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.

Improvisation as dynamic, complex system

This project adopts a view of musical improvisation put forth by Marcel Cobussen in his Field of Musical Improvisation (2017), where improvisation is understood as a dynamic and complex system. In this view, the improvisational environment can be understood as an ecosystem in how it is composed of parts that dynamically interact with each other. This includes humans, i.e., the bodies and minds of the performers, as well as the communities they form, e.g., bands, ensembles, or more temporary constellations. But it also involves non-human objects such as instruments, technology – including music notation – and acoustics, things that tangibly affect the musical environment.

Improvising, in fact, may be one of the most complex abilities humans can develop: it requires a tremendous coordination of ears, hands (body), and mind; some learned or instinctive understanding of music (techniques, theory, history, styles, etc.); sufficient motor control, as the improviser needs to be both fast and accurate; and the ability to interact with the environment (fellow musicians, audience, space, acoustics, etc.) while simultaneously playing and reflecting on one’s own playing. (Cobussen, 2017, p. 83)

The field of musical improvisation can be understood as a complex system because of the many ways in which the different elements can interact during improvisation. Adding to the unpredictability of musical outcomes, even small changes in these interactions can lead to significant shifts in the music. Therefore, improvisation becomes a flexible and adaptive process,

, growing through constant adjustments and readjustments by the input from musicians (both learned and spontaneous [re]actions) and the environment (both human and non-human), and resulting in a perpetual negotiating between order and disorder, structure and chaos, free and fixed elements, stability and fluidity, etc. (Cobussen, 2017, p. 84)

A central concept here is the idea of actants, taken from Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory, which are the human and nonhuman components that are a part of the network, actants that are “at work” during the musical process. However, the role of these actants and their connectivity is not given beforehand; it is through interaction with others and contribution to the improvisational environment that the identity as an actant is formed. Thus, an object becomes a musical instrument when it’s played in a musical context, and the performer's identity as an improviser is established through engaging in improvisation. Some of the actants proposed by Cobussen are: the past, the score, technology, the instrument, and the audience.

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