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Album review: Jan Vogler's technically accomplished take on Bach's Cello Suites

By John Terauds on April 9, 2013

(Jim Rakete photo)
(Jim Rakete photo)

For the last two weeks, you couldn’t step into a New York City cab without catching a snippet or two of J.S. Bach’s six Cello Suites being played by Jan Vogler. The contrast between crazy Manhattan traffic and the quiet intricacy of Bach’s masterpieces is staggering, but that’s what happens with big-label marketing.

Given a quieter moment or three, there is a lot to love about this German-American’s approach to the cornerstone of the cello repertoire. All six suites are issued on a new album from Sony Classical.

Cover_Vogler_Bach_Suites.inddOverall, Vogler successfully walks the thinnest of tightropes between energetic and laid-back. He often let’s the music speak for itself. At other times, he pushes a little bit to get more momentum going.

I have to admit to having an incredibly hard time assessing a recording like this.

Each of the six suites contains six movements (patterned in the French style after courtly dance metres), clocking in at nearly 2-1/4 hours of listening. With every recording I’ve heard, there are individual movements where a particular interpreter seduces me, and others that leave me cold. The same is true here — so I guess the final verdict depends on the balance between the two.

Vogler has unbelievable control over his bow, and his Stradivarius cello sounds like the million dollars it is. So that’s a great start. The music never feels forced, but I think he could have allowed himself some extra breaths here and there.

Is this a definitive recording? I don’t think so. But it is technically breathtaking, and musically pretty compelling.

The Sony website is so useless that you will have to go to a third party to get details about the album (I have a thing about Amazon, so I’m not going to put a link here). You can check out Vogler’s website here, but the album only appears in the German-language version of the discography page.

Here is Vogler playing the Prelude, Sarabande and closing Gigue from Suite No. 3, in C major, at new York City classical radio station WQXR earlier this year:

John Terauds

 

 

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