In the winter of 2012/13, the Viennese actor and voice artist Christian Reiner received widespread acclaim for his performance of Friedrich Hölderlin's Tower Poems. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised his ability to highlight the musical qualities of the words, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung described his recitation as a performance that focuses entirely on the human voice as a solo instrument.
With his second recording for the ECM New Series, Christian Reiner turns his attention to the poems of the Russian-American poet and Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996). "Brodsky's 'Great Elegy to John Donne' is, for me, one of the masterpieces of the history of poetry," says Reiner. The album includes this famous long poem in German translations by Alexander Kaempfe and Heinrich Ost, as well as by Karl Dedecius. Christian Reiner emphasizes: "We are fortunate to be able to present both of these outstanding translations." Each version, he says, inspired him to an individual interpretation and a unique rhythm of delivery.
In addition, the recording includes seven shorter poems by Brodsky from the years 1958 to 1992, thus conveying a broader spectrum of his linguistic diversity. The work was produced by Manfred Eicher together with the German writer Wolf Wondratschek.