Jazzrausch Bigband: Beethoven's Breakdown
Author: Robert Shore
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Jutta Keeß (tu) |
Label: |
ACT |
Magazine Review Date: |
June/2020 |
Media Format: |
CD, LP |
Catalogue Number: |
9898-2 |
RecordDate: |
August 2019 |
Beethoven was a raver. You knew that already, of course, but, as if to allow you to hear and feel all the more keenly what that really means, along comes leader Roman Sladek's big band to perform Leonhard Kuhn's orchestral techno-jazz arrangements of some of the German composer's biggest hits just in time for the 250th anniversary of his birth: the ‘Moonlight’ Sonata, the second movement of the Seventh Symphony, a late string quartet (No. 14). Formed in 2014, the Jazzrausch Bigband quickly became artists in residence at the Harry Klein techno club in Munich – a notable musical fusion and phenomenon – and have since toured hard, dropping in at the likes of the Lincoln Center in New York. They're sharp players and Kuhn is a smart arranger and composer (he's added his own ‘tribute’ sonata to the repertoire here), and a quick peek at clips of their performances on YouTube will give you an idea as to why they've achieved such popularity on stage. It's clever, respectfully irreverent stuff, perhaps ultimately better suited to the upstanding jazz-techno gig-goer than the armchair listener.
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