Willem
Tanke
The
research question is: can my expertise in nineteenth century based
performance practices, free improvisation, the early music movement
and playing with musicians from world music, jazz and pop traditions
be combined to create an original, innovating practice, in which
improvisation, composition and interpretation permanently interact
with each other?
The
thesis will be structured as follows:
Preface
Chapter
one: Introduction
Chapter
two: Re-contextualizing ancient modality
A.
Quality of sound and inner silence as a starting-point
B.
Creating a network of exercises with rhythmic melodic patterns
Chapter
three: Re-contextualizing fragments of organ works by Olivier
Messiaen
Chapter
four: Case studies
Chapter
five: Conclusion
Preface
The
role of video, audio and PDF files
Videos
on YouTube show how music examples are performed by zooming in on
hands, possibly also feet and overall views. They contain essential
information which a text alone cannot give, among other things as a
contemporary alternative for the voce del maestro,
frequently mentioned in eighteenth century partimenti in
addition to the written exercises. In addition, they show that music
examples are memorized and played by heart, as an essential part of
my approach. To demonstrate the flow of performance, all examples
have been recorded in one track from beginning till end, without
edits. In addition, the videos illustrate a typical eighteenth
century feature, to which I connect in a twenty-first century manner,
namely hiding in stead of showing the effort of performance (as
described in chapter one). All videos have been previously posted on
my blog Some Thoughts on Playing the Organ and
Willem Tanke's Blog on New Music.
In this context, comments on the videos have been most useful; they
gave the research a certain interactive quality and often led to new
versions of pieces and adjusted viewpoints. In case there is no video
recording available, an audio file on SoundCloud is used. As
many efforts have been made to obtain optimal sound quality, the
reader is asked to listen to the recordings through good loudspeakers
or headphones.
PDF
files show scores of complete pieces and passages.
Chapter
one: Introduction
Firstly,
the introduction will specify how the terms 'nineteenth century based
performance practices', 'free improvisation' and 'early music
movement' should be understood in the context of this research.
Secondly, my expertise in these fields and playing with musicians
with world music, jazz and pop backgrounds will be explained.
Thirdly, it will specify what I mean with 'an original, innovating
practice in which improvisation, composition and interpretation
permanently interact with each other'.
Nineteenth
century based performance practices, free improvisation and the early
music movement in the context of this research
(for
the time being just a short indication)
Nineteenth
century based performance practices: performance practices based on
a nineteenth century heritage which largely determined the
performance of Western classical music in the twentieth century up to
the present age.
Free
improvisation: the combined outgrowth of a new approach to
improvisation in contemporary Western music, initiated by Cage and
other composers, free jazz and avant-garde pop music.
The
early music movement: a movement which aims at restoring performance
practices before 1800, as a reaction to the nineteenth century based
'main stream' performance practice.
N.B.
Some points to consider:
● free
improvisation can hardly be described in terms of a homogenous
movement. Still, in all its diversity it may be looked upon as a
typical Western phenomenon which I then relate to my expertise in
playing with African musicians
● the
early music movement for some decades already also aims at restoring
aspects of nineteenth century based performance practices itself.
My
expertise in nineteenth century based performance practices, the
early music movement and free improvisation
I
recorded Messiaen's oeuvre for organ on eight CDs, in line with the
nineteenth century based performance practice of the French romantic
organ school. In addition, I regularly performed major organ works by
Max Reger and recorded his Variationen und Fuge
über ein
Originalthema op. 73 on SACD,
according to the performance practice of the German romantic organ
school. Since 2001, I have chaired numerous instrumental and vocal
exams at Rotterdam Conservatoire which represent nineteenth century
based performance practices. My involvement with the early music
movement has been far more time-consuming. From the age of eighteen,
I have participated in the early music movement, as a student and a
professor of main subject organ at the Utrecht Conservatory between
1977 and 2000 and through continuous efforts to re-create an
eighteenth performance practice associated with J.S. Bach. Activities
concerning free improvisation have been less time-consuming, but took
place regularly from when I was seventeen years old and naively
adapted Stockhausen's 'cosmic style' of Aus den sieben
Tagen. In 1996, I founded a free
improvisation ensemble which still exists ad The Art of
Doing Nothing. Two CDs and two
SACDs with my improvisations have been issued. My expertise in performing with musicians from world music, jazz and pop traditions is
as follows:
● from
1998 until 2000, I was the organist of the African choir with singers
and drummers from Ghana and Cameroon in the Scotch Reformed Church in
Rotterdam. We performed not only in the church, but also at African
parties.
