It is a pleasing tradition that the Christmas season is also generally regarded as the time for the sound of brass instruments – a wide variety of literature for the most diverse brass ensembles is available and is cultivated in a special way at Christmas. Once again, the brass section of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra joins this tradition.
For decades, great artists from Cuba have enriched the Spanish jazz scene. Though they may find a home there both personally and musically, a significant part of their identity always remains tied to their old homeland. »Alma en Cuba« is the name given to their programme by Ariel Brínguez and Iván »Melon« Lewis – the soul remains in Cuba. The two improvisers embark on a tension-filled journey through Cuban eras. Styles such as Danzón or Son Montuno are joyfully dressed in contemporary jazz attire. Hardly any band from Germany is currently as talked about as the Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet. The debut of the pianist, who was born in 1998 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, was released by the renowned US label Motéma Music – the first album by a European group ever. The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised »Rising Sun« – a work full of folk melodies and intense solos – as »passionate, tempestuous, adventurous, and intelligent«.
For decades, great artists from Cuba have enriched the Spanish jazz scene. Though they may find a home there both personally and musically, a significant part of their identity always remains tied to their old homeland. »Alma en Cuba« is the name given to their programme by Ariel Brínguez and Iván »Melon« Lewis – the soul remains in Cuba. The two improvisers embark on a tension-filled journey through Cuban eras. Styles such as Danzón or Son Montuno are joyfully dressed in contemporary jazz attire. Hardly any band from Germany is currently as talked about as the Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet. The debut of the pianist, who was born in 1998 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, was released by the renowned US label Motéma Music – the first album by a European group ever. The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised »Rising Sun« – a work full of folk melodies and intense solos – as »passionate, tempestuous, adventurous, and intelligent«.
Fullness, density, basis – this is what the double bass stands for. The wooden giant not only lends the great symphonic works, but also chamber music, a tonal softness and depth that surrounds and complements the sound of its higher siblings.
»This is a waltz, a waltz, a waltz by Johannes Brahms!« is the opening line of the concert. And the concert continues with lots of music that makes it impossible to sit still for all the spinning, hide-and-seek and singing along.
A »fragile ego« does not only have disadvantages. It also sharpens the senses. Kasia Pietrzko’s career was on a good run in 2019. »We’ll probably be listening to her for decades to come,« enthused US magazine Downbeat. Then came the »fog« of the pandemic, as she herself put it. Born in 1994, the pianist studied jazz after her classical training and played with Polish stars such as Adam Baldych and Tomasz Stanko from an early age. She wrote her doctoral thesis on Sergei Prokofiev and his influence on jazz. Such classical colourings are what make her compositions so appealing, which are both powerful and playful. After five years, Pietrzko now returns to the NDR, together with Andrzej Swies and Piotr Budniak and the new album »Fragile Ego«. »I use music to tell stories about my life,« says the 30-year-old, »about the best and the worst things.« Kasia Pietrzko has arrived: on the renowned Warner label and as the first woman in the »Polish Jazz« album series, which has been running for 58 years. »The best thing about writing for improvised music,« says Trish Clowes, »is that it’s not just about you. You’re creating a template for others.« However, the British saxophonist and composer wants to be surprised by the result. The great Wayne Shorter, who always sought encounters with the unknown, had a particular influence on Clowe’s musical thinking. She was also inspired by the early sounds of Weather Report, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Geri Allen. Clowes was born in Shrewsbury, England, in 1984 and grew up in a musical family: her mother loved Ella Fitzgerald and her father played trumpet in a big band. After studying in London, she established herself as an exquisite tenor saxophonist with an expressive tone. By 2015 at the latest, when she received the BASCA British Composer Award, it was clear that Trish Clowes is a personality who strives to define the framework of her music herself and to rethink the interaction between musicians and audience. The NDR Bigband is already looking forward to this exciting collaboration.
