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Path to democracy

October 30, 2009

A concert combining swing and jazz with works by Karlheinz Stockhausen shows the two radically different worlds of music in the 1950's.

https://p.dw.com/p/JdBw
Beethoven, Beethovenfest, classical music, music, culture, concert, Goldsby, quintet, Quintett
John Goldsby Quintet, performing Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jünglinge" at the Museum KönigImage: Barbara Frommann

One of the Beethovenfest's concerts on the "Path to Democracy" took place at the Museum Koenig in Bonn, a zoological research facility.

Lacking a more suitable location, this is where members of the Parliamentary Council met on Sept. 1, 1948, to work out the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. That early transitional period in the country’s history was given musical meaning through a selection of swing and jazz music, a style that had been scorned and prohibited during the 12-year period of National Socialism.

The John Goldsby Quintet performed jazz favorites by Billy Strayhorn, Thelonius Monk and Ornette Coleman. Band leader and string bass player John Goldsby from Kentucky has been a member of the WDR Big Band for fifteen years. The quintet’s joy in music making was evident both visually and aurally.

Their session was interrupted by two taped pieces by Karlheinz Stockhausen. At the electronic music studios of West German Radio in Cologne (WDR), Stockhausen created his first compositions of electronic music in 1953: "Studie I" and "Studie II," which completely revolutionized music. "Gesang der Juenglinge" (Song of the Youths) dates from 1956. Years after the first performance and under the enduring impression of the Nazi era, Stockhausen said he felt like a youth in a fiery oven, forced by Nebukadnezar to pray to false gods.

Program:

Billy Strayhorn (1915-1967)

Take the A Train

John Carisi (1922-1992)

Israel

Charlie Parker (1920-1955)

Moose the Mooch

Thelonius Monk (1917–1982)

Epistrophy

Round Midnight

Ornette Coleman (1930-)

Lonely Woman

Program:

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007)

Studie II

Gesang der Jünglinge

Performed by:

John Goldsby Quintet:

Rich Perry (tenor saxophone)

Hubert Nuss (piano)

Joachim Schönecker (guitar)

Hans Dekker (percussion)

John Goldsby (bass)

Sebastian Schottke (sound direction)

Soloists of the Musik Fabrik

Performed on Sept. 6, 2009 in the Museum König and recorded by Deutsche Welle

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