● since
2007, I have been co-operating with Mike Garson, mainly known for his
work with David Bowie but also an acclaimed jazz pianist
● from
2007 until 2010, I co-operated with tabla player Sandip Bhattacharya
and bansuri player/flutist Henri Tournier
● from
1998 until 2000 and 2009 until 2011, I played with jazz saxophonist
Gijs Hendriks
● with
bass clarinetist Henri Bok I gave four cross-over performances with
bass clarinetist/saxophonist Bennie Maupin (mainly known for his work
with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock) and jazz trumpetist Eric
Vloeimans
● since
2012, I have been co-operating with rock/blues musician Frank Fish
● since
2012, I have been co-operating with jazz/heavy metal drummer and
composer Friso van Wijck.
● in
2012-2013 I made recordings with jazz and world music students of
Codarts, University for the Arts, Rotterdam.
Creating
an original, innovative practice in which improvisation, composition
and interpretation permanently interact with each other
In
the context of this research 'interpretation' refers to the
performance of Bach's trio sonatas for organ BWV 525-BWV530,
Messiaen's Soixante-quatre durées
(from Livre d'orgue)
and Livre du Saint Sacrement, as
well as my own
compositions. 'Improvisation' and 'composition' have to be understood
in the spirit of Nettl's Thoughts on improvisation,
as differents point of a continuum (of which eventually
interpretation also becomes a part). The artistic results should
demonstrate that this practice is indeed original and innovating.
Chapter
two: Re-contextualizing ancient modality
A.
Quality of sound and inner silence as a starting-point
This
elaborates on a research called The Art of Doing Nothing,
which I carried out for the World Music Research Group of
Codarts, University for the Arts, from 2004 until 2006.
Starting-point for The Art of Doing Nothing was the
organ-playing of J.S. Bach, who could achieve an extraordinary
powerful musical expression with very small movements of fingers and
feet only, according to one of his contemporaries. During my study
and afterwards, this helped me form a picture of an ideal way of
playing the organ and musicianship in general. With an eye to
composers who were also known to be interpreters and improvisers,
such as (besides J.S. Bach) Chopin, Liszt, Franck and Messiaen, The
Art of Doing Nothing aimed at improving mental and physical
conditions for musicianship, by creating a good balance between
performing, improvising and composing, with the help of analysis and
research.
I
related the observations on Bach's playing to a typically 18th
century term in German music: vernehmendes Hören, which
translates as 'observational listening'. It implies that the
performer has a kind of inner silence even while playing exciting
passages. Through many years of experience, I found that this inner
silence is the result of a continuous striving for the best possible
quality of sound and at the very basis of good communication with
other musicians and audiences. Consequently, I used it as a tool for
cross-overs with musicians from various backgrounds, as a universal
connecting value. Several recordings will demonstrate this, for
example Stillness, which I
originally composed for organ or piano solo, but in the following
used
as a framework for improvisations by musicians from world music,
jazz, and pop traditions. It is a slow, contemplative piece without
any technical difficulties, allowing the performers to fully
concentrate on quality of sound and inner silence.
The organ solo version which is at the basis of a series of improvisations is as follows:
The version which is most removed from the original:
Stillness, ensemble version with voice
The organ solo version which is at the basis of a series of improvisations is as follows:
The version which is most removed from the original:
Stillness, ensemble version with voice
B.
