Psalms of Penance and Hymns of Comfort

It was a revelation: the recording of Wolfgang Carl Briegel’s Trost-Gesänge that Ensemble Polyharmonique presented in 2022. Now the repertoire specialists are delving deeper into the work of this underestimated composer, who was the Kapellmeister at the ducal court of Saxe-Gotha for decades, and one of the most prominent composers of the generation before Bach. In Briegel’s hands, seven Bußpsalmen, based on King David’s prayers, gain a surprising twist as dialogues between the voice and instrument, both concertato and contrapuntal, dazzling and intimate. As a link between the work of the Bach family in Thuringia and that of Dietrich Buxtehude in Lübeck, these psalms have proved to be a crucial step in the development of the German Baroque. Ensemble Polyharmonique combines this rediscovery with the glorious polyphony from Heinrich Schütz’ Geistliche Chor-Music (1648).

Program
W.C. Briegel: Des Königs und Propheten Davids sieben Bußpsalmen |
H. Schütz: Selection from Geistliche Chor-Music

Ensemble Polyharmonique
 Joowon Chung, Anna Nesyba, soprano | Johannes Gaubitz, Christopher Renz, tenore | Matthias Lutze, basso| Kinga Ujszászi, Cosimo Stawiarski, violini | Martin Jantzen, violone | Matthias Spaeter, luito | Flóra Fábri, organo | Alexander Schneider, alto & direction