Expanding horizons – Improvisational explorations of 20th-century classical music by Peter Knudsen

"Expanding horizons" is an Artistic research project carried out between 2021 (August) and 2024 (November) at NTNU, Trondheim. The objectives were to contribute to knowledge on how different kinds of departure points can be useful for musicians when approaching 20th-century Western classical music through improvisation, an understanding of how one can navigate and negotiate the musical language of this repertoire, and insights into how the tension between different performance values can be navigated in this process. The research questions were: When applying improvisation to works of 20th-century classical music, 1. What role does the choice and preparation of musical representations play? 2. How can we navigate and negotiate musical structures such as melody, harmony and form? 3. How can we navigate the tension between fidelity to the work and creative expression? Based on selected pieces from this repertoire and practical explorations together with participating musicians, various approaches to creating improvisational frameworks were then explored. These included a wide range of scores, including lead sheets and indeterminate notation, as well as ear-based methods. From the perspective of integrating improvisation into the performances, approaches such as repeating elements, working with layers, creating transitions, and introducing open sections were examined. A key point was to use melodic material as a way of building strong connections with the source material, rather than relying on harmonic representations of the music. In terms of balancing respect for the original work with creative freedom, a “healthy dose of disrespect” pervaded much of the explorations, allowing deviations from the originals when they were musically justified. Throughout the work processes, an idea of focal points emerged, as aspects to focus on when reworking a classical work into an improvisational version. These focal points included the score, historical and performative contexts, expressive qualities, and the improviser’s personal voice.

General introduction

As the name suggests, the artistic research project Expanding horizons focuses on improvisational explorations of 20th-century classical music, mainly of Western descent, with an emphasis on the approaches and negotiations involved in such processes. The project positions itself as practice-based research in music performance. As such, its initial questions are derived from musical practice, from experiences of working with the phenomenon and studying it in musical contexts for roughly two decades, experiences that culminated in this project. It’s from these experiences that the name Expanding horizons originates; that engaging with the musical universes of 20th-century classical works through processes that involve improvisation can significantly contribute to expanding one's horizons of musical expression, as well as horizons of knowledge in a broader sense.

The overarching purpose of the project is to contribute to musical practices, for musical improvisers in general, or for musicians with a particular interest in approaching Western classical music as a starting point for musical exploration. The practioner's perspective is emphasized here; consequently, there are several theoretical perspectives that have not been prioritized, some of which are related to music ontology, i.e. the nature of being of musical "things" such as compositions or improvisations. Another perspective relates to musical analysis. Improvisation in the project is mainly seen from a lens of jazz improvisation – and, more specifically, from a context of contemporary Scandinavian jazz – which arguably has a strong bearing on the unfolding of its processes and their outcome. Nevertheless, the ambition is to present the approaches examined here in a way that is accessible to performers from different traditions.

Key terms

Here, we'll briefly consider the terms “classical music” and “jazz improvisation”. First, the umbrella term classical music – not to be confused with music from the Classical period – is used here to signify Western classical music, acknowledging the fact that there are numerous cultures outside of the Western countries who also refer to music of certain periods as classical¹. Following the practioner perspective of the project, the term (Western) classical music have been favored over its alternative "Western art music", where the former is more reflective of how musicians commonly describe musical genres, and the latter is more prevalent in academic discourse. These terms are often used interchangeably to denote a type of music of Western descent that is seen as different from folk and popular music, and is generally perceived to have a high phonoaesthetical value; hence the often used term "art music"². Another reason for using the term "classical", as is done here, is to highlight how the repertoire connects to a connected to a historical tradition, one that has its roots in European musical practices. Despite the multitude of musical languages covered here, and their various approaches to melody, harmony and form – which typically involve different ways of moving away from the established approaches of earlier periods – the music explored in this project is without exception music that is mediated through scores, composed with a high degree of specification, and written for instruments and constellations that are idiosyncratic to the European classical tradition. The wide usage of the term "classical music" adopted here also reflects how the term is often used in music education programmes, where it can refer to musical practices ranging from 17th-century baroque to 20th-century minimalism.

Although "jazz" and "jazz improvisation" are used throughout, the prefix 'Scandinavian' is important to bear in mind in relation to the musical explorations, seen that musical results are not always reflective of jazz as seen from the perspective of its American tradition, as a music rooted in Afro-American communities. This might relate to aspects such as aesthetics or rhytmic characteristics, as results of influences from folk music and/or European classical music. Importantly, there is no ambition to create a dichotomy between "classical music" or "jazz" here; following the thinking of Schuller (1989), these can rather be seen as two streams that, to some degree, are coming together. Another point that needs to be made is that these umbrella terms might obscure the fact that composers – just as performers – have their individual voices and musical expressions, something that cannot be reduced to a particular tradition, genre or style to which they may be associated. There is always an interplay between the individual and the tradition involved, one that we will return to later.

1. For a further elaboration of this point, see Church (2015), who examines 15 musical traditions of 'Classical music'.

2. A term like "art music" isn't entirely unproblematic, since it implies that other types of music, such as jazz, are not art forms. But a term like "classical" obviously comes with a similar problem if we put it in relation to other genres, seen that "classical" can carry connotations like "of superior value" (Locke, 2012, p. 320). However, "classical music" and "art music", are both, for obvious reasons, preferable to alternatives like "concert music" or "serious music". A more extensive discussion surrounding these terms – and their limitations – can be found in Locke (2012), who prefers the term Western art music, mainly because of its role in scholarly writing (p.321).

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Peter Knudsen - Expanding horizons – Improvisational explorations of 20th-century classical music - 2025