Clemens Christian Poetzsch - Soul Of Things - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

End, good; everything, good. Wolfgang Carl Briegel placed these very consoling words at the center of the dedication that he formulated in 1671 for his Zwölff madrigalische Trost-Gesänge for five or six voices together with basso continuo. After Briegel had served without interruption over two decades at Gotha's ducal court, he resigned from his post as court music director and solemnly bade farewell to his employer, the local lord Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, with the publication of these twelve songs of lament. Born in Königsberg, Upper Franconia, Briegel received his initial instruction in music from Johann Andreas Herbst. Through this teacher and through Johann Erasmus Kindermann, he made indirect contact with the latest Italian styles of composition and performance. His Trost-Gesänge in very large part involve the setting of Biblical verses in the form of so-called Spruch-Motetten, in which each phrase of the sacred text is given it's own musical delineation. On the whole, the collection exhibits numerous original settings of Biblical and poetic material. Some organ fugues by Briegel have been included in the work series - one in each of the eight church modes. They are very short works, but the themes are richly varied and lend expression to the special characteristics and qualities of the various modes. The interpretation by the Polyharmonique Ensemble makes this rediscovery an absolute listening delight!

The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder follow their recent highly acclaimed Debussy Nocturnes album, with a stunning orchestral collection including a world premiere recording. Debussy took seven years to produce Images, following the success of La mer, and the resulting work, which was hailed by Ravel, displays the composer's mastery in varied material which is at times strident, eschewing any hint of 'Impressionism' (a term he disliked), rich and evoking feelings of loss and alienation. Pierre Boulez claimed that Inchmodern music was awokenInch by Debussy's response to Mallarmé's poem L'après-midid'un faune and the work, with it's sumptuous opening flute line, certainly established the composer's credentials and has rightly become a cornerstone of orchestral repertoire. The album features a world premiere recording of Colin Matthew's orchestration of Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut, from the 2nd Book of Images for piano. This arrangement follows Matthews' universally acclaimed orchestrations of the Debussy Préludes and of Les soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon featured in the recent Nocturnes .

The Soul of Things - solo piano combined with compositions for harp, cello, piano and electronics - is about things that are of exceptional meaning to Dresden-based pianist Clemens Christian Poetzsch. The cover was designed by Lithuanian artist Jolita Vaitkutë, who assembled objects thematically related to the album in an installation, visually echoing Poetzsch's multilayered and delicate arrangements, in the style of neoclassical music. Deep inside, pianist Clemens Christian Poetzsch always knew what music meant to him freedom. Freedom to improvise; freedom to create new worlds of sound; freedom to follow his instinct wherever it may lead him.  His publications in collaboration with various musicians and his solo debut album (People & Places, 2016) already distinguished him as a special talent.