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JAZZ'N'CELLO

A cross-genre and stylistically expansive evening in which the cello is staged as a jazz instrument!


Jazz'n'Cello is a colorful, entertaining and also musically very intriguing program that deals with the border crossings between jazz and classical music, a real cross-over program, with a selection of pieces that are rarely heard.


PROGRAM

Nikolai Kapustin: Elegy op. 96 Nearly Waltz op. 98


Erwin Schulhoff: Hot Sonata (arr. Flip Phillip)


Claude Bolling: Suite für Cello und Jazz Trio:

I Baroque in Rhythm II Concertante III Galop IV Ballade V Romantique VI Cello Fan


The program includes the "Hot Sonata" by the long underestimated Erwin Schulhoff, music by the Ukrainian jazz composer Nikolai Kapustin, who died in 2020, and the classic of this line-up, the suite for cello and jazz trio by Claude Bolling, which he performed in a legendary recording recorded with cellist YoYo Ma.


The music of the Ukrainian jazz composer Nikolai Kapustin, who died in 2020, can best be described as "composed jazz", a musical language of its own that borrows the forms of classical music but enlivens it with jazzy sounds. Virtuoso jazz in a classical form. Nikolai Kapustin's Elegy captivates with an enchanting, nostalgic theme, which is processed in an intermediate section and then returns in all its beauty. Nearly Waltz is a short, swinging piece that approaches a waltz, but always allows a little "dangling" in meter.


Arranged especially for the ensemble, the "Hot Sonata" by long-underrated Erwin Schulhoff originally for alto saxophone and piano, captivates with its charming themes and allusions to swing, foxtrot and more, all in the form of a four-movement classical sonata. Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) is one of the most original musical figures of the early 20th century. Temporarily forgotten as a result of Nazi persecution and ostracism, the exceptional quality of his music, inspired by jazz and Dada, atonal music and socialist realism, has been rediscovered during the last decades. His Hot Sonata from 1930 portraits the influence of jazz simply by using the saxophone as a solo instrument and is also reflected in the concise rhythms, the dazzling harmonies and playing techniques such as glissandi. (Text: www.henle.de) More on this: https://www.henle.de/media/foreword/1369.pdf


The "classic"" piece of this instrumentation, the suite for cello and jazz trio by Claude Bolling, which Bolling recorded himself in a legendary recording with YoYo Ma, is the highlight of the program. The palette of styles presented to us by Claude Bolling effortlessly combines baroque elements with swing parts and almost Hollywood-like, beautifull melodies.

Born in Cannes in 1930, Bolling was considered a child prodigy. He was already on stage with Lionel Hampton at the age of 14, and his technique is said to have been mature by then. Bolling was trained in classic swing, but later he wasn't particularly interested in jazz's departures into atonal realms. The pianist was all the more enthusiastic about those attempts to fuse jazz and classical music that were en vogue in his youth: In Europe in the 1960s, Jacques Loussier and Eugen Cicero ("Rococo Jazz"), for example, experimented with it. In Bolling's music, these border crossings had something charming, playful - and mischievous about them. (From the obituary in the Wiener Zeitung of 1/4/21) Bolling was known for his 'cross over' collaborations with classical musicians, including flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, violinist Pinchas Zuckerman, and also cellist Yo Yo Ma, for whom he wrote the suite for cello and jazz trio in 1999 and recorded it with him. He passed away at the end of 2020.



MUSICIANS

Peter Hudler, Cello Monika Lang, Piano Gina Schwarz, Bass Jörg Mikula, Drums





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