Creating a network of exercises with rhythmic melodic patterns
Until
the late '90s my improvisations may be described as some sort of
strange amalgam of contemplative Gregorian chant and wild outbursts
of energy that I associated with Coltrane's free jazz, linked to each
other by ancient modality in an overall rubato atmosphere.
A video of a free improvisation ensemble with jazz and pop musicians
which I founded in 1996 will show this. Playing with African singers
and drummers in the Scots Reformed Church in Rotterdam between 1998
and 2000 changed my views on improvisation; from then I wanted to be
able to play with a much tighter rhythmical organization. Fascinated
by the African habit of improvising on a groove,
I started to practise simple rhythmic patterns within the modal
framework that I was used to. At the beginning, I played these
patterns only with the left hand, to provide a bass for possible
future melodies, played with the right hand. Later, I changed the
functions of the hands, as the right hand would play the groove and
the left improvised lower voices. Over the years I developed a
variety of rhythmical melodic patterns which appeared to very useful
in, for instance, cross-overs with jazz and pop musicians. An example
is Train in the sky, for which percussionist Renato Peneda memorized the series of patterns
which I gave him:
Chapter
three: Re-contextualizing fragments of organ works by Messiaen
While
chapter two mainly illustrates the use of ancient modality in a
contemporary context, chapter three enters a different world:
atonality, as found in bird songs and complex harmonic passages from
organ works by Olivier Messiaen. As with the change caused by playing
with the Africans, it was through practice itself that I discovered
the possibilities of this world for my own improvisations and
compositions. In 2007, while practising a difficult passage for a
Messiaen concert, I suddenly realized that his atonal bird songs
contain archetypal call, answer and question motives which might be
transformed and enrich the vocabulary I had developed until then.
After some years of practising, this procedure turned out to be an
efficient tool in cross-overs with other traditions, as demonstrated
in the following video with jazz saxophonist Ruben Verbruggen and
jazz/heavy metal drummer Friso van Wijck:
The
dissertation will be very specific on where the original material is
taken from and how it is treated. For instance, in the following video the first duet from L'Ange aux parfums, the third movement of Les Corps Glorieux is played. Composed in 1939, it is still unique in organ literature and provides excellent opportunities for improvisation.
Both the left and right hand parts are used as starting-points for improvisatory exercises. First, the left hand solo, exactly as Messiaen wrote it:
A series of improvisatory exercises based on this left hand part will follow, so that the reader may compare the proceedings. The first of this series will be:
The part for the right hand as Messiaen wrote it is as follows:
This will also be followed by a series of exercises/improvisations.
Both the left and right hand parts are used as starting-points for improvisatory exercises. First, the left hand solo, exactly as Messiaen wrote it:
A series of improvisatory exercises based on this left hand part will follow, so that the reader may compare the proceedings. The first of this series will be:
The part for the right hand as Messiaen wrote it is as follows:
This will also be followed by a series of exercises/improvisations.
Chapter
four: Case studies
Case
study one: Interpreting trio
sonatas for organ by J.S. Bach with a new kind of authenticity
Ever
since the 19th century, Bach's trio sonatas have been looked upon as
a sanctuary in the organ repertoire. They are extremely difficult to
play, as one musician should do the work that is usually done by two
or three musicians. As a touchstone for the organist's abilities they
are not only admired but also feared and avoided in public
performances. For any organist, they create the dilemma of making
appear easy, spontaneous and even improvisatory what can only be
achieved after huge efforts. They are so well-known and admired that
one could speak of the "burden of history", a burden which
contradicts the fact that these sonatas were originally only meant to
be exercises for Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann. To eliminate this
burden and rediscover the pure joy of exercise is the aim of this
case study.
