Songbook

Music for cello and guitar is in the spotlight on this album by Jan Vogler and Ismo Eskelinen. They play two works originally composed for their unusual instrumental coupling: three Nocturnes by Friedrich Burgmüller, and a sonata movement by Brazilian composer Radamés Gnattali. A varied selection of arrangements of songs or songlike music spans Europe and America – from Ravel and Satie to Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos and Mancini.

Featuring

Jan Vogler
Ismo Eskelinen
Niccolò Paganini
Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Ástor Piazzolla

Henry Mancini
Manuel de Falla
Maurice Ravel
Radamés Gnattali
Erik Satie

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

Friedrich Burgmüller, brother of the more famous Norbert Burgmüller, composed three nocturnes for cello and guitar that Jan Vogler describes as being stylistically between Schubert and Schumann.

Recording & Production

The recording for this album took place from March 28-30, 2019, at the Lethe Lounge in New York City.

Album & Artwork

The album is titled 'Songbook' because many of the chosen pieces are songs or are very songlike.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Jan Vogler, the cellist on this album, believes that in an age of countless recordings of classical works, a new album should convey a message and present something new.

Composer Biography

Radamés Gnattali, a Brazilian composer of Italian ancestry, worked primarily as an arranger for RCA in the early 1930s, producing around 10,000 arrangements.

Interpretation

Cellist Jan Vogler and guitarist Ismo Eskelinen chose repertoire that was either originally written for cello and guitar or could be easily transcribed without substantially altering the musical text.

Composition History

A D major Cantabile by Niccolò Paganini, the star violinist and guitarist, opens the album, though the original with guitar was only discovered later after a piano arrangement had circulated.