Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert: Almost cancelled, now iconic

They weren’t quite folded up in the small Renault: American pianist Keith Jarrett travelled with German double bassist and ECM Records founder Manfred Eicher from Zurich to Cologne. A journey of roughly six hundred kilometers.

Rehearsal piano

When Jarrett arrived at the Cologne Opera House in the afternoon, exhausted and suffering from back pain, it turned out that the 17-year-old organiser, Vera Brandes, had not arranged for the requested Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand. Instead, there was a rickety rehearsal piano—a badly out-of-tune rehearsal piano, at that—whose pedals didn’t work properly either.
 
Fortunately, the sold-out concert wasn’t scheduled until 11:30 PM, directly following an opera performance. This gave the organiser some time to arrange a suitable alternative. Brandes initially managed to do so, but heavy rain and the cold weather made it impossible to move the concert grand to the Cologne Opera House. As a result, Jarrett had no choice but to make do with the rehearsal piano, which was far from ideal. Hours of tuning and repairing the piano proved to be in vain.

Cancellation

With only a few hours left, Jarrett got into the car, ready to cancel the concert after all. However, he was persuaded to stay—something for which we owe the young organiser a great deal of gratitude. Had Jarrett left, we would never have been introduced to his iconic improvisational masterpiece. During the concert, Jarrett primarily used the middle section of the piano, as the high and low keys sounded poor. This choice undoubtedly contributed to the success of the improvisation.

“Completely black with notes”

Pianist Ralph van Raat first encountered the sheet music for The Köln Concert at a young age. Reflecting on that experience, he says: “Even back then, I didn’t immediately listen to music when I got my hands on sheet music. If you want to develop your own interpretation, you need to read a piece of music first. It looked incredibly complex, completely black with notes. Rhythmically, I couldn’t make sense of it—I didn’t get past the introduction. It wasn’t until I was twenty-two that I revisited the score and listened to the piece for the first time.”
 
Read more: Interview with Ralph van Raat (Trouw, premium article, Dutch) 
 

Although The Köln Concert was originally an improvisational piece, Van Raat believes it stands firmly as a composition as well. “I want to show that an interpretation by a classical musician can also work. I see it as a new performance, my own interpretation; it’s up to the audience to decide whether The Köln Concert holds its ground as a composition.”

Van Raat also promises to replicate Jarrett’s characteristic foot-stomping. It’s even marked in parts of his score and, in his view, is an essential part of the music. “But I’ll skip the humming and groaning,” he said with a laugh to Trouw, “I wouldn’t want to put people through that.”

Ralph van Raat will perform the complete The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett on Friday, 24 January, at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.