I
therefore connect the performance of Bach's sonatas to the many
exercises I made based on rhythmic melodic patterns and fragments
derived from Messiaen. The result is a short cut from the beginning
of the 21st century to Bach's days, deliberately ignoring the history
in between and involving other music traditions. It may be regarded
as a new kind of authenticity; the added value to existing recordings
of Bach's sonatas could be described in terms of a hitherto unknown
drive, elegance, supplesse and expression.
N.B.
This case-study is the most challenging part of the research and
probably also the hardest to account for. The phenomenon of the
performing/improvising composer has been accepted since long, and
also the fact that such a musician may be an acclaimed interpreter of
contemporary works by others, but to be in the heart of Western
classical music (as Bach is) at a top level of performance and at the
same time be an original, innovative improviser/composer is without a
precedent. If my Bach interpretations should appear to be convincing,
the positive effect of my research on, for instance, a younger
generation of musicians would be much larger than without this case
study. It might be compared than an artistic doctoral research of,
for instance, an Indian singer, who gives contemporary, adventurous
performances with musicians from other traditions while also
demonstrating to be a master of dhrupad.
The state of affairs in the three movements of BWV525:
Case
study two: Assimilating a drummer's way of thinking and practising
When
I began to improvise and compose with the rhythmic melodic patterns
described in chapter one, I only occasionally practised with a
metronome, relying on the good reputation I had for rhythmic accuracy
as a performer of organ works by Messiaen and avant-garde composers
of the late twentieth century. I now regard this as a sign of
unjustified self assurance, typical for many performers of Western
classical music, who tend to look down on using the metronome as
something for beginners and not quite worthy of higher artistic
aspirations. Playing some of these patterns with the excellent tabla
player Sandip Bhattacharya (who transcribed the rhythmical part in
Hindi syllables) in 2007 and 2008, showed my weakness in this
respect: it appeared that my way of playing was not steady and did
not match his accuracy. In 2012, the same weakness still appeared in
playing with pop/funk drummer Hans de Greeve and he justly criticized
me of not knowing exactly when, for instance, I was playing thirteen
or fourteen beats in a pattern. In the same year, a solo piano
version of a piece with such patterns was recorded at the Bloomline
Studio and edited by Leo de Klerk to compensate for a lack of
rhythmical precision. At this editing session, he informed me that he
had treated award-winning CDs with baroque music in the same way,
sometimes with up to a thousand edits for one CD. After that, I
decided to leave my Western classical way of dealing with rhythm and
started to assimilate ways of thinking and practising from other
traditions through weekly rehearsals with jazz/pop/heavy metal
drummer and composer Friso van Wijck, to improve the performance of
my own music but also to escape from what I regarded as quite a
decadent lack of authenticity in dealing with baroque music. This
case study is therefore directly related to my performance of Bach's
trio sonatas, all movements of which have been recorded in one track,
without edits. The main goal, however, is to describe into detail how
this assimilation took place and resulted into a concert program
which Friso van Wijck and I deloped together. As a
supplement, the case study will
contain some not too difficult exercises with irregular beat
divisions and complex meters, which may serve any classical keyboard
player (pianist, organist, harpsichordist), solo or in cross-overs
with other traditions.
Case
study three: Leaving the notion of Western art music
A
historical outline alone not yet fully explains why I connect to
other music traditions and my own tradition up to the end of the
eigtheenth century. On a deeper level, research into the notion of
Western art music, which came into existence in the nineteenth
century, may be needed. Is there a relation with the gradual
disappearance of improvisation as a link between composition and
interpretation? Quite a number of Western classical musicians tend to
look down upon improvisation as something wild and primitive which
belongs to the realm of folk music, ignoring the fact that some of
the greatest composers (Bach, Mozart and Beethoven) were known to be
excellent improvisers. The origin may even be traced back to the
eighteenth century itself, the age of enlightenment in which Rousseau
initiated the notion of the noble savage. There are complex
psychological factors at work here; I know, for instance, of certain
colleagues who fully acknowledge that Hariprasad Chaurasia is a
genius, but still adhere to the idea that even a mediocre performance
of Western classical music is in some way
superior
to the highest level of Hindustani music (by the way, a similar
notion of superiority exist in Indian classical music too)). In this
respect, it would be interesting to know if Adorno knew that
musically gifted young orphans at a conservatorio
in eighteenth century Naples studied partimenti
as the best way to make a living and escape from poverty. Perhaps
not, as he probably would have sympathized with them and adjusted his
view on improvisation in jazz.