A »fragile ego« does not only have disadvantages. It also sharpens the senses. Kasia Pietrzko’s career was on a good run in 2019. »We’ll probably be listening to her for decades to come,« enthused US magazine Downbeat. Then came the »fog« of the pandemic, as she herself put it. Born in 1994, the pianist studied jazz after her classical training and played with Polish stars such as Adam Baldych and Tomasz Stanko from an early age. She wrote her doctoral thesis on Sergei Prokofiev and his influence on jazz. Such classical colourings are what make her compositions so appealing, which are both powerful and playful. After five years, Pietrzko now returns to the NDR, together with Andrzej Swies and Piotr Budniak and the new album »Fragile Ego«. »I use music to tell stories about my life,« says the 30-year-old, »about the best and the worst things.« Kasia Pietrzko has arrived: on the renowned Warner label and as the first woman in the »Polish Jazz« album series, which has been running for 58 years. »The best thing about writing for improvised music,« says Trish Clowes, »is that it’s not just about you. You’re creating a template for others.« However, the British saxophonist and composer wants to be surprised by the result. The great Wayne Shorter, who always sought encounters with the unknown, had a particular influence on Clowe’s musical thinking. She was also inspired by the early sounds of Weather Report, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Geri Allen. Clowes was born in Shrewsbury, England, in 1984 and grew up in a musical family: her mother loved Ella Fitzgerald and her father played trumpet in a big band. After studying in London, she established herself as an exquisite tenor saxophonist with an expressive tone. By 2015 at the latest, when she received the BASCA British Composer Award, it was clear that Trish Clowes is a personality who strives to define the framework of her music herself and to rethink the interaction between musicians and audience. The NDR Bigband is already looking forward to this exciting collaboration.
What does a gondola driver sound like, how do ghosts dance and where does the moody trout splash? The NDR Vokalensemble has rummaged through its treasure chest and invites you to »sing stories«.
John Surman has achieved a lot in his almost 60-year career. The Brit played blues with Alexis Korner and free jazz with John McLaughlin. Since the 1970s, his spherical sound has enhanced a number of important ECM albums. Surman’s expression on saxophone and bass clarinet is unrivalled – tender and powerful at the same time. In August 2024, the master of the melancholy song will turn 80 years old. He first appeared on the NDR stage in 1969 and is now back with a highly acclaimed new album and a fresh quartet. The British-Norwegian band has a congenial line-up, including the forward-looking guitarist Rob Luft, winner of the Kenny Wheeler Prize. The title of the album – »Words Unspoken« – also refers to the band’s improvisational approach, which develops songs without much consultation, primarily through intensive listening. One critic praised the »playful themes full of poetry, performed, embellished, varied and passed on by the individual musicians.« The BBC Music Magazine awarded five stars. The term »supergroup« should be used sparingly, but when musicians of this calibre come together, it’s hard not to use the superlative: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari have long been among the most sought-after Scandinavian jazz artists. They all represent a musical aesthetic »where it’s about the music and less about showcasing skills,« as saxophonist Seim puts it. The four had already played together in various configurations, but only in Sinikka Langeland’s band. In 2023, they embarked on their first tour as a project called »Arcanum«. »We play many beautiful melodies to which we freely improvise,« says drummer Ounaskari. Each evening of »Arcanum« sounds completely different. The Finnish-Swedish-Norwegian band creates large impressionistic arcs in their own compositions and exciting free adaptations, including works by Catalan composer Federico Mompou. From afar, Ornette Coleman listens, smiles, and nods.
