Ensemble Polyharmonique - Heinichen & Telemann: Early Cantatas - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

A companion to 2020's I Feel Alive, the sold-out Empty Seats is a fan favorite echoing The Whitest Boy Alive and Men I Trust. With hearts on their sleeves, they delve into the intricacies of relationships, power, and desire. Riley Fleck's drumming and David Carriere's guitar licks mesh with Marta Cikojevic's rich keys to support Jane Penny's wistful voice. This self-produced collection explores a complex emotional realm while maintaining an undeniable groove.

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 close-knit nature of the Bach musical family is documented in many sources. They met regularly for family celebrations, exchanged experiences and, of course, always had an eye on where there was a vacant position. In baroque Central Germany, the name InchBachInch was practically synonymous with the job title InchmusicianInch. For the Ensemble Polyharmonique and Teatro del Mondo with it's director Andreas Küppers, too, the InchOld Bach ArchiveInch is the most important starting point for the musical representation of Bach's InchFamily AffairsInch. Six compositions from this valuable collection were selected for the present recording. These pieces are complemented by further works from various Bach generations up to the late 18th century. A clearly audible connection is revealed not only by the consistent instrumentation of four to six vocal parts and basso continuo, but also by a kind of Inchfamily soundInch. Even when Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach composes a motet in the style of Empfindsamkeit, it may be assumed that he also had the works of his ancestors in mind, which were composed more than 100 years earlier. The InchFamily AffairsInch with 15 works from four generations thus provide an impressive testimony to this unique musical dynasty.