Denis Wittberg & seine Schellack Solisten – Rendezvous im Schnee

Booklettext

DEEP ORGAN ON ROCK

Back in 2007, the pastor of the evangelical Johannesgemeinde in Darmstadt, Dr. Gerhard Schnitzspahn, founded the D.O.O.R.-Projekt. The acronym D.O.O.R. stands for DEEP ORGAN ON ROCK. In the meantime, the D.O.O.R.-Projekt has succeeded in opening a door between old and new music and its instruments. The project is breaking new  round in the field of church music. Four years later the project found a congenial addition when the rocking pastor met the concert organist Bernhardt Brand-Hofmeister and was able to win him over to the position of church musician in his parish. Together with founding member and drummer Thomas Tschur, the three musicians developed the concept and profile of the project, which has meanwhile grown to nine permanent members and other guest musicians.

CLASSIC ROCK MEETS CHURCH

The D.O.O.R.-Projekt from Darmstadt combines three forms of musical expression, each a classic in its own way, into a single new experience. These three forms are:

• the classic instrument of sacred music – the organ;

• the wind ensembles, which are a classic favorite in church circles,

• and the instruments of classic rock icons like DEEP PURPLE, CHICAGO, THE DOORS or SANTANA.

For this recording, our fusion of rock, wind ensemble and church organ has chosen music which is especially suited because of the virtuosic arrangements for wind instruments and organ. The vocal parts of the strongly contrasting pieces are generally replaced by saxophone, fl ute and other wind instruments. For some pieces, however, human voices cannot be dispensed with for copyright reasons. Fortunately, the wonderful Tiffany Kirkland, who has already performed several times with Ian Gillan, the singer of DEEP PURPLE, could be engaged for this recording. This produces an extraordinary listening experience, usually presented in the body of a church as a multimedia event with live camera transmission and slide show. And why not? After all, Jesus himself talked of church doctrine as “a house built on rock”, although he conceivably meant something a little different!

For years, the D.O.O.R.-Projekt has been delighting lovers of rock music with the sacred richness this impressive musical fusion produces. After very many requests, this sound experience is at long last available to all music enthusiasts by means of this album. You can clearly hear the joy the members of the band have in making music together. And the sound you experience has been brought to perfection using the technical possibilities of a modern recording studio – overdubbing, for example – and editing by the internationally famous mastering specialist, Bob Katz. The musicians of the D.O.O.R.-Projekt wish you much listening pleasure with this recording.