Entertaining ride with jazzy rhythms
With a wink and a pinch of mischief, the piano composition "Route 33" by Gernot Wolfgang becomes entertaining fun.
Born in Austria in 1957, Gernot Wolfgang is a musical border crosser. He first studied guitar and jazz composition in his home country and then film composition in the USA, where he has lived since 1997. In his works, he searches for "a synthesis between the rhythmic energy of jazz ... and the European serious music tradition".
The piano piece Route 33 was written in 2014 and has now been published by Doblinger. It is dedicated to the pianist Gloria Cheng, who also played the premiere. The composition is reminiscent of a "road trip", which is interrupted by several dream segments. The composer apparently only gave the work its title after it had been completed. Wolfgang counted the number of synthetic scales and came up with 33. "Route 66 ... Route 33 ... that could work ... but perhaps a little too clever," he admits to himself in the epilogue. Incidentally, his humor also shines through in the numerous playing instructions, such as "fermata optional" or "with a little mischief, a twinkle in the eye".
In an entertaining eight minutes, the music itself runs through various stages from dreamlike forlornness to hyperactivity, only to return to the beginning at the end. Of course, there are numerous jazz elements, especially in the rhythms that are thrown down with a light hand. But none of this is unnecessarily complicated, and even the fast passages and chords are comfortable to play. - In short: a compact, varied and entertaining piece of music!
P.S. Such a "Route 33" actually exists ...
Gernot Wolfgang: Route 33 for piano, D 01697, € 13.95, Doblinger, Vienna 2017
