Jan Vogler, for many years one of the world's leading cellists and exclusive artists at Sony Classical, and the Finnish guitarist Ismo Eskelinen have decided after joint, enthusiastically acclaimed concerts to expand the cello and guitar repertoire, to deepen and on an album to document. They called it "Songbook" because many of the selected songs are songs or at least very close to songs.

The album opens with a "Cantabile" by Niccolò Paganini, who originally composed the work for violin and guitar. "I changed as little as possible, I only play one octave lower," confesses Jan Vogler. The same applies to the other arrangements, including the "Histoire du Tango" by Astor Piazzolla: "In the tangos selected here, the music is quite different from that of a flute or violin, especially the dark qualities, the deep red glow or the insult of Piazzolla Music concerns. " Manuel de Falla's "Suite Popular Española" was initially written for violin with guitar, but already during the composer's lifetime a version with cello was circulating. Similar to de Falla, the fifth piece, Aria, from Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras" was first composed for singing, but the arrangement for cello was written by the composer himself.

This recording contains two original works. On the one hand there are three Nocturnes by Friedrich Burgmüller: Published in 1840, these works represent "a stroke of luck" for Jan Vogler: "Burgmüller has clearly recognized the tonal possibilities in the interplay of both instruments and exploits them in the best sense." The second original work is the first movement from the sonata by the Brazilian Radamés Gnattali. In addition, the album includes music by Ravel, the famous Gymnopédie No. 1 by Satie and the world-famous "River Moon" by Henry Mancini, one of Jan Vogler's favorite pieces.

In this way "Songbook" becomes a kind of discovery and world trip between America and Europe. "The dialogue and the natural, organic complementary complement of both instruments, which appealed to me very much and also excites me beyond the admission sessions," said Jan Vogler.