Songbook

by Jan Vogler / Ismo Eskelinen

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 arrangement of Paganini's Cantabile appears on this album as a world premiere recording on guitar and cello. Also the Gymnopedie No. 1 by Satie is newly arranged for this recording by Jan Vogler himself. The album also includes several movements from Histoire du Tango - one of the most famous compositions by the world's foremost composer of tango music, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). One of these movements, Bordel 1900, is as well a world premiere recording on guitar and cello. Another first recording on this album is the arrangement of a world famous hit, Moon River by Henry Mancini (1924-1994). Winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song, Moon River has been indeed covered and recorded in hundreds of versions; but it's arrangement for cello and guitar has been recorded for the first time by Vogler and Eskelinen for this album.