Dance

The Museum of Modern Electronic Music is a new place tucked into a S-Bahn station just by Katarinakirche.  It's not big; it's pretty new; it's known as MOMEM; it claims it's not a museum but an art and cultural centre.  Here in Frankfurt, a centre of this music.  It was my last outing before the flight home.  It has a series of sessions, DJ workshops or academic discussions, but not this day and probably not in English anyway.  There was a display of the birth of techno ('70s/'80s) and the early interactions between Berlin and Afro-American Detroit.  There was another of "Milestones", the top historical techno hits as identified by a series of working DJs.  The list is updated with visitor recommendations and it can be heard as a playlist on Spotify.  In person, it's an array of headphones , one for each hit, and accompanying pics of party-goers of this scene; all very sexy, very earthy and sweaty.  There's a small display of digital instruments of the era but behind glass, Moog synths and Roland drum machines and the like.  My first encounters with synths were '70s Mini Moog and Arp Odyssey and neither made an appearance.  Techno was slightly later; mainly from the '80s.  There was a screen with drum machine and sequencer apps and that was fun.  My invention was a 4-bar loop on the alt scale.  The most fun was an area where you could play with small physical machines of this style with your own private headphone.  The Boss DR-3 was my favourite: so easy to use and with great samples and grooves although maybe for the newbies rather than the aficionadoes.   This is techno and related dance musics, which is a subset of the broader genre of electronic music.  It was not a big visit (MOMEM is new and perhaps has a limited audience) but a bit of fun to round off the trip and to delay that dreaded return flight.

The Museum of Modern Electronic Music (MOMEM) is in Frankfurt.

Renaissance

As I write this I can truly say I am a world away.  My last day was long and without a base.  I left my bag at the hotel.  First filler of course was a favourite charity cafe for a decent coffee and a time waste.  Then the Städel and Holbein and the Renaissance in the North.  I'd seen ads for a special exhibition on Holbein but it was to start 2 Nov.  In the end, I was back in Frankfurt after 2 Nov but then it was closed on Monday but Tuesday was perfect.  Suffice to say I loved the Holbein; discovered, and for some works, preferred his sparring partner Hans Burgkmair; ambrosiated in an appearance of van Eyck; learnt a good deal; came to understand some of the altar art designs of the period and the folding panels that were exposed on whatever day.  And to finish, I got in a quick visit to the Städel's permanent collection, the old masters and especially my Botticelli girlfriend (Sandro Botticelli. Idealised Portrait of a Lady [Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph], ca. 1480–1485).  It seems I shared her with Giuliano de Medici as a mistress, and perhaps with Botticelli as a female face in a string of his paintings.  Not the greatest gallery ever, but a favourite of mine.

Holbein and the Renaissance in the North was an exhibition at the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt.

End of time

It sounds dramatic but it was a dramatic final musical outing of this trip. Again it was in St Katharinakirche. This was one of a series called Apokalypse. There's lots of talk of it these days. I haven't fathomed why this church has as musical event with this theme, but it is a Christian theme (other religions have their own eschatologies, too). Scott Morrison is looking forward to it, but then he's got it made ... at least so he thinks. The music was truly profound, touching but also exploratory and inventive to a profound degree. The main work was Quartet for the end of time and it's famed and difficult and I hadn't heard it live before but I was floored. The works were Hindemith Four Rilke songs, Messiaen again with a huge organ work and increasingly dissonant, Apparition of the eternal church, Hans Abrahamsen Autumn song (Rainer Maria Rilke) and the end on Messiaen Quartet for the end of time. I tried to track down the musicians: they were very good. At least two taught at the local Hochschule (university) for music and one played in a local radio orchestra. But for all four instrumentalists, I was floored. And also for the mezzo-soprano who sang 1 and 3. Again, powerful and experienced. So a first class outing with stunning fluency, expression, composition, relevance. Wow. There's light (or perhaps darkness) to be seen here and it's emblazoned, and there's also stunning musical intelligence at work. A truly devastating final musical outing for this trip. PS. Just to confirm the thesis, I passed the famed Euro-Skuptur outside the Eurotower (once the seat of the European Central Bank) and three stars and a large part of the blue bottom of the € was unlit. Just goes to show...

Maria Hilmes (mezzosoprano), Jaan Boussier (clarinet), Laurent Weibel (violin), Kristin von der Goltz (cello), Günther Albers (piano) and Klaus Eldert Müller (organ) variously played Hindemith, Messiaen, Abrahamsen and Messiaen at St Katarinenkirche, Frankfurt.

