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.

Concerts

Concerts considered here are the final presentation concert and the concert series "Skärningspunkter" , followed by additional clips based on La mer.

Final presentation concert

The final presentation was held on October 23, 2024, at Kammersalen, Olavshallen in Trondheim.

Participating musicians were:

David Härenstam – guitar

Svante Söderqvist – cello, bass

Terese Lien Evenstad – violin

Jenny Kristoffersson – bass

Daniel Olsson – drums

Eirik Hegdal – saxophone

Michael Duch – bass

Tor Haugerud – drums

The repertoire was based on the albums All in Twilight and Reimaginations:

All in Twilight II (T. Takemitsu)

Knudsen, Härenstam

All in Twilight III (T. Takemitsu)

Knudsen, Härenstam

All in Twilight IV (T. Takemitsu)

Knudsen, Härenstam + Söderqvist

Reflets (L. Boulanger)

Knudsen, Evenstad

By the Still Waters (A. Beach)

Knudsen, Söderqvist + Evenstad, Hegdal, Olsson

Cortège (L. Boulanger)

Knudsen, Kristoffersson, Olsson

D'un vieux jardin (L. Boulanger)

Knudsen, Kristoffersson, Olsson

Meditation [interrupted] (P. Knudsen)

Knudsen, Hegdal, Duch, Haugerud + Kristoffersson, Söderqvist

Variazioni from Cinque preludi (E. Szőnyi)

Knudsen, Hegdal, Duch, Haugerud

Leggiero from Nine preludes for piano (R. Crawford Seeger)

Knudsen, Hegdal, Duch, Haugerud + Härenstam, Evenstad, Kristoffersson, Söderqvist

The priority when creating the programme was to show the range of the project, to demonstrate the various approaches taken to working with the repertoire. This was also communicated through a web page created for the event, containing information about the pieces and how they were prepared. The initial plan was to include an open improvisation based on La mer in the program, based on the collage approach that we had worked on. However, as Halse & Åse were unavailable on the day of the concert, I had to abandon this idea. It can be noted that Reflets was included in the concert but not on the albums; this was added as a substitute for our version of Pastorale in D (that wasn't approved), to include a duo number with Evenstad.

Concert series "Skärningspunkter" (Intersections)

The concert series Skärningspunkter deserves mention, since it was organized specifically to disseminate the project, invite other musicians and have panel discussions based on aspects related to the project. Five concerts were organized in the period September 2023–March 2024, four of which were held in Stockholm and one in Krokom, Jämtland (Northern Sweden).

I have included performances from two of these concerts here, as they represent approaches that serve as complements to the rest of the musical output:

Recording 11.11. Reflets (L Boulanger), Evenstad & Knudsen. From the concert Skärningspunkter II, KHIMAIRA, Stockholm 2023-12-03.

This recording represents an approach that stands out in that we partly worked with lyrics as an impulse for improvisation. Our way of approaching it was that we took an English translation of the lyrics (seen below) and wrote down excerpts directly in our scores (lead sheet adaptations of the music), something we could then freely associate to when playing the piece.

Original version

Sous l'eau du songe qui s'élève
Mon âme a peur, mon âme a peur.
Et la lune luit dans mon coeur
Plongé dans les sources du rêve!
Sous l'ennui morne des roseaux.
Seul le reflets profonds des choses,
Des lys, des palmes et des roses
Pleurent encore au fond des eaux.
Les fleurs s'effeuillent une à une
Sur le reflet du firmament.
Pour descendre, éternellement
Sous l'eau du songe et dans la lune.

(Maurice Maeterlinck)

English translation

Beneath the water of the dream that rises,
My soul is afraid, my soul is afraid.
And the moon shines into my heart
That is bathed in the dream’s source!
Beneath the sad tedium of the reeds,
Only the deep reflection of things,
Of lilies, palms and roses,
Still weep on the water’s bed.
One by one the flowers shed their leaves
Upon the firmament’s reflection
To descend, eternally,
Beneath the dream’s water and into the moon.

Recording 11.12. Free associations on Debussy's La mer (Knudsen, Halse & Åse). From the concert Skärningspunkter III, Birka Folkhögskola, Krokom, 2023-12-10.

This recording represents our approach with improvising over a 'collage score', i.e., a score put together with themes and building blocks taken from La mer (movements 1 and 2), a way of working that we found particularly rewarding, as these elements could be combined in an infinite number of ways.

To illustrate how the approach could lead to results that were very different – yet similar – I've also included a recording based on the same collage score, done two days earlier:

Collage score based on La mer (PDF file).

Recording 11.13. Free associations on Debussy's La mer (Knudsen, Halse & Åse). Recorded at the Department of Music, NTNU, 2023-12-08.

As yet another reference, below is the first version we did in concert, based on the first adaptation Variations on la mer, which – in contrast to the collage score – had a determined chronology. This was the arrangement which I later 'cut open' as a basis for the collage that we created.

Recording 11.14. Variations on La mer, Knudsen, Halse & Åse. From Young Researchers' Night, Rockheim, Trondheim, 2022-09-30. Video art by Rachel Wolfe.

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