Cologne Jazzweek: Emily Wittbrodt & Annie Bloch – The Mendelssohn-Project

In the organizer's words:

Essentially, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) compiled three preludes and fugues as op. 37: in C minor, G major and D minor. They were composed in the last phase of his life and also represent a reminiscence by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy of Bach's fugues. The fugue in C minor, composed in 12/8 time, is perhaps the one for which Mendelssohn-Bartholdy improvised the most while writing. For their "The Mendelssohn Project", cellist Emily Wittbrodt and organist Annie Bloch have taken on this C minor fugue. In order to make it the basis for their improvisational process, they first analyzed Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's compositional principles before performing his C minor fugue as improvisational artists of today and shaping it in a new and different way as a recomposition. For Wittbrodt and Bloch it is true that a piece of written music is nothing other than coagulated improvisation, just as improvised music is a piece of volatilized composition.

Emily Wittbrodt - cel
Annie Bloch - org

Double concert with Gard Nilssen - Supersonic Orchestra

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