Numberings

I'd thought it was more, but this was probably only the third time I've heard Martin Lucker performing one of his free 30-min organ concerts in St Katharinenkirche in Frankfurt but this was no.3917 in his series and he's played most of them. I imagine it's something quite exporatory for locals who can come to them regularly, because he doesn't play the overly obvious repertoire. After the first 2000 I reckon you are exploring widely for your material. The Bach today didn't have a BWV number but was noted op. posth., Prelude and fugue Gmin. If I heard correctly, the fugue was really not what I'd expected, more two-part interplay than fugue, but I'll bow to Bach. Then Jehan Alain Fantasie and Max Reger Fantasy on the chorale "Don't punish me in your anger" op.40 no.2. Again, if I got parts, movements, etc identified correctly, this last was all repeating arpeggios moving up and down scales and some meeker responses; mostly loud and insistent and big. So a big earful from our committed organist, presumably on a goodly loud organ.

Prof Martin Lücker (organ) performed 30-min orgelmusik no. 3,937 in St Katharinen, Frankfurt.

Four to Three

It was another two nights somewhat unexpected in Frankfurt and it's like home these days. Jazzkellar is the biggie in town and they had a visiting NYC quartet but pricey and sold out anyway and like many well known dives, they can be populated with the non-jazz scene despite some worthy offerings. Mampf had a trio and I enjoyed my last visit and local can be worthy. Not least, they had somewhat a story of heartache for this gig: their drummer who died suddenly weeks earlier fo a heart attack. No secret but obviously affecting the group and the quartet decided to proceed as a trio in tribute. And a worthy tribute. This was post-bop, nicely done, quick and easy walks and twisty heads and little inserted passages and endless, playful, lyrically rich solos and harmonically suggestive accompaniment. And a tenor with a sweet, soft tone and slithery, sinuous phrasing that could drop into fast lines but never in your face. Lovely. Piano was the one pro amongst them and he wrote most of the music, but then pianists do. They can. So another successful night at Mampf, jokingly my sister to our Smiths Alternative.

Vitaliy Baran Quartett performed at Mampf, Frankfurt, as a trio comprising Christian Müntz (tenor), Vitaliy Baran (piano) and Paul Schmandt (bass). Their fourth member, Markus Eschmann (drums) had died suddenly just weeks before.

Coincidences

Just an interlude. It was a Sunday morning and I was about to leave Frankfurt and I tool a walk to pass some time. Then a wind busker, a sat and watched. Could it be? Yes, I'd chatted to him in September 2018 on the same stretch of road. He's Cuban Leonel Fernandez Ortega, clarinetist and composer. He told me of a recent film commission. We chatted on making a living in music. A retired professor, Flora Guidry, now children's book author and in town for the Book Fair, turned up to chat. Then off but what felicitous coincidences! Small world.

A bigger chamber

I'd attended an opera and several other small performances before at the modern opera house in Frankfurt, but never the Alte Oper. It's a building of the 1880s, bombed in 1944, rebuilt in the 1970s and reopened in 1981. I checked out what was on and lucked out with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the Grosser Saal (seats 2,500). I was chatting with some series subscriber locals (from Hanau, no less, which is already noted in CJ) before the performance and they were especially excited to hear the young Polish/Canadian pianist on the program, Jan Lisiecki. the program was fairly popular: Beethoven Coriolan, Mozart piano concerto no.22, Beethoven 4 and a few Chopins to finish up. I expected a smaller orchestra but it's representing a continent and this is a big chamber. I counted 46 including 3 basses. The opening of Coriolan felt a little wobbly on pitch to my ears but that settled quickly and I noticed such wonderful dynamics, quick expressions, long crescendos, huge variation, so lovely. It's not an easy thing to do. It continued throughout: sweet expression with intention and passion. Sometime a part might stick out, but maybe it should be that way. I wasn't sure. Whatever, I drooled over this ensemble playing. The piano was brought out for Mozart. Yep, a quick and attractive player, again expressive, perhaps a bit impulsive (I could say rushed) on the frequent semiquaver fills. And sometimes lost in the larger sound of the orchestra. Not his fault! It's a request we get often in orchestras playing concerti. Nice to hear it from the other side. I will be more careful! Then an interval and the Beethoven 4 and the Chopin and a warming applause. I think I was lucky with seating. I was in the final row, on a rise, under an overarching balcony. I've found this a good location in Llewellyn Hall, too, and a modest cost. Rear walls, especially those under a ceiling, seem to amplify parts. Nice to chat to a few locals, too, while sad that some conversations are welcomed but fade after seconds given no shared language. It's my weakness for being here not knowing their language, but their strength when they know mine.

