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Jacob Böhme

Zeit Und Ewigkeit – Musik für Sopran und Orgel – Jacob Böhme (cd 2001)

We spent a few days in the small town of Görlitzsch, on the German/Polish border. Jacob Böhme (1575-1624) was born in what is now on the Polish side of the border, but his grave is on the German side. A few things of the man can be seen there, in the streets and in the small, local museum (not too many books though…). Böhme is not forgotten in his hometown. Soon there will be an open-air play about him and on several occasions/rememberings music has been made. So, in the museum we bought three cds which have been inspired by Böhme and his writings. “Zeit Und Ewigkeit” is the most recent of them. It is a collection of classical pieces by Bach, Dvorak, Reger, Schütz and Mozart, with more recent works inspired by Böhme, most of Matthias Weissling and Markus Leidenberger (who also plays the organ). All songs are “for soprano and organ”. Not too much of my liking, but a nice thing to have. Hard to get when you are not in Görlitz maybe, but just remember that they are out there, or cross the internet when you are really interested.
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Nun Fahr Ich Hin Ins Paradies * Jakob Böhme Requiem (cd 1999)

Here we have a nice piece of music, of course based on the writings and live of Jacob Böhme. It is a piece of contemporary chamber music with soprano and bariton and a small orchestra. The use of drumming makes the sound a bit more modern, but overall this is classical music. I like the cd quite a bit. I have no idea how you should get it though, since I haven’t found it on the internet (besides a mention in a bibliography of Böhme). Maybe “euro digital disc productions gmbh” helps…
The cover depics the latest stone on Böhme’s grave, by the way, placed there by an American Böhme society. Now there are four stones and not even one original (it was destroyed soon after the burial, Böhme was a ‘heretic’ in the eyes of many contemporaries).
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Aurora oder Morgenröte im Aufgang hommage à Jacob Böhme (cd 1993)

The oldest is the most experimental and least interesting of the three Böhme cds, but the concept is great. A recording was announced for Berlin, 150 showed up and recited texts of Jacob Böhme. From these recordings Ronald Steckel and Heiko Rüsse made a strange soundscape. Effects on the voices, strange sounds on the background here and there and the result was played in Görlitzsch and is avaible on cd. It is a hand-copied cd with a printed inlay, so it may be even harder to get than the other two cds. The booklet says “copyright 1993/2006 Ronald Steckel Ronald.Steckel@gmx.net”. This may mean that my copy was made in 2006 and the email address may very well be still correct. If you are interested, just give it a try.
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