Cello Unlimited

by Kian Soltani

Overview

Cellist Kian Soltani is best known as a member of Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and for high-minded solo and chamber music projects with Barenboim and others. With Cello Unlimited, he shifts gears completely with an album of popular film music. The album has scored commercial success in the face of considerable competition in the field, and the reason is that it's a film music album of a thoroughly unusual kind. The arrangements are all by Soltani, and more than that, he performs all the parts, overdubbing his own playing. It's easy to come out with a mechanical sound in this kind of operation, but Soltani sweats the details and produces a kind of melancholy all-cello layer on top of great musical scenes from Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer, and others. There are cello solos, but it's not solo-heavy music. Soltani is a charismatic figure who, one might think, would have created this as a star vehicle for himself, but it's not so, at least not in the usual way. He adds a couple of intermezzos of his own composition, and here, the solo cello steps into the spotlight. Sampling Shore's Lord of the Rings tracks will give listeners an idea of how they will react to the whole. The album is not for everybody, but it likely signals Soltani's emergence as an audience favorite. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	10/29/2021
Label:	Deutsche Grammophon
UPC:	0028948605187
Rank:	104583

Tracks

1. Pirates of the Caribbean, Suite~1. Up Is Down
2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Suite~2. One Day
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Suite~3. Jack Sparrow
4. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~1. Prologue
5. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~2. Minas Tirith
6. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~3. Mordor and Isengard
7. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~4. Memories of Rivendell
8. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~5. The Final Battle
9. The Lord of the Rings, Suite~6. Epilogue: Into the West
10. Intermezzo - A Scene From the Past
11. Agony, film score (1981)~Tango
12. The Bourne Identity~Main Theme
13. The Da Vinci Code~Chevaliers de Sangreal
14. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer~Love and Death
15. Cello Unlimited

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kian Soltani   Primary Artist,Cello

Technical Credits

Natalia Kononchuk   Score Coordinator
Johanna Ihnen   Project Coordinator
Dorothea Schlegel   Score Coordinator
Philipp Zeidler   Project Coordinator
Nicole Albring   Production Manager
John Powell   Composer
Johnny Klimek   Composer
Howard Shore   Original Material
Klaus Badelt   Composer
Reinhold Heil   Composer
Tom Tykwer   Composer
Hans Zimmer   Text,Composer
Alfred Schnittke   Composer
Philippa Boyens   Text
Angelika Meissner   Executive Producer
Sven Grot   Design
Henry Jackman   Text,Composer
John Sponsler   Composer
Tom Gire   Composer
Matthew Harris   Liner Note Translation
Jochen Rudelt   Booklet Editor
Gregor Hohenberg   Cover Photo,Photography
Philip Krause   Engineer,Mixing Engineer,Recording Producer
Malene Hill   A&R
Nikki Kawamura   Product Manager
Kian Soltani   Arranger,Composer,Liner Notes,Recording Producer
Lukas Kowalski   Mastering Engineer
Benedikt Jaeger   Assistant Engineer