Between Performance and Notation: How did Carl Reinecke understand Mozart’s piano concerto No.26 K.537?
(2024)
author(s): Mako Kodama
published in: KC Research Portal
Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was a German composer, pianist, conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory. His piano performances were admired by Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt, and he was reputed as "the greatest and most sincere Mozart player of his time."However, you may be surprised on listening for the first time to his performances preserved on piano rolls, since there is noticeable use of expressive practices such as manual asynchrony, unnotated arpeggiation, and rubato (flexibility of rhythm and tempo), which is quite far from the kind of performance style that is considered good today.
This research clarifies the features of the performance practices audible in early piano rolls, such as those by Reinecke. It focuses on how he arranged and notated the Larghetto from Mozart's Piano Concerto No.26 K.537 for piano solo, how he performed it on piano roll (1905), and how he described the performance of the movement in his book Zur Wiederbelebung der Mozart'schen Clavier-Concerte (1891). The discrepancies between the three source materials give an insight into the implied performance practices of Reinecke’s time and his tacit knowledge. The research culminates with personal experimentation and reflection on how these performance practices can expand the freedom and possibilities of the author’s performances.
Studies on Fantasmical Anatomies
(2021)
author(s): Anne Juren
published in: Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH)
Studies on Fantasmical Anatomies is an ongoing transdisciplinary artistic research, which encompasses the spectrum of experiences and practices that I have developed as a choreographer, dancer and Feldenkrais practitioner. By drawing on various fields of knowledge – anatomy, psychoanalysis, feminist and queer theories, poetry and somatic practices – the research expands choreography towards disparate discourses, practices and treatments of the body. Based on Feldenkrais’ speculative use of language, imagination and touch, I have developed several body-orientated practices situated at the intersection of the therapeutic and the choreographic, the somatic and the poetic.
The research is articulated through three transversal movements. The first movement is the expansion and distortion of the Feldenkrais Method® from its initial somato-therapeutic goals into a poetic and speculative way of addressing the body. Secondly, I propose experiences of diffraction, "blind gaze" and dissociation as a strategy for troubling the dominant regime of vision. The third movement consists of the co-regulation of bodies and dynamic relationships between the individual and the collective.
Combining fantasy, the fantasme and phantasmagoria, I invented the word “fantasmical” to emphasize how the ability to imagine may create phantom limbs that are as concrete as pieces of bone. Studies of Fantasmical Anatomies are simultaneously a set of practices, methods and places where the corps fantasmé is tangible.
The Art of Arpeggiation
(2019)
author(s): Niels Pfeffer
published in: KC Research Portal
Student Number
3167720
Supervisor(s)
Patrick van Deurzen
Title
The Art of Arpeggiation
Research Question
How many different ways of arpeggiation is it possible to think of and how is musical meaning created through them?
Summary
This research is about discovering the expressive possibilities of arpeggiation – may it be indicated by an arpeggio sign or added arbitrarily by a performer. For two reasons this question seems relevant: 1. In the past century, the idea that musical performance should be an exact reproduction of the score has become increasingly predominant and in consequence the idea of exact synchronity has evolved. Seeking for a more creative and less reproducing way to perform, breaking up this rigid synchronity provides us with an exciting "playground" yet to be explored. 2. Particularly on the classical guitar arpeggiation can frequently be heard – often for more technical than musical reasons. Especially on this instrument, a more reflected use is desirable. It was barely looked at the rules on what happens "inside" an arpeggiation. A reason for that might be, that everything inside an arpeggiation usually occurs very rapidly which makes it a lot harder to be analyzed. Besides that, often in arpeggiation the performer relies on "automatic" processes that are difficult to be modified consciously. I propose the idea, that arpeggiation consists of multiple layers of meaning that can be put together in any possible combination. The layers of arpeggiation span with increasing subtlety from habitual arpeggiation to a meticulously planned effect. In the presentation I will demonstrate this concept by showing different ways and meanings of arpeggiation in recordings and on my instrument.
Short Bio
Niels Pfeffer finished his harpsichord studies at the Stuttgart University of Music under Jörg Halubek and his guitar studies with Johannes Monno in 2017. He is studying in master with Robert Hill in Freiburg (harpsichord) and with Zoran Dukić in The Hague (guitar). With the guitar he won numerous prizes at renowned competitions. He is passionate about playing continuo on theorbo and harpsichord. With both instruments he took part in opera and orchestra performances. As member of different early music ensembles he has been regularly successful in competitions. At the University of Music Stuttgart he is teaching continuo and theorbo.