HUBERT VON GOISERN & DIE LUNGAU BIG BAND
Hubert von Goisern and the Lungau Big Band
Brass, bellows & wood
Music from the heart of Austria - is how the Lungau Big Band describe what they play. And they've been doing this for 40 years now: in 2023 the ensemble from the very centre of Austria celebrated their milestone anniversary. It's not often the case that a jazz ensemble remains active for such a long time.
All the more reason to celebrate therefore - and with a musical collaboration that has been on the wishlist for a long time: Hubert von Goisern will join the Lungau Big Band on stage more dates in 2024. They'll be performing the artist's own songs arranged for brass, bellows and wood.
A colourful programme full of jazz and brass, with lots to hear from many of the points on Hubert von Goisern's musical journey.
Hubert von Goisern meets the Lungau Big Band – The Concert
It's THE concert event of the year: Hubert von Goisern's are legendary - and on this evening at the Orpheum in Graz they're hear in a unique style and form. The grandmaster is performing not just with musical friends like Maria Moling and Burkhard Frauenlob, but with one of the best bands in the country – the Lungau Big Band. All the songs for this legendary show have been arranged for big band sound. Alongside classics like Brenna tuats guats Hubert von Goisern also presents surprises like the Schönberger-Jodler and a gospel version of Sünder. Goisern and the Lungau Big Band, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary, shine in the completely sold-out Orpheum and show once more just how broad the exceptional artist's musical spectrum is.
Hubert von Goisern trifft Lungau Big Band – Das Konzert
20 May 2024: 19:15 on ORF III; repeat at 22:05
followed each time by the biographical film Brenna tuats schon lang
Alpine world music hits in super cinematic sound
The Lungau Big Band celebrates their 40th anniversary in the Konzerthaus with Hubert von Goisern
You could almost lay money on the vital sound of the Lungau Big Band led by trumpeter Horst Hofer and celebrated across Europe, getting even the foot-weary up and dancing. But on Wednesday Hubert von Goisern hobbled on stage with crutches in the Vienna Konzerthause: the result of a skiing accident.
It had no effect on the swing and groove. At full power we promptly head into a varied evening that was designed as a journey through more than 30 years from the Alpinkatzen era to today - with songs from the alpine rock musician in super cinematic sound, mostly arranged for the highly motivated 17 member ensemble by longtime friend and pianist Burkhard Frauenlob.
The meaning of the hyper-nervous Drawig is just what it sounds like: "We're in a rush." Iawaramoi based on a Styrian folk tune with a wonderful solo by Gernot Strebl on the baritone sax originally took a stand against the unfortunate Jörgl in gstanzl form – and yet is shockingly timeless. The gospel Sinnerman by Nina Simone is called Sünder by Goisern, with a view to the madness of liars and world-destroyers and the apocalyptic lyric "Koana woaß wie longs die Welt nu gebn wird ... Wo solln ma hingehn am letztn Tog" (Nobody knows how long the world will exist ... Where should we go on the final day) and is combined with the request that the audience call out "Power".
A lovely anecdote of a memory of a performance at the Austrian embassy in Washington introduces the rumbling blues Snowdown, a homage to US whistleblowers Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, dedicated to "Julian". Ultimately Heast as nit is a song beyond the past and future. It's about transience. Why is someone still singing the critical songs of before? Because they must be sung.
KURIER rating: ★★★★
Live in Graz
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald Leitner
Hubert von Goisern & die Lungau Big Band: Live in Graz - 26 March 2024
Photo: © Harald LeitnerHubert von Goisern gives a triumphant performance at the Orpheum
A new chapter in world music: Hubert von Goisern performed with the Lungau Big Band and brought the sold out hall to boiling point
This concert was only ill-fated in physical health; musically-speaking it was at full power, vitality and human integrity. Hubert von Goisern had had to cancel his appearance with the Lungau Big Band last year when his vocal cords temporarily gave up on him. At yesterday's rescheduled concert, he hobbled on stage on crutches. Skiing accident! But it didn't stop the exceptional artist giving what can only be described as a triumphant show.
He had long resisted this collaboration, but was finally talked into it, which was fortunate for the very enthusiastic audience at the Orpheum in Graz, which was full to bursting on Tuesday evening.
Would these two musical cosmoses go together? On one side there's the charismatic world musician and traveller, who has eagerly crossed every border between the Salzkammergut, Mali and Louisiana, and on the other side there's the similarly unbridled Big Band from Lungau in the province of Salzburg, which fearlessly swings between Glenn Miller, Thad Jones and Peter Herbolzheimer. It all goes together! Not least because they don't play in parallel but rather together. What is uniting and respectful in translated into notes and melodies, the collective gives the soloists enough space, the vanity fair is left to put up its tents elsewhere.
Hubert von Goisern was the cheerful master of ceremonies, but had the grace to keep stepping back to give sufficient room for the many talented players on the stage. He has opened another window with this collaboration, entered another soundscape in which he is audibly and visibly comfortable. The fact that he keeps having to rest his injured leg does nothing to detract from the empathetic dynamic of this evening.
The programme is a small cross-section through the 40-year Goisern oevre, from which the big hits were mostly omitted; but the critical lateral thinker likes playing with expectations. A colourful pot pourri full of jazz and brass, in which there were moments from many of the stages of Hubert von Goisern's musical journey. Herschauen turns into a Balkan groove, Snowdown becomes a time-critical reckoning using the ever-popular Floriani principle, that turns the temperature up even further, the gospel cover of Sinnerman is a furioso blame and sin street ballad, and the Schönberger-Jodler leads into the harmoniously earthy finale.
All in all, music has always been a wide, open, visa-free land for Hubert von Goisern, without barriers, fenced-off refugee routes, resentment, fear and exclusion. He has broken new ground once more with the Lungau Brass Band - with an injured leg, but at full power in heart and mind.