A
clear relation with the case study on the performance of Bach's trio
sonatas is that I intend to avoid 'the burden of history' and create
a short-cut from the present age to Bach's days by just enjoying as
them exercises. This burden of history is is partly due to the fact
that these pieces have always been considered as a paramount of
Western art music. Leaving the notion of Western art music altogether
then is a first step to make the intended short-cut. To do so is in
my opinion not only a mental decision, but something to be realized
in musical practice itself. Therefore, the outcome of co-operating
with rock/blues musician Frank Fish should also be seen from this
perspective. We performed together on several occasions, for instance
at a cafe with a beer-drinking, noisy audience and the sharp sound of
a coffee grinder. This appeared to be a good exercise to descend from
the Parnassus heights generally associated with Bach's music. In
addition, regarding eighteenth century music in general, the
atmosphere of that cafe may have been more authentic than the
respectful silence of contemporary audiences. An example of our work is World of Pain, a
pop song by Frank Fish with a simple chord scheme that I preluded on
and extended with complex harmonies related to Messiaen, but also
with some wild, rhapsodic figures of my own invention.
According to Frank, this gave the
song an extra dimension, an added value not yet known in pop music.
Case
study four: Playing
with jazz musicians
Cross-overs
with jazz evidently create a very interesting domain for this
research. Some of the rhythmic melodic patterns I made for piano or
organ solo appear to be exciting grooves for improvising jazz
musicians. In addition, complex harmonies derived from Messiaen tend
to appeal to them and add something to the harmonic vocabulary which
they know from their tradition. Last but not least, the melodic
fragments which I 'sampled ' from scores by Messiaen appear to be
potentially interesting bird song licks, suitable for spicy, slightly
atonal jazz solos with a very contemporary feel. This case study
deals with cross-overs with several jazz musicians presented in
chronological order, so that they may be seen in the context of
developments described in previous chapters.
The
first recording is with jazz trumpeter Eric Vloeimans and bass
clarinetist Henri Bok (mainly active in Western classical music but
also in jazz). Here we operate within an modal framework that we
agreed upon during a rehearsal a few days before the concert. The
organ provides a drone which refers both to Indian music and modality
of Coltrane's free jazz. The drone is activated by rhythmical
patterns played on other manuals and the pedal. These have a clear
structural function which we decided to use on beforehand; in that
respect this is not a free improvisation, although in a certain
degree it captures the atmosphere generally associated with free
improvisation. There is no sign of Messiaen fragments yet; the
recording was made before I discovered that possibility.
The
second recording is with pianist Mike Garson, who was trained as a
jazz musician by, among others, Lennie Tristano, grew up with the
rise of free jazz in New York in the '60s, but became mainly known
for his work with pop star David Bowie from the '70s up to the
present age. There was no rehearsal for this recording, but discussed
a certain structure during about ten minutes before the concert. We
began to play according to this structure, but at 2'58'' in the following video completely went into other directions; the improvisation became very
free then. Still, there is no sign of Messiaen yet.
N.B.
Mike Garson suggested me to make research into Lennie Tristano's
dubbing technique and pieces like Turkish
mambo,
and relate that to contemporary ways of working, but I did not yet
find time for that. It may be very interesting.
The
third recording is one of many made with jazz saxophonist pur
sang
Gijs Hendriks, with whom I co-operated between 1998 and 2000 (as an
organist and a synthesizer player) and 2009 and 2011 (as a pianist).
