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.

Performer context

The role of the musical context of performers cannot be overstated when it comes to understanding its impact on the musical processes; in particular, it reminds us that the term ”jazz” needs to be understood with some modification. The project, and its participating musicians, are generally situated in a context of contemporary Scandinavian jazz¹, referring to a stylistic approach to jazz that emerged in the 1970s and onwards. This term is often used interchangeably with Nordic jazz, similar to how the terms Scandinavian and Nordic are often used interchangeably in everyday speech. However, given the emphasis on the music scenes of Sweden and Norway, the term Scandinavian will be used here.

The emergence of a distinct identity for Scandinavian jazz – a so-called ”Nordic tone” – is usually seen as intertwined with the evolution of the record label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music), founded by the German bassist and producer Manfred Eischer. Besides being based in Munich and featuring American musicians on the first releases, the record company soon took an interest in musical expressions from the Scandinavian countries, featuring Norwegian musicians such as guitarist Terje Rypdal, saxophonist Jan Garbarek, bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Jon Christensen – all appearing together on the iconic album Afric Pepperbird (Jan Garbarek Quartet, 1971) – as well as Swedish musicians such as Bobo Stenson, piano and Palle Danielsson, bass. Garbarek, Christensen and Danielsson also became known a part of Keith Jarrett’s ”Nordic quartet”, arguably one of the most influential groups to come out of the label.

One of the characteristics of the early ECM releases is the folk music-tinged tone and expression of saxophonist Jan Garbarek, an effect often enhanced by applying long reverb effects to evoke the imagery of desolate landscapes, or – in the case with the album Dis (Garbarek, 1977) – through recording the saxophone in an actual fjord (!). This feature also follows a lineage from the 1960s with improvisers integrating folk music elements into their repertoire and improvisational vocabulary, illustrated by Swedish musicians such as baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin, pianists Jan Johansson and Bengt Hallberg, trumpet player/composer Bengt-Arne Wallin, and singer Monica Zetterlund, who recorded folk tunes like Jag vet en dejlig rosa with pianist Bill Evans. It can be added that influences from folk music is also engrained in the classical music of this milieu, through National romantic composers such as Edvard Grieg, Hugo Alfvén, and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. This becomes clear when comparing, for instance, a piece such as Grieg’s Once upon a time from Lyric Pieces, book 10 (Op. 71, No. 1) with Ack, Värmeland du sköna, a folk song recorded by Monica Zetterlund, Stan Getz, Miles Davis (under the name Dear old Stockholm), John Coltrane, and others.

Rhythmically, the playing on many of the ECM recordings from the 1970s distinguishes itself from American jazz of the previous decades by mainly employing straight eight notes in its rhythmic foundation, something that was also becoming a common feature in the jazz-rock fusion of the same time. Besides this, there are also frequent uses of rubato tempo – i.e. that the music is played with a fluctuating tempo, without a fixed pulse. Christensen’s approach to playing the drums in this style deserves a special mention, often compared to a painter in his coloristic way of using the cymbals. This is an approach that distances itself from the more typical time-keeping role of traditional jazz drumming, one that came to influence generations of drummers afterward.

There is also a classical sensibility in Keith Jarrett’s playing that seems to be brought out more on these ECM releases than with his American constellations around the same time (for example, his ’American quartet’ with Dewey Redman or the Charles Lloyd Quartet). This was further elaborated on his solo piano concerts released on the same label, such as The Köln Concert (Jarrett, 1975), where the music is generally improvised freely in a way that integrates elements from classical, pop, gospel, and contemporary jazz into a unique stream-of-consciousness kind of expression. A similar sensibility can also be found in many other pianists associated with the label, including Bobo Stenson and later pianists such as Lars Jansson and Tord Gustavsen.

The Scandinavian jazz that emerged in the 1960s also has a certain connection to the Third Stream movement that reached its peak around the same time, not least through one of its most important proponents, the composer (and music theorist) George Russell, who alternated between Stockholm and Oslo during 1964-1969, instigating exchanges that had a huge impact on the Scandinavian jazz scene. Among other things, he led the Swedish big band Radiojazzgruppen and a sextet with a young Jan Garbarek and other Norwegian musicians. During this time, Russell also taught many musicians from his Lydian Chromatic concept of tonal organization, the theory book from the early 1950s that had a major influence on the modal experiments conducted by Miles Davis and John Coltrane. These theories were also influential for Garbarek’s development of his improvisational language (Dickenson, 2009).

Another big influence on the Scandinavian scene came from musicians associated with the Free jazz scene of the 1960s, via musicians like Albert Ayler and Don Cherry, who took part in the music scenes of Oslo and Stockholm. It can also be noted that it was Cherry who encouraged Garbarek – and other Norwegian musicians – to bring out their own music heritage, by incorporating folk music tunes in their repertoire (Dickenson, 2009). These elements all add to a multi-faceted and highly vibrant scene where influences from American jazz, classical music, folk music, free improvisation, and popular music come together under the general umbrella of jazz. Considering the vast amount of creative artists emerging from these countries, jazz writer Stuart Nicholson (2005) considers the possibility that jazz has “moved to a new address”, with the “Nordic tone” as the epitome of how jazz turned into a global artform of the 21th century.

1. The main exception being David Härenstam, who primarily works in contexts of chamber music and 'crossover' constellations.

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