Mahler’s Breakdown

“My fifth symphony is a cursed creation. Nobody gets it,” Gustav Mahler complained and revised the instrumentation of his work several times after its premiere in 1904.

 “It was written for techno big bands, even though they simply did not exist back then,” as Jazzrausch Bigband founder and bandleader Roman Sladek puts it with a wink.

 Mahler’s Breakdown is the extraordinary arrangement of the band’s chief composer, Leonhard Kuhn, and turns the symphony upside down: 110 years later, Mahler’s departure towards a new musical language is skilfully continued, just as his wish to fill the parts with soloists.

 In the 50-minute techno version of the ‘Sinfonia Maledetta’, as an Italian copyist expressed it, Jazzrausch Bigband unleashes its instrumental versatility and sheer momentum.

Through their energetic improvisations, the 15 musicians take Mahler’s and Kuhn’s music into the here and now. A rave to enjoy listening to, a symphony to dance to.