John Surman has achieved a lot in his almost 60-year career. The Brit played blues with Alexis Korner and free jazz with John McLaughlin. Since the 1970s, his spherical sound has enhanced a number of important ECM albums. Surman’s expression on saxophone and bass clarinet is unrivalled – tender and powerful at the same time. In August 2024, the master of the melancholy song will turn 80 years old. He first appeared on the NDR stage in 1969 and is now back with a highly acclaimed new album and a fresh quartet. The British-Norwegian band has a congenial line-up, including the forward-looking guitarist Rob Luft, winner of the Kenny Wheeler Prize. The title of the album – »Words Unspoken« – also refers to the band’s improvisational approach, which develops songs without much consultation, primarily through intensive listening. One critic praised the »playful themes full of poetry, performed, embellished, varied and passed on by the individual musicians.« The BBC Music Magazine awarded five stars. The term »supergroup« should be used sparingly, but when musicians of this calibre come together, it’s hard not to use the superlative: Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Anders Jormin and Markku Ounaskari have long been among the most sought-after Scandinavian jazz artists. They all represent a musical aesthetic »where it’s about the music and less about showcasing skills,« as saxophonist Seim puts it. The four had already played together in various configurations, but only in Sinikka Langeland’s band. In 2023, they embarked on their first tour as a project called »Arcanum«. »We play many beautiful melodies to which we freely improvise,« says drummer Ounaskari. Each evening of »Arcanum« sounds completely different. The Finnish-Swedish-Norwegian band creates large impressionistic arcs in their own compositions and exciting free adaptations, including works by Catalan composer Federico Mompou. From afar, Ornette Coleman listens, smiles, and nods.
Songs connect people and tell stories. They provide insights into special moments along lifelines and into every conceivable human relationship. Songs in as many forms as possible are the focus of the new »Liedstadt Hamburg« festival, which starts on 3 October 2024. In the afternoon, a wide variety of Liedstadt artists will be out and about in Hamburg, performing 50 pop-up concerts. The opening concert at NDR’s Rolf-Liebermann-Studio will present a selection of the artists on stage and live on NDR Kultur. They combine their songs with their own stories, feelings and experiences. Classical piano songs can be heard alongside Syrian music, contemporary songs and »songs without words«. An evening that tells stories with songs and about songs.
Claire Keegan is a master of the literary short form, whose precise and powerful prose is recognised worldwide and makes Irish literature shine in the international literary landscape. The author will be honoured with the Siegfried Lenz Prize 2024. To kick off her visit to Hamburg, Claire Keegan introduces herself to the German public in the Rolf Liebermann Studio. In conversation with NDR Kultur editor Jan Ehlert, she will talk about her work, which includes novels such as »Small Things like These«, »Foster« and the recently published »So Late in the Day«.
Nefertiti is well-known as an Ancient Egyptian queen, but jazz lovers know that it is also the title of an album recorded by the second Miles Davis quintet. The title song itself was written by Wayne Shorter. »Shorter is our god,« says pianist Delphine Deau. The unique melodic and harmonic ideas of the American saxophonist, who died in March 2023, remain an influence on the compositions that Deau writes for the band founded in 2013. The quartet was formed at the Conservatoire de Paris with what is at first glance a traditional line-up: saxophone, piano, bass and drums; but the music they produce is always unpredictable. They can be heard in this NDR jazz concert with their new album »Frameless«. The NDR Bigband under Geir Lysne appears after the interval. Luigi Grasso gave his 1999 debut album the title »A Love Supreme«, an obvious tribute to the late, great John Coltrane. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, for a saxophonist who wasn’t even 13 at the time. The original idea was that playing the saxophone would cure the young Luigi’s asthma, but in the end it became his lifeblood. He first attended courses given by the Berklee College of Music in the Italian city of Perugia when he was only 11; then a year later he was offered the chance to study in Boston, won an international competition and became a professional musician.
