Muhly/Helbig/Long: Cello Concerto 'Three Continents' & Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

It opens with the vibrant and often vibrant and often frantic ‘Cello cycles’ by American Nico Muhly…German Sven Helbig provides necessary contrast in the meditative central movement…Finally,... — BBC Music Magazine, September 2020, 3 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 31st Jul 2020
Catalogue No: 19439774942
Label: Sony
Length: 62 minutes

In stock

Usually despatched within 1 working day

Muhly: Cello Concerto "Three Continents"

Work length32:09

Album only

Jan Vogler, WDR Sinfonieorchester
Cristian Macelaru

I. Cello Cycles

Track length9:42

$1.30

$1.70

$2.00

II. Aria

Track length11:15

Album only

III. Tipsy Poet

Track length11:12

Album only

Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 126

Work length29:56

Album only

Jan Vogler, Mariinsky (Kirov) Orchestra
Valéry Gergiev

I. Largo

Track length11:49

Album only

II. Allegretto

Track length4:09

$1.30

$1.70

$2.00

III. Allegretto

Track length13:58

Album only

About
Reviews
Explore

About

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. Rather than spotlighting the soloist, this movement features the cello as part of the texture very much as in a Baroque concerto grosso. By contrast, Helbig's Aria opens with a series of atmospheric chords cycling through the lower strings of the cello and highlights the beautiful singing qualities of the instrument. Long's lively final movement, Tipsy Poet, has a more narrative structure based on a well-known Chinese poem and features evocations of Chinese instruments in a colorful soundscape. The result is a fascinating contrasting whole, celebrating musical styles across a vast cultural space. This piece was world-premiered by Jan Vogler with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (WDR), conducted by Cristian M celaru at the Dresden Music Festival 2019. The second cello concerto on the album is the Cello Concerto No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 1975). Jan Vogler recorded the Cello Concerto No. 2 by Shostakovich with the orchestra of Mariinsky Theater St. Petersburg under Valery Gergiev also during the Dresden Music Festival 2019. Their concerts received great critical acclaim. "Jan Vogler sings with his instrument, full of happiness and enthusiasm, it seems, with admirably flawless technique. One notices how much he is with the music, how he is absorbed in it, how he almost seems to be grown together with his cello." (rbb Kulturradio)

Reviews

September 2020

It opens with the vibrant and often vibrant and often frantic ‘Cello cycles’ by American Nico Muhly…German Sven Helbig provides necessary contrast in the meditative central movement…Finally, Zhou Long transforms the cello into a Chinese guqin…It’s a virtuosic rollercoaster movement brilliantly dispatched by Vogler, the WDR Symphony Orchestra and conductor Cristian Măcelaru.

October 2020

[The three composers are] each assigned a movement, each invoking a different musical landscape, a different musical sensibility – and fierce individuals, each. And yet the wonder is that they sound like they belong, or are destined to belong, together. The unifying force is plainly Vogler himself. His musical personality defines the piece.

Muhly/Helbig/Long: Cello Concerto 'Three Continents' & Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue