Repertoire

Below are the compositions that made up the principal part of the repertoire:

All in Twilight (T. Takemitsu)

Utanmyra-variationer (E. von Koch)

Ludus Tonalis (P. Hindemith)

By the Still Waters (A. Beach)

Assez lent, no. II from Valses nobles et sentimentales  (M. Ravel)

Prelude en berceuse (H. Dutilleux) 

Sonatine for Flute and Piano (H. Dutilleux) 

La mer (C. Debussy)

Pastorale in D (G. Tailleferre)

Reflets (L. Boulanger)

D’un vieux jardin (L. Boulanger)

Cortège (L. Boulanger)

Variazioni, no. III from Cinque preludi. (E. Szőnyi)

Leggiero, no. VIII from Nine preludes for piano (R. Crawford Seeger) 

These compositions are presented in chronological order, as they appeared in the project.

All in Twilight (T. Takemitsu)

All in Twilight is a composition for solo guitar in four movements by Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1966), a self-taught Japanese composer who became famous for his unique way of synthesizing elements from Western and Eastern music traditions. Takemitsu's universe encompasses a wide spectrum of influences that ranges from Japanese traditional music to modernist music by Debussy, Messiaen, and Cage, via the Beatles and Ellington. All in Twilight was commissioned by and dedicated to British guitarist Julian Bream, as one of four major guitar works written by Takemitsu, the other ones being Folios (1974), Equinox (1993), and In the Woods (1995). It’s worth pointing out that three of these works include titles that are inspired by works of visual art, where All in Twilight is taken a watercolor painting from 1932 by Paul Klee. This shouldn’t not be over-interpreted as an ambition from Takemitsu to create a musical representation of the painting; in his own description, the painting provided him with an impression that resonated with the music he wanted to compose for Bream (Takemitsu, 2003). Seen this way, the title resembles the way names are used by impressionist artists and composers, where titles serve to evoke an expressive atmosphere, rather than a definite depiction.

One of the things that separates Takemitsu’s writing from typical Western approaches to music making is his conception of time: 

Westerners, especially today, consider time as linear and continuity as a steady and unchanging state. But I think time as circular and continuity as a constantly changing state. These are important assumptions in my concept of musical form. Sometimes my music follows the design of a particular existing garden. At times it may follow the design of an imaginary garden I have sketched. Time in my music may be said to be the duration of my walk through these gardens. I have described my selection of sounds: the modes with their variants, and the effects with shades, for example. But it is the garden that gives the ideas form. (Takemitsu, 1995, p. 119)

This is reflected throughout the composition, where time signatures are often changing – with the exception of the fourth movement – and where phrases are often of irregular length, rather than adhering to periods of 4, 8 or 16 measures. Takemitsu's description also gives an idea of how nature plays an important role in his music; in fact, he occasionally referred to it as one of his main teachers, alongside Duke Ellington and Claude Debussy.

 All in Twilight was chosen together with Härenstam already in 2017, as we started our explorations of this music. One of the reasons for turning to the music was the richness of its language;  from early on, we had a sense that it could work well as a common ground between classical guitar and jazz piano.

Utanmyra-variationer (E. von Koch)

Utanmyra-variationer is a composition for solo guitar by Erland von Koch (1910-2009), a Swedish composer often associated with his interest for Swedish folk music. In Utanmyra-variationer, written in 2000, von Koch has created eight variations based on the Swedish folk song Visa från Utanmyra. This is a song that is forever engrained in the Swedish national soul thanks to pianist Jan Johansson and his recording on the album Jazz på Svenska, from 1964. On this album, Johansson – together with bassist Georg Riedel – combined the worlds of jazz and Swedish folk music in a way that brings out something new in both worlds.

Utanmyra-variationer was a piece in Härenstam's repertoire that we brought in to our duo, as a piece that seemed a good starting place for a meeting between classical guitar and jazz piano.

