Konrad Koselleck & Big Band

Wat ga je horen?

Are we going to swing to Bruckner? The big band may traditionally be a jazz orchestra, but Konrad understands better than anyone that this brass and rhythm section will form an exciting and energetic symbiosis with Bruckner’s 6th. This evening will be vibrant, unique, and something you won’t soon forget! Listen to the final concert of the Konrad Koselleck Big Band in het BIM huis and hear what’s in store for you.

Bandleader Konrad Koselleck, born in Heidelberg, Germany, is renowned as one of the top arrangers in the Netherlands. For every show or artist, he writes new arrangements or sometimes even complete compositions. His refined approach showcases enthusiasm, humor, boundless craftsmanship, and a great sense of entertainment. While the big band may traditionally be a jazz orchestra, Konrad Koselleck understands better than anyone that this traditional brass and rhythm section has much more to offer. As a teenager, Konrad switched from trumpet to piano, later graduating as a jazz pianist from the Hilversum Conservatory. He then graduated as an arranger/composer of light music at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

The new composition

Konrad believes it is important not to try to surpass the composer when approaching or arranging a composition but to show respect for the original material. For the temporarily disabled saxophonist Ties Miedema, he recomposed Ravel’s left-hand concerto for saxophone. Duke Ellington’s approach to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker is also an example for Konrad. Bruckner is new for Konrad; he will delve into “Bruckner’s Keckste” (nickname for the Sixth) and envisions his swirling Big Band performing the piece. Top trombonist Bastiaan Woltjer will assist Konrad in this highly unusual process for everyone.

Bastiaan is co-writing a composition with Konrad, inspired by Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6. Bastiaan studied trombone in Amsterdam and has been playing in the Konrad Koselleck Big Band since its founding in 2004. He primarily composes for music theater, catering to both young and old audiences, and enjoys working with samples and electronics. Since 2016, Bastiaan has been working as a composer and musical director for the Muziektheatergroep De Veenfabriek in Leiden. For them, he wrote pieces such as Maria, Maria Maria, in which he adapted medieval pilgrim songs. He has also composed extensively for other groups, including an opera for preschoolers called Het Boompje. For the opening of the annual Children’s Music Week, he wrote Het Sterrenorkest, a work that has been performed multiple times by 100 children together with musicians from the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Of course, he also plays trombone with Six Steps to Jazz. In addition, he incorporates (altered) samples of Bruckner’s original symphony into the performance.

Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony for Big Band

Jazz pianist, arranger, and composer Konrad Koselleck might seem like an odd fit in a festival centered around the works of Anton Bruckner. Bruckner, jazz, and improvisation? The simple answer is: why not? After all, Bruckner himself was a great improviser on the organ. He was even more famous as an organist than as a composer. By 1881, the year Bruckner completed his Sixth Symphony, he was already recognized as a significant symphonic composer. He had the confidence at that time to complete the Sixth Symphony in one go and chose not to revise it further. Despite this, only the extremely lyrical second movement and the intriguing Scherzo premiered during his lifetime. The full symphony had its premiere in February 1899 in Vienna, conducted by Gustav Mahler, who, incidentally, took the liberty of adjusting the instrumentation and shortening the symphony.

The measures that Konrad Koselleck, together with trombonist, co-composer, and arranger Bastiaan Woltjer, will take with their big band this evening will be even more significant. Six Steps to Jazz – Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony for Big Band uses the thematic material of Bruckner’s ‘boldest’ (most cheerful, most daring) symphony as a starting point for unpredictable twists and playful improvisations. “During his lifetime, Bruckner was known primarily as a virtuoso organist with exceptional improvisational talent,” says bandleader Koselleck about the work. “In this new performance, we challenge the big band musicians to embrace that same creative spirit and explore new, uncharted musical paths from the thematic material of Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony. The balance between established structures and free interpretation offers a fresh approach where the essence of Bruckner’s composition remains intact. Bruckner himself called his Sixth Symphony ‘die keckste’—the most daring. This rebellious energy makes the Sixth the perfect starting point for a sparkling new big band symphony full of courage and adventure.”

Koselleck promises a fascinating, swinging, lively, jazzy, groovy, captivating, and bold big band reinterpretation of Bruckner’s notes. Although Koselleck and Woltjer remain partly close to Bruckner’s thematic material, the bandleader compares their work to the arrangement Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington made of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. “In this case, however, few people whistle the themes from Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony while riding their bikes,” says Koselleck. “So, we first need to stay somewhat closer to the original material and introduce people to Bruckner. But after that, taking into account the tradition and contemporary state of the big band, we’ll go our own way.”

The great challenge is also to somewhat incorporate the form and structure of Bruckner’s symphony. “How do you translate the sonata form, which Bruckner already handles very individually, into the idiom of a big band?” Koselleck wonders. “Bruckner is very creative with form and connects far more themes than is usual in jazz. I’m very curious to see how it plays out live, but the goal is to use Bruckner’s form as a guiding principle. What we do lies somewhere between arranging, recomposing, and translating. You could compare it to translating poetry, for example, from German to Dutch. A good translation is never literal but seeks new concepts in the other language to provide a fitting equivalent to the meaning, tone, and rhythm.”

The music of the Konrad Koselleck Big Band connects. This leading orchestra offers its audience inspiring, adventurously programmed, and groundbreaking concerts that are artistically, emotionally, and socially relevant. The Konrad Koselleck Big Band aims to reach multiple target groups and cultures with a distinctive artistic and social signature, using music as a connecting element.

Perhaps the symphony with Bruckner’s happiest music. Listen especially from minute 2:00 to minute 5:40 in this Adagio. Happy music, indeed, with a shadow side. Be sure to listen further!