this recording. ''Songbook'' presents partly pieces originally written for cello and guitar such as 3 Nocturnes by Friedrich Burgmüller (1806-1874) and the first movement of the Sonata for Guitar and Cello by Brazilian composer Radames Gnattali (1906-1988). ''Songbook'' also features several famous works in arrangements for guitar and cello: Cantabile by Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840), the Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik Satie (1866-1925), the Suite Popular Espanola by Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) as well as the famous Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras by the most famous South American composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959).

The ‘Prelude’ here is again a song arrangement – ‘Songs my mother taught me’, in which ( joined by the pianist Juho Pohjonen) Vogler pours out smooth, warm tone with unindulgent restraint…The focus, however, is on two of Dvořák’s great chamber works, in performances that conjure up the spirit of the Moritzburg Festival, where Vogler is director.

The giant Sony Classical label was an odd home for this 2007 recording of cello concertos of the 18th century, but that in no way diminishes its quality. Cellist Jan Vogler plays four concertos that span the second half of the century, and three of them are world premieres; even the sole item existing on recordings, the Cello Concerto in A major, Wq 172, of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, is by no means a common item.

Berlin Classics' 2000 recording of Jan Vogler performing Haydn's cello concertos with Ludwig Güttler and the Virtuosi Saxoniae was first released in 2001 and reappeared in 2009 with a different cover and a lower price, but otherwise unchanged. Vogler's performances are bright and alert, with vivacious allegros and soulful adagios; Güttler's accompaniments are sweet and simpatico; the Virtuosi Saxoniae players live up to their name, and Berlin Classics' digital sound is clear, yet evocative.

German cellist Jan Vogler, who grew up in East Berlin and came to tango music via the famed surrealist film The Andalusian Dog, is straightforward in his aims for this release, which was recorded in New Jersey but grew from tango-themed performances at Germany's Moritzburg Castle. "We have found it most stimulating to classify Piazzolla as one of the twentieth century's great classical composers and to search for a wholly unique, and by the same token classical, Piazzolla performance practice."