Seelenfrieden – Martin Platz & Lautten Compagney Berlin

With Seelenfrieden, the tenor Martin Platz, the lautten compagney Berlin, and their artistic director Wolfgang Katschner present a compelling recording of sacred vocal and instrumental music from the seventeenth century. The programme brings together works by Johann Philipp Krieger, Heinrich Schütz, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmüller, and Johann Theile—composers who, in a period marked by war, religious conflict, and social upheaval, sought musical expressions of consolation, trust, and inner steadiness. At the heart of the album are sacred concertos and psalm settings whose texts address fundamental human experiences: distress and fear, lament and supplication, but also confidence, faith, and hope.

Martin Platz proves an ideal interpreter of this repertoire. His tenor combines warmth and clarity with exemplary diction and a keen sense of musical rhetoric. The lautten compagney Berlin complements the vocal line with transparency of sound, rhythmic vitality, and a finely nuanced continuo practice. Under Wolfgang Katschner’s direction, the ensemble’s playing is dialogical and alert, allowing text and music to interact and deepen one another. Instrumental sonatas by Johann Rosenmüller and Johann Philipp Krieger punctuate the programme, opening contemplative spaces that invite inward listening and reflection.