From left to right: Ruben Sverre Gjertsen, Jostein Gundersen, Mikko Perkola, Alwynne Pritchard, Hans Lub.
It will be natural to return to some of our research questions, which now have a set of musical answers. I will be very brief and refer back in circle to the musical works presented in this expostion, and my collegues in the "Wheels within wheels" research group responsible for two other events: "Mouvance I: Mass" and "Mouvance II: Intonation".
- Can investigations into repertoire from periods that are less well covered with theoretical treatises on improvisation lead to new strategies for improvisation?
You may find answers in the "Mouvance I: Mass" concert. Ensemble Currentes developed skills over 3 years and created a full mass program in Ars Nova style.
- How can improvisations of polyphony influence the way we improvise and perform diminutions (ornamentation), and vice versa?
This is the core competence of Ensemble Currentes, who performed various diminutions over plainchant lines during "Mouvance I: Mass", while I was invited to add subtle sounds of church bells and mass texts.
- How can the material, working methods and creative solutions of improvising performers influence the composers ́ development of concepts, strategies and tools for composing?
Practises of ornamentation were adapted, "misunderstood", and put into an experimental context. Interactions took place between the field of Historically Informed Performance (HIP) and the field of new experimental music. My own interaction with a computers transformation of the same materials and sounds added another wheel to the creative process. I contributed through compositions, improvisation suggestions, software development and electro acoustic sound installations.
- How can the material, working methods and creative solutions of composers influence the performers ́ improvisations?
It became increasingly natural for the whole ensemble to create abstractions and timbral variations. It did not happen only at the initiative of the composers, the performers are the experts in pushing boundaries on their instruments.
- How might these processes influence the performance of repertoire from the past?
Our versions of "Soto l'imperio del posente prince" and "Le ray au soleil" were set up as performances of medieval scores, while the improvised abstractions placed the performances outside the realm of HIP.
It was suitable for the project to not end of with one "magnum opus" of a notated piece, and rather open for contrasting situations where the musicians feed back on the ideas. For the future, I will exclude neither composing large scores nor presenting open concepts. This concludes my composer confessions from the "Wheels within wheels" project. I wish to thank all my collegues.