Nefertiti is well-known as an Ancient Egyptian queen, but jazz lovers know that it is also the title of an album recorded by the second Miles Davis quintet. The title song itself was written by Wayne Shorter. »Shorter is our god,« says pianist Delphine Deau. The unique melodic and harmonic ideas of the American saxophonist, who died in March 2023, remain an influence on the compositions that Deau writes for the band founded in 2013. The quartet was formed at the Conservatoire de Paris with what is at first glance a traditional line-up: saxophone, piano, bass and drums; but the music they produce is always unpredictable. They can be heard in this NDR jazz concert with their new album »Frameless«. The NDR Bigband under Geir Lysne appears after the interval. Luigi Grasso gave his 1999 debut album the title »A Love Supreme«, an obvious tribute to the late, great John Coltrane. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, for a saxophonist who wasn’t even 13 at the time. The original idea was that playing the saxophone would cure the young Luigi’s asthma, but in the end it became his lifeblood. He first attended courses given by the Berklee College of Music in the Italian city of Perugia when he was only 11; then a year later he was offered the chance to study in Boston, won an international competition and became a professional musician.
Please note: This concert originally took place in Studio 1 and was relocated to the Rolf Liebermann Studio.
NDR Bigband
Rhythm and power – two words that perfectly describe the first work of the evening, »180 beats per minute«. In the early 1990s, Jörg Widmann, who is a widely sought-after composer and clarinettist (and recently became the NDR Radiophilharmonie’s First Guest Conductor), drew inspiration from the infamous techno nights of the era. The result is a work that, as the composer himself put it, represents »pure zest for life and pure love of rhythm« – and one that is still often performed today. Erwin Schulhoff, the Prague enfant terrible of the 1920s, contributed a very special sextet to the genre. While he remained true to the four-movement structure of his predecessors, Schulhoff ends his sextet with a profound adagio rather than a fast-paced finale. Premiered in 1924, the work has now been included by the NDR ensemble Polygon on their programme again in honour of the work’s 100th anniversary. The first of the two Johannes Brahms string sextets was premiered to great acclaim in Hanover in 1860. Yet the publishers were initially sceptical – ensemble music for a sextet of strings was not very common. For the young Brahms, however, the string sextets meant the beginning of his breakthrough as a composer. Their enormous popularity continues to secure them a place on concert programmes around the world to this day.
»Vibe Factor« – three award-winning musicians who set off a fireworks display of modern beats and South American polyrhythmics. In the course of his career, Uruguayan percussionist Diego Piñera has accumulated an enormous body of musical knowledge. He studied in Havanna and at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and he now teaches himself in Germany. With his insatiable thirst for new sounds, he is the perfect partner for pianist Omar Sosa, one of the innovators of Afro-Cuban music and another much-travelled artist who now lives in Europe. Piñera and Sosa share a love of salsa, soul, classical music and hip-hop. German trumpeter Joo Kraus has already been on tour with Sosa several times, and completes this dynamic trio. After the interval, the German-French ensemble »Thérapie de Couple« can be heard. »In couples therapy, the relationship we are talking about is of course the relationship between Germany and France. The engine that drives Europe has a marital crisis from time to time.« Daniel Erdmann has lots of experience with this particular relationship: he has been travelling to and fro between the two countries for over 20 years, and is equally successful in both. Erdmann’s project Therapie de Couple« unites six highly individual musicians from Germany and France. In the wide territory that lies between composition and improvisation, they explore the spectrum of feelings and actions that swim to the surface in the »therapeutic« process: moments of tranquillity alternate with new departures, while beauty and harmony alternate with the intense struggle for freedom. This exceptional project had its successful premiere at »jazzahead!« 2023, and it can now be heard in the Rolf Liebermann Studio. Daniel Erdmann has a long-standing connection with the NDR jazz concerts: »This is somewhere where you feel really accepted as a musician, as if you had been involved for ages. That makes you want to ›give something in return‹ in musical form.
