Blues in the church
A composition that sets trumpet and organ in dialog - and with an unusual groove.
Born in Hungary in 1946, Zsolt Gárdonyi grew up in a family of musicians (his father was a pupil of Kodály and Hindemith) and won prizes in organ and composition at the Budapest Academy of Music at the age of 19. He worked as a professor of music theory at the Würzburg University of Music, performed extensively as an organist and made a name for himself internationally with numerous publications and guest lectures.
His Blues for trumpet and organ is a genuine blues and operates within the conventions of melody, phrasing and harmonization. The organ part is special: the possibilities of a dense accompaniment are fully exploited in the pedal and manual parts through the fullness of the chords paired with sophisticated jazz harmony. The trumpet and organ are set in dialog, whereby the church instrument also becomes a jazz soloist and can show off in a completely new context and groove in an unusual way. The Blues is definitely a "piece to listen to" in a concert program for trumpet and organ.
Zsolt Gárdonyi: Blues, for trumpet and organ, EW 866, € 12.00, Edition Walhall, Magdeburg 2012