Gijs Hendriks was, as he said, at the time blown away completely by
Coltrane's free jazz but hardly participated with Dutch avant-garde
improvisers like, for instance, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg and
Han Bennink. Therefore, he is considered by many more as a main
stream jazz musician. In our work, however, he wanted to explore new
ways of creating music as a next step after free jazz and the
established Dutch avant-garde. He regretted that a documentary on his
work and life issued in 2012 did not mention this aspect of his
musicianship. Therefore, this part of the case study has the
additional value of making that known and adjusting the general image
of a prominent Dutch jazz musician (there is more than enough
material, for instance, for a master research on this subject).
The
following recording shows in particular how a jazz musician may
respond in an improvisatory way to complex harmonies derived from
organ pieces by Messiaen.
Finally,
there will be an account of the work with jazz saxophonist Ruben
Verbruggen, whom I came to know when he studied at Codarts in
2012/2013. This is particularly interesting as he was the first jazz
musician to practise the bird song fragments which I distilled from
Messiaen and integrate these in his own solos.
Case
study five: Some contributions to the East-West dialogue
This
will begin with a historic outline, from when Ravi Shankar and Yehudi
Menuhin played together (yet to researched). Recordings with tabla
player Sandip Bhattacharya and bansuri player/flutist Henri Tournier
made between 2007 and 2010 will then be regarded in the context of
this outline. Among other things, it may appear that the left hand
rhythmic melodic patterns of the case organ in the following video,
synchronized by tabla as a basis for the improvised solo on flute, is
without a precedent. These organs have been used in East-West
encounters before, but simply to provide a drone, similar to a
tanpura. It may then serve, for instance, as an example for Indian
harmonium/organ players, who use their instrument either to provide a
drone or melodic right hand solos.
The
second part of this case study is dedicated to recordings made in
2012 with Michalis Kouloumis, violin, Aleksandros Papadimitrakis,
oud, Marina Liontou, oud, and Josuè
W. Amador, electric guitar. At the time, they were students of
Codarts; each of them carried out a master research in which
improvisation played an important role. It will appear that these
recordings are harmonically much more complex than the recordings
with Sandip Bhattacharya and Henri Tournier, due to two reasons:
● a
tabla tends to keep the music fixed in one tone centre
● I
used chords derived from Messiaen in the work with the students, but
not yet with Henri Tournier and Sandip Bhattacharya.
A
particularly interesting aspect of a recording with Marina Liontou
will be presented: the use of complex, chromatic chords within the
framework of a modal tone centre. This may lead to new insights
regarding the use of keyboard instruments (i.e. the vast majority
with a traditional twelve tones per octave division) in combination
with instruments that produce micro tones. The general view is that
such keyboard instruments can not adequately respond to subtleties evoked by micro tones. In the following video, however, a delicate use of complex chromatic chords, particularly from 3'40", seems to contradict this view.
The original meaning of the word chromè
(“colour”)
may then be related to, for instance, the notion of rasa
in
Indian music, traditionally also associated with colour. It must be
said that this development is still very elementary and requires a
serious investigation.
Case
study six: Free improvisation revisited
In
chapter two and three I described how from the late '90s I took a
certain distance from free improvisation as I had practised before,
by using a very structured method leading to a network of rhythmic
melodic patterns and transformed Messiaen fragments. Similar to, for
instance, tabla playing, radif
in
traditional Persian music or partimenti
in eighteenth century Western classical music, I memorized and
internalized this network so that every part of it could be performed
at any time, not only at the instrument but also mentally and even
while being half asleep (the latter still being a work in progress).
