Ekkehard Wolk - Lessons in Solitude (2023) Hi Res

As I wrote at the end of 2019 on the occasion of his album “Pictures in Sounds”: “You can simply rely on Ekkehard Wölk.” The Berlin pianist underlines this with his latest solo album “Lessons in Solitude” and with 16 pieces and dreaming and swinging. He has virtuously arranged selected compositions from the Baroque era, traditional folk songs from three centuries, pieces from the Romantic period and the middle of the 20th century in a new and extremely piquant way, seamlessly adding four of his own compositions to the selection and thus giving his listeners an enjoyable 76 minutes.

J.S. Bach's On the Temporal Cross and Suffering opens the dance in a deeply contemplative mood, followed by a touch of Stride in his own Stroszek's Dreams, cheerful, playful, sparkling and the dexterously virtuoso folk song from the 16th century So we drive out the winter , which Arnim/Brentano in the “Wunderhorn” also calls “The Expulsion of Death”. A shimmering pearl is Lascia ch'Io Pianga by Georg Friedrich Handel, beautifully and soulfully implemented by Ekkehard Wölk. Your heart will expand right up to the last trill. He plays Bach's O Mensch, bewein dein dein Sin in a massive, expansive way and uses baroque notation to ask the question Where Will It End? Bach's dreamy Petitesse Aria Di Giovannini is followed dramatically by the Catholic church song It is a reaper whose name is Todt, also called "Erndtelied" (Beware the beautiful little flowers) by Arnim/Brentano. Large and epic, powerful and delicate, emotionally charged, Wölk's trilogy (Distress, Doom, Hope) overwhelms the listener, leaving him almost exhausted, followed comfortingly by Little Sister, Little Sister and Franz Schubert's lively The Muse's Son.

Wölk's Endless Night provides a quiet transition to another Schubert piece, the romantic Dry Flowers. With Claudio Monteverdi the early Baroque returns once again; his dance-like Sanctorum Meritis Primo once again shows Wölk's virtuosity in arrangement and interpretation, before Hanns Eisler's children's hymn brings the brilliant conclusion. Once again Ekkehard Wölk presents an album of great quality. We recommend it and once again give it our rating, the kiss of the muses. It will be available in stores soon. Our record of the week.