The Chamber Orchestra of Europe performed under Andrew Manze (conductor) with soloist Jan Lisiecki (piano) in the Grosser Saal at the Alte Opera, Frankfurt.

Bach close to home

Concert day today. First up is Bach, specifically a cantata "Ach! Ich sehe, itst, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe" (= Oh! I see now that I'm going to the wedding) BWV162. This was embedded in an Evangelical church service at a church I knew but had not seen inside. Telemann Ensemble Frankfurt were the Bach performers, but there was an organist and of course the cleric. I had never attended an Evangelical service, but I recognised plenty from my Catholic days. But we never got Bach! The Telemann Ensemble was SATB singers out front with vln1, vln2, vla, flute, clo, violone and organ/director. The cantata had most sitting out most of the time, but they came together for the chorus movement 6 to finish it all. Otherwise there were snippets of organ and three songs for the congregation to sing with organ accompaniment and a psalm (36:6-10). And a recitation of Matthew 22:1-14 (wedding feast) with accompanying sermon and communion and out. The Bach was lovely. All period instruments so soft gut tones and those four lovely voices up front, mostly individual, but coming together for the final chorus. Bach, of course, was so ingenious, irrepressible, intelligent and other adjectives. The group were a little wavering at first, but settled to comfortable and sweet for long notes and triplet-feeling 12/8 and quick recovery semiquavers throughout. Hearing Bach in Germany just seems right. So to celebrate, I had a local beer in a local, old pub just next door with wattle and daub construction but laid on beer taps and TV and even disco lights. This is how you live with history, I guess.

Telemann Ensemble Frankfurt and Andreas Kohs (organ) performed at a Cantata service at Evangelical Dreikonigskircke (Two Kings church) in Frankfurt. The Telemann Ensemble comprised Simone Schwark (soprano), Anne Bierwirth (alto), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Konstantin Paganetti (bass), Leanne Hinnicks (transerse flute), Nebuko Yamahuchi (violin 1), Kerstin Fahr (violin 2), Keiko Suginaka-Munshgesang (viola), Petra Kohs (cello), Christian Zincke (violone), and Andreas Kohs (organ, director). Pfarrer Jurgen Seidl (liturgy, sermon) led the service. The local pub next door was Zur Glocke.

Thus they save the churches

I'm travelling alone for in Frankfurt so another a day to fill. Not another museum (there are plenty) but I picked up a brochure with a suggested route through churches in the city centre so this was my task. Central Frankfurt was flattened by carpet bombing by the Allies in WW2 so much of the buildings are new and unimaginative, but churches were often not bombed so they could serve to orient bombing raids. They were still damaged and often under repair to these days, so luckily, valuable movable art was also stored for the duration. The result can be disconcerting: paper thin rebuilt history with some glorious historical art works. I also dropped in on a Book fair showing: just a line of books to peruse, but events to happen in the space later. Meanwhile, I also heard an organist preparing for a wedding, met the bride and groom as they entered, heard some very poor bell ringing (presumably first lessons) and had a decent chat with someone I shared a bench with. Thus is the sole traveller yearning for conversation. And today's busker was Oleksander Darmits on violin; nice. Just some pics.

Smiths' sister

It's been a surprise to me that Frankfurt seems to have so few jazz venues. After all, it has 750k in the city alone, plus 5m in the broader metro area and it's a financial centre, so some cluey types. There were a few suggested online but just bars in upmarket hotels but then I found a more obscure place, Mampf. Strange name; strange story dating back to '60s and a place for "journeyman butchers, cone drinker and puzzle fanatics" which was taken over by free jazz in 1972. Now it's a cosy pub with a very small stage in the corner and an interesting musical outfit every night if maybe not professionals. This night was Trio 75, a guitar trio playing original tunes in the style of Abercrombie, e-bass, 16th note rhythms, effected guitars and some really decent interplays and solos. I enjoyed it, got to chat to the players, met an office of architects (the normal collective noun for architects is confusion or argument, but I prefer my invention) out for the Friday night. BTW, the drummer was a local town planner so a friend of the office. As I said, spacey guitar, sharp e-bass (mostly picked, I think) and tight, driving and also very relevant grooves. And grooves benefit e-bass. Plenty of tight little phrasings, stop and starts, unexpected changes, nice fusion chords. Plenty of solos, all around, too. Bass took longs ones; drums was ever ready and just right this night; guitar too, naturally. So a lovely night, but I mused on a few other things on the walk and at the pub. Firstly, it's seems common enough over here to order, receive and consume and only pay at the end of the night from a record jotted on a coaster; I've done it several times. An honour system. I admire it and I guess it works well enough for them to keep it. I like the social implications and expectations of such a system. Secondly, I walked some distance with Google's advice. First up I took the less recommended route and found myself in less comfortable streets, brothels, threatening guys. The return was through a lovely, busy, joyous mall. I've been surprised at how few cars there are here for the population, but a Euro city has density and public transport and a readiness to walk. I'd forgotten how nice that is. Whatever, if you pass through Frankfurt and you enjoy Smith's, I can recommend Mampf.

