The week of 14 to 21 October 2002 in Basel was completely devoted to Franz Schubert. Precisely because there was no special anniversary, no commemoration of birth or death, we wanted to approach Schubert’s œuvre and its transmission more objectively than usual for once. We have long known that in most traditional performances, Schubert’s symphonies are taken at half (!) the tempo, which results in ’infernal’ lengths that constantly impair the ’heavenly’ proportions of the works. Who could provide a better approach to the Schubert phenomenon than the masters of jazz music, who are unbiased, unfettered by the ballast of rock-hard traditions, and possess an unbroken creative energy? (Dick de Graaf)