{"id":17729,"date":"2022-11-23T18:08:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T17:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pureaudiorecordings.com\/interview-till-broenner-about-his-very-intimate-christmas-album-till-christmas\/"},"modified":"2023-12-06T16:07:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T15:07:10","slug":"interview-till-broenner-about-his-very-intimate-christmas-album-till-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pureaudiorecordings.com\/en\/interview-till-broenner-about-his-very-intimate-christmas-album-till-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Till Br\u00f6nner about his very intimate Christmas album “Christmas”"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Slowly the first Christmas markets are opening, it’s getting cold outside, the nights are getting longer again. After two years of pandemic-related restrictions, the run-up to Christmas is a little more familiar than in previous years.<\/p>\n

Till Br\u00f6nner’s very intimate Christmas album “Christmas” was created in the middle of this very pandemic time and conveys a slightly different, more reserved Christmas spirit in its atmospheric mix. We spoke with him last year about the album, the influence of Pandemic, and the album’s Dolby Atmos mix. The interview was conducted by Christoph Diekmann.<\/p><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Today we want to talk about “Christmas”, a beautiful production with Christmas songs, cover versions and American evergreens. The whole thing is produced very “covermusically”, you with trumpet and flugelhorn and then piano and bass. Personally, I think it’s a very intimate production and the time it was made was exciting and occupied with many other policies. How did this production come about? What was the original idea?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I had the chance and honor to do a Christmas album a few years ago. This was actually a classic Christmas album, if you will. Little of what can be heard on this current album, but a lot of tinsel, a lot of bells and snowflakes falling off all the walls, so to speak. That’s also right and just because of that it occurred to me to maybe present an alternative Christmas album this time. One that fits a bit more in time. Because one thing has always been clear to me, regardless of whether we will now have defeated the pandemic, Christmas is a very, very important holiday for people.<\/p>\n

Even though we have now become a bit accustomed to the situation, I actually thought I was quite right in predicting that the first festival that we will celebrate as such again, but also more contemplatively and somewhat more modestly, will be Christmas 2021\/22. And that’s how the music should sound. I think in a way I was on trend there in a somewhat melancholic way with what’s on the album.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Your companions, Frank Chastenier on piano and Christian von Kaphengst on bass, have been with you for many years. I feel such a tenderness in the interpretation of this song selection. How would you describe the collaboration or interaction with them?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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You’re right about that. I’m glad that you might hear that, too, because that was a little bit of the goal. The restriction to the most essential and the search for my own person, my childhood, at some point led quite automatically to the selection of musicians. Because Christian von Kaphengst and Frank Chastenier are certainly the musicians with whom I have played the longest in my life.Because Christian von Kaphengst and Frank Chastenier are certainly the musicians with whom I have played the longest in my life. We know each other like the back of our hand and can sense what is happening on the other side.<\/p>\n

It was important to me, in this very manageable and intimate chamber music line-up, to naturally draw on musicians and personalities who would be able to reflect this intimacy. This is a great matter of trust, to record only separated by panes in the same room. From the point of view of many producers, this is oldschool, but for us it was an absolute must in this case.<\/p>\n

I’m totally happy that after five days, without knowing what we were going to record, we could leave the studio with a classic production. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears, but also a lot of spontaneity. In retrospect, we certainly always went for the very first take of two, three at the most, on most takes, because it just worked quite well. I am therefore also very happy with the result.<\/p>\n

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How did the selection of songs come about? Did that come about together or did that come from you?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When I look at the tracklist today, I realize that it has a lot to do with my very personal youth and childhood. It’s certainly the combination of my love of jazz on the one hand, and the Great American Songbook and the American Christmas feeling, which really feeds more on Santa Claus and sleigh rides and lots of movies, on the other.<\/p>\n

Then there is the Christian, European Christmas, which for me is also very much fed by hymns. With “Maria durch ein Dornwald ging” and “Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier” by Johann Sebastian Bach, there are pieces that I know from church and some of which I have played myself.<\/p>\n

And the third genre is songs that are and were in movies that were always on TV between the years in Germany when I was young. “La Le Lu”, the lullaby from the film “Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne”, is included at the very end. Then there is “Jesus to a Child” by George Michael, who wrote the most successful Christmas song in the whole world, “Last Christmas”, and Christian von Kaphengst’s idea was whether one might not find a second time with George Michael. And last but not least Max Mutzke as a prominent vocal guest with “Christmas Time Is Here” on our album – I’m very happy about that.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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