Clemens Christian Poetzsch – The Soul of Things (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:45 minutes | 407 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neue Meister
The Soul of Things – a fusion of solo piano, harp, cello and electronics – draws inspiration from the mundane. The album can itself be heard as an ode to the ordinary things – a particularly good fountain pen, an old radio receiver – that somehow, in their very familiarity become extraordinary to us. “There are many inexplicable things in relation to these objects and their meaning for you. There is a certain magic about it,” says Poetzsch. The thirteen tracks that constitute The Soul of Things are named after these banal objects and in their musicality attempt at conveying such artefacts’ personalities and souls. Take the piece ‘Indigo Feder’ (fountain pen) for instance, a gentle piano tune that in its changing tempo is reminiscent of the act of writing or doodling, “This pen is a piece of craftsmanship – it writes round, it feels soft. The piece should flow, sometimes slower, sometimes faster like writing down thoughts in real time,” explains Poetzsch. Just like the pen, Poetzsch’s clock gains a life of its own in the track ‘Ziffernblaetter’. “This is an old watch that looks very nice but doesn’t really work anymore. It ticks how it wants. The piece also jumps back and forth with the beat, it almost sounds as if it’s making fun of itself,” says Poetzsch who gave the old timekeeper a noble character by combining two grand instruments – harp and piano – on the track.
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Clemens Christian Poetzsch – Clemens Christian Poetzsch plays Sven Helbig (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:40 minutes | 769 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neue Meister
Musicians Clemens Christian Poetzsch and Sven Helbig had known each other for years. They met in 2008 at Dresden’s conservatory, where Helbig taught drums, and Poetzsch studied the piano. Soon enough, they would be playing in the same Jazz trio every Sunday at the city’s famous Blue Note club. For ten years, both would go their separate ways pursuing their distinct musical identities; Helbig delving deeper into orchestra and genre-blurring music and Poetzsch developing his solo piano work. That was until 2019 when Helbig decided to invite his old jazz mate onboard a unique project: Poetzsch plays Helbig. For six months, Helbig would send Poetzsch his compositions, allowing him time to work on each interpretation. As both musicians rekindled over the project, they also made a pact; while they made up for lost time, discussing everything from the past to politics, they would refrain from talking about Helbig’s pieces, allowing Poetzsch complete freedom in his exploration. All ten pieces for the album were selected by Helbig from his previous three albums. The process of interpretation carries in it an exploration, which is as much inwards as it is outwards. As Poetzsch dove into himself, in search of his language and meanings to the compositions he also reached outwards towards Helbig, “Clemens gave the compositions so many more musical colors than I could have expected. The album became what we intended:you hear one half Clemens and one half myself,” explains Helbig. With this half-and-half nature, Clemens Christian Poetzsch plays Sven Helbig’ is an album that carries in it the cadence of a conversation held by two musicians and friends reconnecting.
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