Ludus tonalis (P. Hindemith)

Ludus tonalis is a work written for solo piano by German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), a composer that played a big role in developing a German strand of neoclassicism. Composed in 1942, the Ludus Tonalis suite can be seen as a 20^th-century reflection of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, with twelve fugues, eleven interludes, a preludium and a postludium that covers all of the twelve major/minor keys.  The selected movements were:  

10. Fugue in E (written in the style of a Gigue),

11. Interludium: Romantic miniature,  and 

12. Fugue in Eb: Rococo style.

Ludus Tonalis was chosen after a conversation with Krister Andersson, about potential music that might be rewarding to improvise over in a duo setting. The way Andersson described Hindemith’s music caught my interest, with its “tonal jumps” and its tendency of moving in an unrestricted manner between tonalities. Based on that conversation, I decided that Hindemith would be a good choice for further study, and soon found Ludus Tonalis to be a rich source of musical material and ideas. I later learned that jazz composers such as Kenny Wheeler had found inspiration in Hindemith's music as well, which strengthened a sense of connection with the music. What drew me to the movements in particular were their melodic qualities, their unexpected harmonic turns, and the fact that their language seemed like something that might be within reach from a jazz improviser’s point of view.

By the Still Waters (A. Beach)

By the Still Waters, op. 114, is a piece for solo piano published in 1924 by Amy Beach (1867-1944), one of the first American female composers of large-scale classical works. The title is taken from Psalm 23 of the bible, verse. 2; "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul …". The biblical reference shouldn't be over-interpreted, however; as Beach explains, the piece is secular and inspired by nature, in particular the calmness of gently flowing waters (Block, 2000, p.228).

Although there's a certain tonal ambiguity in the start, as can be observed in the water-like arpeggios of the piano, Ab major is eventually established as the tonal center. This bears a particular significance, seen that Beach had synesthesia – the phenomenon of making connections between musical sounds and colors – where Ab major was the key that she associated with the color blue, an apt choice for a piece that evokes the image of gently flowing water (Clarke, 2024). While one might draw associations to other piano pieces inspired by water, such as Ravel's Jeux d'eau from 1901 or Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau from 1905, there is a steady pace to Beach's composition that distinguishes it from the water-inspired music of the French composers.

Assez lent, no. II from Valses nobles et sentimentales (M. Ravel)

Valses nobles et sentimentales is a suite of waltzes composed by Maurice Ravel (1895-1937), one of the composers most frequently associated with French impressionism. The piano version was published in 1911, and an orchestral version was published in 1912. These waltzes were written with a direct allusion to two collections of dances by Franz Schubert from 1823, Valses nobles and Valses sentimentales. According to Ravel himself, this reference expressed his “intention of composing a series of waltzes in imitation of Schubert” (Ravel, 2003, p. 31). Although frequently assigned the label impressionist, Ravel – in contrast to Debussy – often adhered to established forms and maintained a fascination for dance forms such as the waltz; this would later materialize in his 1920 work La Valse – a composition that, just as Valses nobles, started out as music written for solo piano before Ravel created the orchestra version.

Assez lent was also chosen for my duo sessions with Söderqvist. This came from a long fascination for Ravel's harmonic colors – as explored in other situations – in combination with certain expressive qualities that spoke to me in the melody; 'avec une expression intense', as indicated by Ravel in the score. I had also observed some similarities to Billy Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge, and was curious as to see whether Söderqvist and I might be able to improvise over Ravel's piece with similar ease. 

Prélude en berceuse (H. Dutilleux) 

Prélude en berceuse is a piece for solo piano by the French composer Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013). Although he has been recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation, Dutilleux's reputation rests on a relatively small production of little more than a dozen major works. While rooted in the impressionistic writing of Debussy and Ravel, with influences from Bartok and Lutoslawski, Dutilleux wrote in an idiosyncratic, modernist style that was distinctly his own. Prélude en berceuse is the first piece from Au gré des ondes (At the Whim of the Waves), a collection of six pieces for piano written between 1945-1946, as musical illustrations intended for radio. Prélude en berceuse is written in the style of a lullaby – berceuse meaning cradle – with a cantabile melody gently moving over modal harmonies. The frequent alternation between the natural fifth and the flat fifth also evokes a certain character of uneasiness.

Prélude en berceuse was initially tried out with Söderqvist, and then adapted for Derupeto. The piece was chosen after I had heard a version with Chick Corea and Bela Fleck on piano and banjo – performed without improvisation – which made me realize that it could work well in another setting.

