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.

Research design

At the core of the project were the musical experiments together with the participating musicians, in formats ranging from duo to septet. These were carried out through iterative processes where approaches and material that I initially brought in were reflected upon, revised and adapted for the subsequent sessions.

This followed a general cycle similar to the 4 stages of action research; planning, acting (through musical experiments), observing/documenting, and reflecting on the results.

The illustration to the right shows a version of the action research cycle as adapted for artistic research:

Figure 5.1. Adaption of the action research cycle for artistic research. English translation of López Cano & San Cristobal (2014).

Based on this general workflow, an adapted model emerged over time, where the same piece of music could be transferred between settings:

Figure 5.2. Illustration of workflow based on three main settings.

Following this model, the same piece of music could go through several cycles in a particular setting, and – crucially – be transferred between different settings. The three main settings were the following:

1. Individual preparation work (carried out by me). This involved finding suitable repertoire and making adaptions of scores, creating departure points and reflecting on these processes (captured through audio journaling and diaries). These reflections also involved literature study and semi-structured interviews with respondents that were not participating musicians. ¹

2. Music sessions in small groups (2-4 musicians). Material was then brought into musical constellations, typically duos, in another cycle of work processes. Reflections on these processes focused on evaluating of improvisational frameworks and musical media, i.e. (scores, audio), which could then lead to revisions.

As the work progressed, eventually leading to recordings and/or performances, the processes with reflecting over the music could take on various forms;
- as conversations or semi-structured interviews (with participating musicians and/or key persons)

- as listening sessions

- as panel discussions, with invited key persons

3. Music sessions in larger groups (i.e., in relation to previous constellations). It became a reoccuring model to take a piece that had been explored in one constellation and to work with it further in a larger group – with one additional musician, or with another ensemble altogether – as a way of examining – or a particular – approach from different perspectives. This way, reflections contributed to develop approaches as well the repertoire.

Between sessions, material from 2. or 3. could also be brought back to step 1 and revised through further preparation work.

The reflections that were an important part of the processes thus had a dual role; besides generating qualitative data for analysis, they also contributed to inform the subsequent work processes that led to the musical outcome (albums, concerts, arrangements & compositions). The in-depth analysis of the data – via reflexive thematic analysis – was done in the third and last year of the project. As such, it had more of an effect on the understanding and the sense-making of the processes than on the musical results.

1. It should be pointed out that this phase wasn’t as prominent in the duo work with David Härenstam, where the repertoire was chosen and developed more in a collaborative way.

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