»Vibe Factor« – three award-winning musicians who set off a fireworks display of modern beats and South American polyrhythmics. In the course of his career, Uruguayan percussionist Diego Piñera has accumulated an enormous body of musical knowledge. He studied in Havanna and at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and he now teaches himself in Germany. With his insatiable thirst for new sounds, he is the perfect partner for pianist Omar Sosa, one of the innovators of Afro-Cuban music and another much-travelled artist who now lives in Europe. Piñera and Sosa share a love of salsa, soul, classical music and hip-hop. German trumpeter Joo Kraus has already been on tour with Sosa several times, and completes this dynamic trio. After the interval, the German-French ensemble »Thérapie de Couple« can be heard. »In couples therapy, the relationship we are talking about is of course the relationship between Germany and France. The engine that drives Europe has a marital crisis from time to time.« Daniel Erdmann has lots of experience with this particular relationship: he has been travelling to and fro between the two countries for over 20 years, and is equally successful in both. Erdmann’s project Therapie de Couple« unites six highly individual musicians from Germany and France. In the wide territory that lies between composition and improvisation, they explore the spectrum of feelings and actions that swim to the surface in the »therapeutic« process: moments of tranquillity alternate with new departures, while beauty and harmony alternate with the intense struggle for freedom. This exceptional project had its successful premiere at »jazzahead!« 2023, and it can now be heard in the Rolf Liebermann Studio. Daniel Erdmann has a long-standing connection with the NDR jazz concerts: »This is somewhere where you feel really accepted as a musician, as if you had been involved for ages. That makes you want to ›give something in return‹ in musical form.
One special quality of jazz is the spontaneous interplay between personalities who are on an equal footing. If the different players blend with each other musically as they do in the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, it’s almost as if they were flying together. The trio composed of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkewicz and Michail Miskiewicz began its international career in 2004 at the side of trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, so that they are now celebrating 30 years as a jazz trio at this NDR concert. After the interval, Greek bass player Athina Kontou appears as part of the quintet »Mother«. The title song of Athina Kontou’s album »Tzivaeri« could hardly be more relevant to our times. In this traditional lament from the Aegean, a mother thinks of her child that she sent out of the country to make sure it had a better life. The Greek word »tzivaeri« means jewel, and has its roots in the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages. And Athina Kontou doesn’t only support international understanding in linguistic terms: the bass player, who studied jazz in Leipzig and Weimar, forges musical links with her band »Mother«. Her acclaimed debut album features Turkish and Thracian folk dances as well as the »Greek blues« known as rembetiko. Jazz is present in any case in the sound of the prepared piano played by Lucas Leidinger, in Dominik Mahnig’s sensitive drum sound and in the different saxophones played by Luise Volkmann. Master lutenist Koray Berat Sari makes Mother into a quintet with music full of deep melancholy as well as jubilant joie de vivre. German weekly paper Die Zeit described »Tziveari« enthusiastically as »effervescent, gleaming, thrilling«.
One special quality of jazz is the spontaneous interplay between personalities who are on an equal footing. If the different players blend with each other musically as they do in the Marcin Wasilewski Trio, it’s almost as if they were flying together. The trio composed of Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkewicz and Michail Miskiewicz began its international career in 2004 at the side of trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, so that they are now celebrating 30 years as a jazz trio at this NDR concert. After the interval, Greek bass player Athina Kontou appears as part of the quintet »Mother«. The title song of Athina Kontou’s album »Tzivaeri« could hardly be more relevant to our times. In this traditional lament from the Aegean, a mother thinks of her child that she sent out of the country to make sure it had a better life. The Greek word »tzivaeri« means jewel, and has its roots in the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages. And Athina Kontou doesn’t only support international understanding in linguistic terms: the bass player, who studied jazz in Leipzig and Weimar, forges musical links with her band »Mother«. Her acclaimed debut album features Turkish and Thracian folk dances as well as the »Greek blues« known as rembetiko. Jazz is present in any case in the sound of the prepared piano played by Lucas Leidinger, in Dominik Mahnig’s sensitive drum sound and in the different saxophones played by Luise Volkmann. Master lutenist Koray Berat Sari makes Mother into a quintet with music full of deep melancholy as well as jubilant joie de vivre. German weekly paper Die Zeit described »Tziveari« enthusiastically as »effervescent, gleaming, thrilling«.
ConcertPulse