SYMPHONATAS

"Crossover Beethoven"

MARCUS SCHINKEL TRIO:

MARCUS SCHINKEL piano, synthesizer

WIM DE VRIES drums

FRITZ ROPPEL bass

DUISBURG PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA IN BEETHOVEN'S ORIGINAL SEPTET INSTRUMENTATION
DIRK WEDMANN piano

"Roll over Beethoven" is how Chuck Berry rock 'n' rolled nearly 70 years ago. "Crossover Beethoven", on the other hand, is the motto of jazz musician Marcus Schinkel, who approaches the great classic from an unusual angle with his trio. The 4th Symphony as bebop? The "Pathétique" as a jazz ballad? The pianist, composer and arranger Dirk Wedmann makes it possible by peeling sonata and symphony movements out of their original form and reassembling them in the field of tension between modern jazz trio sound and classical septet instrumentation in a way that is as clever as it is elegant. In the process, it can happen that lyrical piano playing, synthesizers and the sound of classical wind and string instruments meet in oblique opposition: It's as if Keith Jarrett had arranged a Beethoven session with Emerson, Lake and Palmer and added the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra to the mix. The Marcus Schinkel Trio and the Symphonatas had already announced that they would be in Duisburg in the great Beethoven anniversary year of 2020, but the concert had to be canceled due to a pandemic. All the greater the joy that it can be made up for this season.

Photo: Marcus Schinkel Trio: Marcus Schinkel Trio