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.

Ethical considerations

The question about our ethical responsibilities towards non-living composers will be discussed in more detail further on, as well as the processes surrounding adaptations and permissions. It should be pointed out that the view here, for obvious reasons, is not that an ethical performance of a classical work can be reduced to, as Stravinsky suggests, playing it in exact compliance with the composer’s intentions – i.e. adhering to the score. As pointed out by musicologist Daniel Leech-Wilkinson (2020), scores are sometimes treated as a will – as their last wish – which, in contrast to a will, seem to be fulfilled ad infinitum. But, as Leech-Wilkinson puts, ”we have no obligations to dead composers to reproduce their wishes indefinitely” (19.1).

The view taken here is that our primary ethical obligations are to the living, to performers, audiences, and – by extension – the coming generations of music makers. This view is shared by Jeff R Warren (2014), who stresses that our main ethical responsibilities are to people in our proximity. Also, as Warren points out, given the entangled nature of music performance, we always have responsibilites to more than one person at a time, meaning that we will fail in attempting to respond adequately to every individual person at the same time.

However, the recognition that musical experience needs to be founded upon ethical response to the other – involving love, trust and justice – will at least mean that the right questions are being considered. … While ethical action cannot be strictly prescribed – that would make it a morality – recognising that my actions affect other people makes me aware of the ways I am always responsible to others. (Warren 2014, p.188)

One way of handling the multiplicity of responsibilities in music performance is presented by artist-researcher Darla Crispin (2022), who – similar to the view on improvisation presented here – sees artistic research as an ecology of practices. Crispin proposes a cyclical approach to addressing our ethical responsibilities:

Figure 5.3. The cycle of ethical responsibility. From Crispin (2022).

By viewing their actions from a larger ecological perspective, artist-researchers can become important contributors to the communities to which they are connected, while also learning from these communities.

Artistic research begins in and with ourselves; we have to take ownership of both its creative and its self-critical aspects; we have to be clear why we are doing what we do, what our mission is; we need to evaluate what is at stake, balancing risk with responsibility; and we need to situate our activity within an ecology for which we ourselves must take a certain responsibility in terms of its maintenance and growth. Finally, in locating ourselves within such an ecology, we also establish a relationship between ourselves and our community – we share, we learn, we re-absorb from others into our creative and scholarly selves. And so, the cycle begins once more. (Crispin, 2022)

Guiding principles

Some general principles that went into the processes:

– that the working conditions for the participating musicians are good, in terms of financial compensation as well as musical conditions. The latter could involve, for instance, that they were given the chance to prepare musically that does them justice.

– that the participants’ contributions are recognized; both as performers, and – when applicable – to arrangements and re-compositions that are co-created.

– that partipants have influence on what musical material is published; for instance, the possibility of saying no to releasing a particular recording/version of a recording.

Furthermore, it was important to create environments of sharing together with the participants, through conversations as well as musical work. This became increasingly more important as I learned more about repertoire, composers, and approaches; that the knowledge accumulated through the work processes also can be of benefit to the participants.

Informed consent

The participants were informed of the purpose of the project and agreed to participate voluntarily. Participants were also made aware that they can choose to withdraw their participation. Consent was obtained for recording music sessions, conversations, and interviews. Consent was also given to publish the material, as the quotes that are presented here were sent out for the participants' approval.

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