Trio 75 played at Mampf in Frankfurt. Trio 75 are a guitar trio comprising Markus Kramer (guitar), Chris Ries (bass) and Philipp Gutbrod (drums).

And ivory

Städel's offsider is a lovely but smaller gallery that collects statuary from Egyptian through to the last century or so, the Liebieghaus Skulpturen Sammling. Sadly it seems relatively unloved, or at least poorly attended whenever I visit. I wasn't the only one to notice it, but also not the only to note how undeserved that is. But then it's not a huge collection in any field, except an incredible basement full of exquisite works of ivory. Now ivory is not well thought of these days, what with its relationship to extinctions and colonialism, but the decimation of elephant herds was not of this era: that had to await the arrival of decent armouries to kill animals on an industrial scale. But regardless of the ethical issues, the artistic outcomes are breathtaking. Otherwise, I loved the visits to Egypt, Greece, Rome, Islam, mediaeval, baroque, rococo. All there and so close: touchable, but I don't, but so close to view and experience like an object on your own shelf. And not so large that you need all day to touch on it. Everything to love in a gallery in my book. And my little story of the day. I was looking at souvenirs and found a fridge magnet that's on our fridge. I asked if it's in their collection; I don't remember buying it there. Presumably I did. A staffer took me to see it and was surprised it had been replaced by a new exhibition on early science, the Antikythera mechanism and more. We both learnt something.

The Liebieghaus Skulpturen Sammling (sculpture collection) is in Frankfurt.

Another Frankfurt inevitability

Along with the Städel, the Jazzkeller is another unmissable when I'm in Frankfurt. Impressively, this is its 70th anniversary year. That's 20 years older than the Sydney Opera House and shortly after WW2. I think of the devastation of bombing in Germany and assume that basements were amongst the few usable spaces after carpet bombing. I guess they were used for protection then temporary accommodation, then became available for cheaper uses like jazz clubs. Whatever, it's a classic space with a noble history of major artist visits, if small and acoustically imperfect. This night Jazzkeller featured a quartet around Martin Sasse and Tony Lakatos; I think it was Tony sitting in with Martin's trio. This was good old hard bop done with considerable skill and plenty of solos all round. I heard Martin's piano as playing the changes but with frequently moving chromatic substitutions. Tony seemed mostly a big, fat tenor tone running though chordal cells, interesting in themselves without substitutions, but they were often enough thrown in as well. Vladimir on drums wrote some worthy tunes, not least a lovely ballad, and soloed solidly, heavy on toms and middy-pitched rolls. Martin, this time the bassist, again wrote some interesting tunes, not least one with several somewhat unconnected but effective passages and explosive melodies ending on descending tritones which were nicely played unison by bass and tenor. This Martin sat nicely, undemandingly, but could double up for some light flurries of notes at breakneck speed. Loved that! Otherwise, they played 2 sets of 5 and 4 tunes over a few hours. The Jazzkeller attracts tourists so there were departures in the break then mid-second set and urgently when the gig ended. Thus are the renowned jazz clubs in Europe. But it was an enlivening night out, hearing breakneck swing (the second take on a blues was at 260). The one non-original was Skylark and that was sweet and familiar. Otherwise originals by the trio. The night ws enlivening also for the chats with various people over for the Frankfurt Bookfair (400k attendees and 7k stands in the venue. Wow). I chatted with guys from New Jersey (bigger population) and Finland (smaller population, 5m). Like I chatted with two Fins from a Sami Museum at the Städel yesterday. This is all nicely cosmopolitan and part of why we travel. Oh, and a chat with Martin the bassist, about amps (Glockenklang Blue Bird and Acoustic 8-1 bin) and pickups (again Glockenklang) and strings (Spirocore Weich solo strings tuned down a semitone) and acoustics, but that's just jazz.

Martin Sasse (piano) and Tony Lakatos (tenor) led a quartet with Martin Gjakonovski (bass) and Vladimir Konstadinovic (drums) at the Jazzkeller, Frankfurt.