Dirk Wietheger - Gubaidulina, Janáček & Grieg: Works (2021)

While the major labels dilute their slimmed-down classical budgets trying to find artists to market like pop stars, EigenArt and other small outfits seem to make their release decisions on old-fashioned criteria: Do we have a musician worthy of being known, who has made a good recording? EigenArt made the right decision in answering that question with a firm “Yes!”

Thirty-three-year-old Dirk Wietheger is a technically solid, artistically accomplished cellist. His tone is not broad and powerful in the manner of Rostropovich, but rather is light and flexible, more like that of Truls Mørk. He is master of the myriad playing techniques thrown at the soloist in the Gubaidulina Ten Preludes, but he also is at home in the romanticism of Edvard Grieg, whose sonata he plays with profound respect for the work’s particularly charming stylistic attributes. He is equally persuasive in the Pohádka (Fairy Tales) by Janácek, successfully knitting together the diverse short parts that make up this mercurial score.

Fine as these latter two performances are, it is the masterly rendition of Gubaidulina’s solo-cello Preludes that makes this disc nearly essential for cello lovers. Although there is a very worthy competitor by Boris Pergamenschikov on ECM, Wietheger’s reading comes across as more spontaneous and emotionally involved than the more cerebral ECM account.

Balances and instrumental sound are true and faithfully captured, from the most whispery bit of ultra-pianissimo in the Gubaidulina Preludes to the full-throated romanticism of the Grieg. Suffice it to say that the sound is so natural that it is transparent, never drawing attention away from the music-making. (Note that while the CD is clearly labeled “EigenArt”, it is offered by the Tacet label as one of its own products on that company’s web page.)