Alon Sariel makes his PENTATONE debut with Plucked Bach, a program in which Bach's cello suites are explored, performed on various mandolins, lutes, baroque guitar and oud, concluding with Sariel's own Mandolin Partita inspired by Bach. Bach's suites are often regarded as "the cellist's bible", but the transferability of his music between instruments - a practice to which the composer himself often contributed - seems to justify this fresh approach.
Sariel aims to realize the timeless and universal character of Bach's music in a versatile sound world of plucked instruments, through a program that uses a play of light and dark, embodied by the first and second suites respectively. Another goal was to bring out the youthful vitality of this music, which was composed years before Bach's Passions. All in all, this album presents Bach's music in a new, seductive light.
Alon Sariel is one of the most versatile interpreters of his generation, whose guiding principle is a changing perspective; giving new life to existing material, but also creating entirely new works.
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