(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

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ABOUT EINAR RØTTINGEN

The pianist Einar Røttingen is Professor of Music Performance at the Grieg Academy, University of Bergen. He has performed extensively throughout Europe, USA, Japan, and China. In addition to performing standard repertoire, such as concert series with Beethoven’s piano and chamber works, he has actively collaborated with composers and commissioned new works. He has especially contributed to presenting works by Norwegian composers throughout the world. Røttingen is an active chamber musician and a member of the Valen Trio together with violinist Ricardo Odriozola and cellist John Ehde. His extensive collaboration with the singer Njål Sparbo resulted in performances of Edvard Grieg’s complete songs in 2007.

CD recordings include the complete solo piano music and “Piano Concerto” of Harald Sæverud, solo CDs “Avgarde” and “Norwegian Variations”, and collaborative CDs “Hika” (with violin), “Chromos” (with flute), “Serre Chaudes” (with voice), “Fête Galantes” (with voice), “Voices of Women” (with voice) and George Crumb’s “Makrokosmos III-IV” (four hands). Recent CDs include “Gardens of Hokkaido” (with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra), “Valen Trio, Chamber Works of Knut Vaage” and “Chamber Works of Ketil Hvoslef” (9 CDs).

In 2006, he completed the PhD dissertation Establishing a Norwegian Piano Tradition: Interpretive Aspects of Edvard Grieg’s “Ballade” Op. 24, Fartein Valen’s “Sonata No. 2” Op. 38 and Geirr Tveitt’s “Sonata No. 29”, Op. 129. He was the project leader for the three-year artistic research project (Un-) settling Sites and Styles: In Search of New Expressive Means (2017-2020) sponsored by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme.

Røttingen has initiated and organised contemporary music activities in Bergen (festivals, ensembles, concert series). As board leader of the International Edvard Grieg Society (2012-2021) he has been involved with arranging bi-annual conferences/workshops and international exchanges. Einar Røttingen was awarded the City of Bergen Cultural Prize (1993) and The Bergen International Festival Robert Levin Festival Prize (1997).

See einarrottingen.com

S C R O L L D O W N

rethinking expression in the piano music by Harald Sæverud

further reading about the project

biographical notes about Einar Røttingen