Sonatine for Flute and Piano (H. Dutilleux) 

Sonatine for Flute and Piano, composed and published in 1943, is an early work by Dutilleux in three movements: Allegretto, Andante and Animé. The piece was written as part of a series of test pieces for students, commissioned by the Paris conservatoire. Although Dutilleux was generally critical of his earlier works – including Sonatine – it’s one of his most frequently played chamber music works. The movements selected here were no. 1 and 2.

Sonatine for Flute and Piano was chosen as a piece to explore together with the trio en en en. What initially attracted me to it was its rich melodic and harmonic language, in combination with a certain mysterious quality that pervades the first theme. In particular, I was curious about how we might approach expanding on Dutilleux's melodic cells in our improvisations. 

La mer (C. Debussy)

La mer is the only orchestral work in the repertoire, by Achille-Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Although arguably the composer most frequently associated with the term impressionism, Debussy himself strongly rejected the term. La mer, with the full title La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), is a work in three movements composed between 1903 and 1905. The movements are:

I. De l'aube à midi sur la mer (From dawn to noon on the sea) – très lent – animez peu à peu
II. Jeux de vagues (Play of the waves) – allegro (dans un rythme très souple) – animé
III. Dialogue du vent et de la mer (Dialogue of the wind and the sea) – animé et tumultueux – cédez très légèrement.

 The titling symphonic sketches should be underlined; Debussy preferred this term to symphony, following his proclivity to steer away from what he called 'administrative forms' (Roads, 2001). Nevertheless, it has been called the greatest symphony ever written by a French composer, and described as an equivalent to Monet’s impressionist paintings. 

The idea of using La mer as a starting point came from my supervisor, Michael Duch, as an idea for a concert based on 'the ocean' as a theme. This was the starting point for the trio with Halse and Åse, for which I adapted the music.

Pastorale in D (G. Tailleferre)

Pastorale in D is a piece for solo written by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983). Tailleferre was the only female member of Les Six, a Paris-based composer collective consisting of Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc and Tailleferre herself. The group has been seen as a reaction against the German Romanticism and the French impressionism of the time. Pastorale was written in 1919 and published 1920 as the last composition of Album des Six, a series of six pieces for solo piano written by Les Six. The piece, dedicated to Milhaud, contains several passages with polytonality, i.e. the combination of two or more different tonalities. This was a common compositional device at the time, most notable in the writing of Milhaud, Stravinsky, Bartok, Ravel, and American composer Charles Ives, who experimented with the technique already in pieces from the 1890's. It’s worth noting that the discussions about polytonality could be quite harsh in the 1920's, as illustrated by this quote from Poulenc in 1922: “polytonie is a dead end that will go out of fashion within five years, unless it is the means of expression for some type of genius, like Darius Milhaud”. In a letter to Poulenc the following year, Tailleferre writes “I follow your good advice and don’t write any more polytonality.” [Je suis tes bons conseils et je ne fais plus de polytonie.] (de Médicis, 2005).

Pastorale in D was chosen for the duo with Evenstad. What drew me to the piece was its idiosyncratic character, as presented already in its first measures, and the possibility of applying some of the piece's polytonal language in our improvisations.

Reflets (L. Boulanger)

Reflets is a 1911 composition for voice and piano by French composer Marie-Juliette Olga "Lili" Boulanger (1893-1918), the younger sister of renowned composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger. Though her life was cut short by chronic illness, Boulanger was a prolific writer who, in 1913, became the first woman composer to win the Grand Prix de Rome, a fellowship that allowed her to spend an extended period at the Villa Medici in Rome to compose new music. Like Debussy, Boulanger was drawn to the Symbolist poetry of writers such as Stéphane Mallarmé and Maurice Maeterlinck; the latter providing the text that serves as the foundation for Reflets.

D’un vieux jardin (L. Boulanger)

D’un vieux jardin (= From an old garden) was written in 1914 and published as the first piece of the collection Trois morceaux pour piano (= Three pieces for piano), with Cortége as the third (and last) piece. These pieces, written during Boulanger’s stay at Villa Medici in Rome are among the more frequently performed of Boulanger’s works, compositions that align with a rebirth of the character piece in France around the turn of the twentieth-century (Hunter, 2023, p.101-104). A character piece is a brief composition, often written for piano, that expresses a specific mood or extra-musical idea; here it evokes the image of an old garden. However, seen as the titles for these pieces were added after they were completed, it’s not certain that this was a deliberate choice from Boulanger's side during the composition process; the titles might even have been suggested by people in her environment. (p. 103). In this piece, we find many examples of the rich colors that became a trademark of the impressionist composers, in combination with a melody that often create a tension against the underlying chord. The opening phrase is also reminiscent of Debussy's Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune.

