Cellist
Anja Lechner
has an appealing way of trying something new with each album; she has experimented with tango and jazz flavorings.
Bach, Abel, Hume
is an entirely "classical" album, but it is as original in conception as any of her other releases.
Bach
's
suites for solo cello
, as well as those for solo violin, are enduringly fascinating works that have been played in various ways. Some purport to find elaborate mathematical schemes in them. They are technically difficult works, and many musicians have done big readings that emphasize the virtuoso aspect.
Lechner
, offering two of the six suites here, goes in a different direction. Pairing the suites with earlier viola da gamba works, she situates them in the rather arcane tradition of that instrument.
ECM
's spacious church sound is not quite right for this rather interior music, but the viola da gamba works
includes are fascinating. There are a couple of short, exercise-like works by
Carl Friedrich Abel
, and even more unusual are the pieces by
Tobias Hume
(ca. 1579-1645), a shadowy Scottish figure who was also a mercenary (probably a unique combination of professions in the history of music). These are exotic little works with delightful titles (
A Question
,
An Answer
Hit It in the Middle
) to match, and if there is a criticism here, it is that the album is a bit too heavily weighted toward
; one wants to hear more of the earlier works (especially
Hume
!), for which the French viol tradition might have provided a source. Hear
A Pollish Ayre
("
A Polish Air
"), one of the earlier ethnically foreign pieces in musical history. The rather mysterious
Touch Me Lightly
from
is a splendid finale. Nevertheless,
's playing is, as usual, splendid. She combines a Baroque bow with a modern cello, and in the
suites, she delivers quiet, subtle readings, with some light ornamentation, that fit her general conception perfectly. Anyone fascinated by
's solo music should hear this entirely original take on it. ~ James Manheim