Born into a family of professional musicians, Maria Kliegel was given a cello at the age of ten, her father intending to form a string quartet within the family. After winning first prize twice in the German Jugend Musiziert (Young Musician) competition she went to the Frankfurt Conservatory and then to Canada for masterclasses with János Starker. Starker took her as a pupil at Bloomington, bringing discipline and technique to her otherwise instinctive musicianship. Intensive artistic instruction then came from Rostropovich’s month-long classes in Basle: he spent two weeks guiding students through concertos with the piano before allowing them to perform with an orchestra. Kliegel’s subsequent success at the Rostropovich Competition in Paris immediately led to an international profile, which, continually developed over the years, positioned her unquestionably among the world’s leading performers. Simultaneously, she pursued academic endeavours and embraced a multitude of diverse life challenges beyond her musical career. Recording highlights include her Dvořák and Elgar Concertos and Schnittke’s Cello Concerto No. 1, described by the composer as ‘definitive’.

In cello pedagogy Kliegel’s activities include a professorship at the Cologne Musikhochschule and a multi-media publication, Cello Master Class Using Technique and Imagination to Achieve Artistic Expression (originally in German).

Kliegel’s playing is characterised by a warmth and sensitivity which complements established works of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as core twentieth-century works. Her playing is notably refined and beautiful, with a fastidious approach and (often the case with more recent players) the ability to adapt a mainstream style to suit a variety of repertory.

The Bach Cello Suites (2003) are given an uncontroversial reading, Kliegel displaying accomplishment and careful consideration. There is clarity and resonance to her playing, relying upon fundamental tone production rather than too much glossy and historically anachronistic vibrato. A similarly thoughtful approach characterises Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra (2000): there is a lightness and elegance to the sound that suits the established mid-twentieth-century understanding of classical style. More exciting is Beethoven’s Op. 102 No. 1 Sonata (2003), with an energetic mood in the opening Allegro vivace, for example, albeit with a slightly exaggerated approach to Beethoven’s famous accents. This said, there is a somewhat saccharine understanding of slower passages, but the performance is well balanced and delivered with a beautiful bel canto. Richer tones are explored in Brahms’s Op. 99 Sonata (1992), with a committed outlook in the first movement. This reading is perhaps marred by a stereotypical ‘Brahms sound’: that is to say, the twentieth-century misconception that such music necessitates thick textures, steady tempi and heavily-applied vibrato.

Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 (1995) is equally worthy. This is an attractive recording, though lacking the committed fire (and flaws!) of Rostropovich’s performances of this powerful work.

In many ways Kliegel’s recordings are excellent, with evidence of an adaptable and sensitive aesthetic within an apparent conformity to recent notions of good taste.

© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Milsom (A–Z of String Players, Naxos 8.558081-84)