German composer "Secret of Elements" is tasked with creating the music for "Rebuilding Notre-Dame", one of the most ambitious architecture documentaries of the past ten years. He is awestruck by the visuals of the cathedral's rebuilding. His symphony follows the bright revival of one of the most monumental buildings in European history, combining a hint of holy music with technical modernity.
With its light, melancholy harp, Broken Glass from Secret of Elements is a masterpiece of introspective despair. The fragile instrument starts off with a sound that is similar to soft raindrops on the cathedral's floor and ceiling. The song is played just before the "Rebuilding Notre-Dame" documentary shows a huge hole in the cathedral's roof that was created by the fire. In many respects, this dramatic image will open up new perspectives in the sunlight, revealing an unknown beauty.
From Rostock in northern Germany, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Johann Pätzold goes under the moniker Secrets of Elements.
He took part in the 2015 InFiné compilation "Explorer", which highlighted up-and-coming artists.
A year later, at Alexandre Cazac's request, he re-edited and reorganized the 2010 classical recordings of "Versus," assisted Carl Craig in relaunching the project, and the result was released in 2017.
Pätzold identifies as a "music activist" broadly speaking. In 2014, he led protests to save the ancient "Volkstheater" of the city, mobilizing the populace and political leaders to do so. The theater was one of the last remaining venues for free speech in the largely conservative city, which is also notorious for its active and violent far right. The theater has developed into a special setting where artists can collaborate with regional dance and theater companies. In the midst of the epidemic in 2020, Lester René González created the most recent "Saturn Return," a ballet whose music is totally composed by Secret of Elements and features songs from "Chronos".
His two EPs with InFiné, "Monumentum" (2017) and "Odesea" (2018), were both greatly impacted by the migrant crisis and the arrival of Syrian populations in Germany in 2015 and 2016. Pätzold actively engaged in the local association's organization the welcoming of migrants. He traveled to the South in 2016 to actively save lives in the Mediterranean. He made several of those journeys thereafter.
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