Winter Journeys Lautten Compagney Berlin & Wolfgang Katschner

• Traditional: Es saß ein klein wild Vögelein:
• 1Traditional: Es saß ein klein wild Vögelein03:19
• Ach bittrer Winter, wie bist du kalt:
• 2Traditional: Ach bittrer Winter, wie bist du kalt02:13
• Andreas Hammerschmidt (1611 - 1675): Himmel und Erde vergehen:
• 3Hammerschmidt: Himmel und Erde vergehen03:59
• Traditional: Es ist ein Schnee gefallen:
• 4Traditional: Es ist ein Schnee gefallen02:41
• Heinrich Albert (1604 - 1651): Jetzund heben Wald und Feld wieder an zu klagen:
• 5Albert: Jetzund heben Wald und Feld wieder an zu klagen01:37
• Johann Hermann Schein (1586 - 1630): Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten:
• 6Schein: Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden ernten03:17
• Ludwig Senfl (ca. 1490 - 1543): Ach Elslein, liebes Elslein mein:
• 7Senfl: Ach Elslein, liebes Elslein mein03:02
• Traditional: Lieb Nachtigall wach auf:
• 8Traditional: Lieb Nachtigall wach auf03:32
• Johann Hermann Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor:
• 9Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor: I. Padouana à 503:03
• Ludwig Senfl: Entlaubet ist der Walde:
• 10Senfl: Entlaubet ist der Walde05:08
• Traditional: Es kommt ein Schiff geladen:
• 11Traditional: Es kommt ein Schiff geladen02:11
• Andreas Hammerschmidt: Jesu, mein Jesu, wenn ich nur dich habe:
• 12Hammerschmidt: Jesu, mein Jesu, wenn ich nur dich habe04:00
• Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657 - 1714): Meine Seufzer, meine Klagen:
• 13Erlebach: Meine Seufzer, meine Klagen06:31
• Traditional: Drei Gäns im Haberstroh:
• 14Traditional: Drei Gäns im Haberstroh01:31
• Johann Hermann Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor:
• 15Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor: II. Gagliarda à 501:27
• Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621): Der Morgenstern ist aufgedrungen:
• 16Praetorius: Der Morgenstern ist aufgedrungen03:20
• Heinrich Schütz (1585 - 1672): Ein Kind ist uns geboren, Op. 11/16, SWV 384:
• 17Schütz: Ein Kind ist uns geboren, Op. 11/16, SWV 38403:14
• Traditional: O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein' grünen Zweig:
• 18Traditional: O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein' grünen Zweig02:24
• Andreas Hammerschmidt: Sey willkommen Jesulein:
• 19Hammerschmidt: Sey willkommen Jesulein04:24
• Johann Hermann Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor:
• 20Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor: III. Courente à 500:45
• 21Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor: IV. Allemande à 400:38
• 22Schein: Suite No. 2 in D Minor: IV. Tripla à 400:36
• Traditional: So treiben wir den Winter aus:
• 23Traditional: So treiben wir den Winter aus01:37
• Michael Praetorius: Nach grüner Farb mein Herz verlangt:
• 24Praetorius: Nach grüner Farb mein Herz verlangt03:17
• Total Runtime01:07:46

Info for Winter Journeys

Those who travel in winter often long for home, for warmth and security during the dark season. The lautten compagney Berlin undertakes special musical "winter journeys" under its founder and director Wolfgang Katschner. The music is largely from the 17th century with works by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Michael Praetorius, Heinrich Schütz and Johann Hermann Schein. They are joined by tunes or folk songs such as "Ach bittrer Winter, wie bist Du kalt" and the longing for spring the song "So treiben wir den Winter aus", which the lautten compagney has arranged for its instrumentation.

The original sound specialists from the lautten compagney Berlin will be joined by Hanna Herfurtner (soprano), David Erler (alto), Stephan Scherpe (tenor) and Jakob Ahles (bass).

The musical "Winter Journeys" describe special aspects of winter in music and text. Often it is about nature as in the songs "Es ist Schnee gefallen", "Ach bittrer Winter" or "Jetzund heben Wald und Feld wieder an zu klagen", other works convey the feelings of wintry loneliness ("Meine Seufzer, meine Klagen" or "Elslein, liebes Elslein"), describe faith as an anchor in the inhospitable times ("Jesus, mein Jesus, wenn ich nur Dich habe") and celebrate Christmas as the festival of light and love in dark times. The longing for spring is recognizable in "So treiben wir den Winter aus" and in Michael Praetorius' "Nach grüner Farb mein Herz verlang."

These musical "winter journeys" also repeatedly revolve around the special aspects of winter. For example, the song "Ach bittrer Winter, wie bist du kalt" reflects the harshness of this season. The song "So treiben wir den Winter aus" also sings of the corresponding longing for spring. Consolation and peace are also the focus of sacred vocal works by Andreas Hammerschmidt. And of course, Christmas takes center stage on the new album by the Lautten Compagney Berlin. Heinrich Schütz's Christmas hymn "Ein Kind ist uns geboren" quotes two verses from the prophet Isaiah in exuberant joy. Christmas joy is also conveyed by the sacred concerto "Sei willkommen, Jesulein" by Andreas Hammerschmidt.

