(Un-) settling Sites and Styles

Einar Røttingen

(Un-)settling sites and styles: In search of new expressive means. Eight performers (voice, piano, violin, cello), one musicologist and one composer aspired to unsettle their habitual ways of working with musical interpretation of 20th century and contemporary Norwegian composers. By collaborating to develop new perspectives and methods, they investigated questions of style and how different sites influenced their rehearsals and performances. How do performers find new expressive means? How can intersubjective exchange within a research group contribute to articulating tacit knowledge? How can mutual unsettling approaches influence conventional or subjective attitudes of fidelity to a score or a performance tradition? How can novel sounds, musical material and musical meaning emerge beyond prejudiced conceptions or through improvisation? The three-year project was facilitated by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme and the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (Grieg Academy), University of Bergen, and resulted in texts, sound recordings, videos, and new commented score editions.

(Un-)settling sites and styles

- in Search of New Expressive Means

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Expressive means

Unsettling and unlearning

Unsettling sites and styles

Methological approaches

The individual projects

Results and documentation

References

SITE MAP

VIDEOS AND SCORES

In a seminar in December 2019 we attempted to exemplify how the vocal intonation varied according to the singer’s “imagined tonic”. We repeated the follwing bars sevaral times, with varying imagined tonics.

See score “Svarte krossar” (exerpt) in sidebar

Listen to “Svarte krossar” (exerpt) in sidebar

Recording from a seminar, December 10^th 2018.

Examples of three different imagened tonics – focussing on changes in vocal intonation.

Music by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) Op. 243, No 6 (1963).

Lyrics by Olav H. Hauge (1908-1994) from the poem collection “Glør i Oska” (1946).

Performed by Njål Sparbo (voice), Einar Røttingen (piano).

The complete song was also performed during the seminar, focussing on the singer’s intonation and exaggerating the “blue notes” (deviations from the tempered piano tuning) to fully expose the tonal implications.

See score “Svarte krossar” in sidebar

Listen to “Svarte krossar” in sidebar

Recording from a seminar, December 10^th 2018.

Music by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) Op. 243, No 6 (1963).

Lyrics by Olav H. Hauge (1908-1994) from the poem collection “Glør i Oska” (1946).

Basic narrative: “Black crosses in white snow – the dead people come to the grave yard to rest beneath the frozen soil”.

Performed by Njål Sparbo (voice), Einar Røttingen (piano).

Expressiveness can be considered to be a variation of communicative “codes” or “signs”, intended to add content or context to words, music or physical gestures. In the project “Sonotical interpretations”, the search for various means of expression was considered to be an ongoing, never ending process, based on the expressiveness tested during the rehearsals as well as tuning in to emerging expressions during performance that might be appreciated as meaningful. To be able to challenge habitual ways of dealing with expression, the focus was systematic during the initial phases of the project, experimenting with different

tempos,
places of musical gravitation,
phrasing and trajectories,
rhythmical patterns and displacements,
timbres, colouring and balancing of chords,
dynamics,
modal tonics, and
musical flow or restraint between phrases.

An exaggerated sense of settledness or fidelity towards the score, composer or tradition, does not only restrict the performers’ musicality during performance; it also restrains their physical autonomy and technical capacities, leading to distressing psychopysical tensions, or even anxieties. Towards the end of the sonotical project the focus was directed towards different ways of listening whilst singing and playing, attempting to emancipate ourselves from premeditated intentionality, and tuning in to the expressiveness that occurred in the spur of the moment.

The communication between singer and pianist was developed through a common appreciation of aesthetics, based on nearly two decades of collaborative rehearsals and performances, including the research period. We did not attempt to change anything in Tveitt’s notated score, but articulation, rubato, gravitation points, dynamical flow and colouring were all improvisational elements. This kind of intuitive, “unsettled” expressiveness was perceived as acceptable to us as professional musicians due to all of the preceeding preparations, experiments and rehearsals. Like any other form of improvisation, it can be both risky and fruitful. Sensing, trusting and reacting to each other’s expressions in real time is an essential part of the performative setting.

See score “Dagvise” in sidebar

Listen to “Dagvise” in sidebar

Recorded at University Aula, Bergen, (Final concert) February 23rd, 2020

Music by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981).

Lyrics: first stanza of «Dagvise» from Øverland’s poem collection «Hustavler» (1929)
Basic narrative: “A calm, philosophical reflection about how to approach the upcoming day”.

Performed by Njål Sparbo (voice) & Einar Røttingen (piano)

See score “Eg henta ei glede” in sidebar

Listen to “Eg henta ei glede” in sidebar

Recorded at University Aula, Bergen, (Final concert) February 23rd, 2020.

Music by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981).

Lyrics: from Lygre’s poem collection «Fest i september» (1960).
Basic narrative: “A joyful but fragile nostalgic sentiment about lost love”.
Performed by Njål Sparbo (voice) & Einar Røttingen (piano).

See score “Stig ei båre” in sidebar

Listen to “Stig ei båre” in sidebar

Recorded at University Aula, Bergen, (Final concert) February 23rd, 2020.

Music by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981).

Lyrics: from Bruheim’s poem collection «Ved kjelda» (1972).

Basic narrative: “A desperate desire to reach the unreachable”.

Performed by Njål Sparbo (voice) & Einar Røttingen (piano).

S C R O L L D O W N

sonotical interpretations of 70 songs by Geirr Tveitt

further reading about the project

audio, video: text and score

biographical notes about