D'un vieux jardin was chosen for the trio with Kristoffersson and Olsson, mainly because of its harmonic colors. Also, it intrigued me to see whether we could approach this piece in a trio setting, similarly to a Bill Evans ballad or an ECM trio number.

Cortège (L. Boulanger)

Cortège was written in 1914, as one of the pieces that Boulanger finished during her stay at the Villa Medici. The piece was written in two different versions; first as a solo piano piece published in the set Trois morceaux pour piano (Three pieces for piano), and then – later the same year – in a version for violin and piano, published as the second part of Deux morceaux pour violon et piano (Two pieces for violin and piano). In the duo versions, the violin part has some melodic runs that are adapted to fit the range of the violin, as well as some added melodies and countermelodies that are not present in the original version. There are also slight changes in the rhythms of the piano accompaniment, as well as some deviations in harmony. In the piece, Boulanger moves around between different modalities and tonalities that eventually returns to the home key of B major. Worth noting is the Spanish character that is particularly prominent in the middle section, as a contrast that contributes to the dramaturgy of the piece. This also reflects a trend of its time, as the fascination with Spanish music was common to many French composers around the turn of the 20th century. The piece also contains passages with triads moving chromatically over a pedal point in the bass, a device that Boulanger also used in other works.

Cortège was also chosen for the trio with Kristoffersson and Olsson, because of its upbeat nature, its singable melody and its harmonic inventiveness in general.

Variazioni, no. III from Cinque preludi (E. Szőnyi)

Variazoni is a piece written in by the Hungarian composer Erzsébet Szőnyi (1924 - 2019). Besides being an well-respected composer with a highly eclectic style, Szőnyi was also a choir conductor, teacher, and an important figure in music education in Hungary. Variazoni is the third of five preludes for piano solo – Cinque preludi per pianoforte– published in 1966. The piece is relatively short, spanning over ... with time signatures going from 2/4, via 3/4, to 4/4, before returning to 2/4. It's an atonal piece – i.e., written without a tonal center – that is created using serial techniques. It largely follows the twelve-tone technique developed by Arnold Schönberg, based on a set of 12 pitches that are presented in a sequence of permutations throughout the piece;

C Bb F Gb D G E Ab D# A B C#

The piece doesn’t strictly adhere to twelve-tone ”rules”, however; pitches are occasionally repeated and/or skipped. The choice of this technique stands out since Szőnyi, by her own admission, wasn’t much of an adherent of twelve-tone devices, at least not as ends in themselves. Jaccard (2014) suggests that the technique particularly resonated with Szőnyi when justified by an extra-musical plot, such as in Berg's opera Wozzek or Britten's Peter Grimes. In the words of the composer herself: "I am not really too much for twelve-tone music but I love Wozzek, and if I love Wozzek, it means that I am all right with dodecaphony as well" (Szőnyi in Jaccard, 2014, p. 248).

Variazioni was chosen for the quartet with en en en. Some of the things that drew me to the piece were its angular melodies with wide leaps, a high degree of dynamic contrast, and several rich sonorities.

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

Leggiero is a piece for solo piano by the American composer Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-1953), a central member of a group of American composers known as the "ultramoderns". Leggiero is taken from Crawford Seeger’s Nine preludes for piano (1924 - 1928), with the first five preludes written in 1924-1925 followed by four more in 1927-1928. One of the striking features of the piece is the frequent use of fifths as a building block. These are found in the left-hand ostinato that starts the piece, in harmonized right-hand phrases throughout the piece, and as an element that is stacked to create large sonorities. This is Crawford Seeger's description of the piece:  “Having just finished playing my wild Prelude No. 8 in primitive fifths…this one represents a human laugh.” (Crawford Seeger in Gaume, 1983, p. 139) 

Leggiero was initially chosen for ensemble exploration with music students at NTNU, then brought to the quartet with en en en. Leggiero was chosen for its raw, untamed expression as found in the 'primitive fifths'.