Hanna Herfurtner, soprano
Stephan Scherpe, tenor
David Erler, alto
Jakob Ahles, bass
Lautten Compagney
Wolfgang Katschner, musical direction

Wolfgang Katschner
studied classical guitar at the Hanns-Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin and lute at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main.

In 1984, together with Hans-Werner Apel, he founded the lautten compagney BERLIN in what was then East Berlin. Today it is one of the leading and most innovative German ensembles of historically informed performance practice, which maintains an extensive international presence with performances and projects from Berlin.

Wolfgang Katschner conceives and plans the lautten compagney's content, its creative work processes and its integration into the historical repertoire. This includes extensive preparatory and research work. The results of these complex and labour-intensive studies are the trademark of the lautten compagney and account for its specific sound as well as the great variety of programmes and projects.

In addition to his work with the lautten compagney, Wolfgang Katschner also works successfully as a guest conductor at German opera houses. For example, he was musical director of the "Winter in Schwetzingen" in 2012-2016. After guest appearances in Bonn (Handel's "Rinaldo" and "Giulio Cesare") and Oldenburg (Hasse's "Siroe"), he has been responsible for three opera productions at the Nuremberg State Theatre since 2018: Monteverdi's "Ulisse" at the end of the 2017/18 season and Handel's "Serse" in November 2018, as well as a highly acclaimed premiere of Cavalli's "La Calisto" at the end of 2019. In the 2020/2021 season, he will conduct Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at the Semperoper in Dresden.

Wolfgang Katschner is also increasingly involved in the training of young artists. He was a guest professor at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin, at the SingFest in Hong Kong, artist in residence at BarockVokal in Mainz, worked with singers at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar in 2018 and 2019, and will conduct a student production of Handel's Alcina at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden in spring 2020.

Lautten Compagney
The history of historically informed performance practice in the GDR has not yet been written - astonishing, considering that two of today's most important German ensembles were founded in the early 1980s in East Berlin, the lautten compagney BERLIN and the Akademie für Alte Musik. While in the West, playing on period instruments was inexorably pushing its way out of the niche and into the concert halls thirty or forty years ago, it was not yet part of official culture in the GDR. Those who wanted to deal with such things usually did so alongside their work in the orchestra.

Wolfgang Katschner and Hans-Werner Apel, on the other hand, were still students of classical guitar when they met at the East Berlin Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" and discovered their common interest in early music. They delved into old manuscripts and prints, scores and tablatures, the composers being William Byrd, John Dowland, Matthew Locke or William Lawes. They couldn't get anywhere with this music with their modern guitars. So they got themselves lutes and theorbos, laying the tonally intimate and delicate foundation for the lautten compagney BERLIN, which today is a multi-award-winning and one of the world's most original, exciting, imaginative and versatile early music ensembles.

The fact that singers such as Dorothee Mields, Lynne Dawson or Simone Kermes perform with the lautten compagney again and again is proof not only of their musical qualities but also of the special conceptual intelligence that drives this ensemble and Wolfgang Katschner, who still picks up the lute but has long since become conductor, artistic director and generator of ideas:

Programmes and CDs are created here that combine the familiar and the unfamiliar with dramaturgical sense and are also played with a vitality that mocks the term "early music". This brings us to the core, to what distinguishes the lautten compagney from other ensembles. It cultivates its traditions, such as the Christmas Oratorio on Boxing Day or the Bach Passions on Good Friday. It performs a deeply moving Marian Vespers and has celebrated great successes with Handel operas.

But such repertoire works shine in a special, contemporary light with the lautten compagney, because in such performances the ensemble also tells of countless artistic adventures beyond these summit works. Wolfgang Katschner is not only curious about music, but also about new ways of presenting it in concert. The idea of interweaving music by Tarquinio Merula and Philip Glass, for example, was ingenious - the CD "Timeless" was awarded the ECHO for these unique and magical sounds that hover between old and new. With the AEQUINOX Festival in Neuruppin, the lautten compagney has had its own individual platform for experimentation since 2010.

The lautten compagney does not seek abstract truths about the past and is not interested in competitive virtuosity - even if it were available to it. It makes music for today's listeners. If the light-hearted slogan "historically informed, interpreted in a contemporary way" applies at all to an ensemble, then it applies to the lautten compagney.

The fact that historically informed performance practice only ever allows approximations to what once was is cause for frustration for some and for academic philology, which is pursued all the more doggedly. For the lautten compagney, this uncertainty opens up creative freedom, not only conceptually but also interpretatively. There is a very particular grip on sound, often also a very particular humour, which gives the performances and recordings of this ensemble an unmistakable tone.

When the rhythm becomes so light-footed that the music begins to swing, the old seems very close. But at the same time, across the centuries, with all the seriousness of that time, a sound touches us whose warmth and love, whose wisdom and humanity carries and enriches us.

This album contains no booklet.