Having reached that state of affairs, I re-entered the field of free
improvisation, in the sense of performing without any arrangement
made on beforehand. In this I try to be, as it were, beyond control
and let the fingers (and
possibly feet) move quasi automatically. It is a fruitful experience,
as not only the internalized patterns pop up, but also unexpected new
ones. An example of this took place during a lesson on free
improvisation to bass clarinetist William Hayter:
Another
manifestation of taking up free improvisation again in a renewed
context (but without the lack of control aimed at in the previous
example) is the work with a free improvisation ensemble which I
founded in 1996. Actually, this ensemble is called The
Art of Doing Nothing,
and consists of Martijn Alsters, flutes and live electronics, René
van Commenée,
various instruments and voice, and Willem Tanke, organ, piano and
keyboards. Compared to our previous work, the improvisations are more
structured without loosing the overall atmosphere of free
improvisation. This is in particular due to very organized rhythmic
melodic patterns which are treated like grooves and alternate with
free rubato
passages,
as shown in the following video.
Case
study seven: New ways of
interpreting scores by Messiaen
In
2012, I was asked to play Messiaen's Livre du Saint Sacrement
(1984) at the Rumor Festival of "adventurous pop music"
in Utrecht. However, not the complete piece, which lasts over two
hours, but a selection of the eighteen movements with a total
duration of about sixty minutes. This selection should then consist
of the "heaviest" movements, which —as known by insiders—
tend to thrill not only classical music audiences but also the
general public. This unusual request confronted me with a musical
problem; it was clear that I should choose the tutti pieces,
but if one plays fortissimo all the time any audience, even
that of for instance heavy metal aficionados, would get tired and
miss the point. On the other hand, I felt that I should not alternate
the heavy pieces with some of the soft, more etheric movements which
Messiaen wrote, as that would remove the concert too far from the
audience's taste. For some weeks, I racked my brain as to how I
should solve this problem and at last found a solution: to alternate
the heavy pieces with some of my lighter improvisations on rhythmic
melodic patterns, which were not derived from Messiaen at all. This
would break the rather austere atmosphere of Messiaen's music and
introduce an aspect which an adventurous pop audience might
appreciate. This formula appeared to be successful and to my
amusement one of the reviews mentioned "Messiaen's pop beats",
which for insiders of classical music is quite an absurd
qualification. The recording of the whole concert is presented in
this case study, as it should be listened to and judged on a macro
structure level. It serves as an example of how a contemporary
practice in which improvisation, composition and interpretation are
full integrated can affect the performance of an already canonized
piece of the organ repertoire. It must be said that I might not have
ventured to do this for a regular classical audience and that the
adventurous pop lovers undoubtedly stimulated me to make this choice.
Audio
example Livre du Saint Sacrement, Domkerk Utrecht, 2012 (fragment): Example combining Messiaen with improvisation
Another
example of profoundly changing the context of a composition by
Messiaen, even on a deeper level, is A View Out of Time,
for piano solo. Far beyond the level of a transcription, this is a
complete re-interpretation of Messiaen's organ piece Soixante-quatre
durées, the last movement of Livre d'orgue (1951), in
such a way that many would not recognize it all and think that it is
one my compositions. Still, the procedure is very different from
taking fragments from organ works by Messiaen and treat them as
described in chapter three; it is more like showing another side of
the original piece in a new light. The original piece by Messiaen is as follows:
The re-interpreted version for piano:
The re-interpreted version for piano:
Audio example: A View Out of Time
Both interpretations can be regarded as completely opposed to the nineteenth century notion of Werktreue, to which Messiaen himself and his wife Yvonne Loriod, perhaps his most prominent interpreter, adhered very much. In fact, I am almost sure that they would have disapproved of my work. Still, it seemed to me necessary to do so, also in this respect leaving nineteenth and twentieth century traditions and open new ways.
Both interpretations can be regarded as completely opposed to the nineteenth century notion of Werktreue, to which Messiaen himself and his wife Yvonne Loriod, perhaps his most prominent interpreter, adhered very much. In fact, I am almost sure that they would have disapproved of my work. Still, it seemed to me necessary to do so, also in this respect leaving nineteenth and twentieth century traditions and open new ways.
Chapter
five: Conclusion
A
clear framework for the conclusion still has to be made. The
construction could be more or less as follows.
The
first section begins with a little story which I invented to draw a
parallel between partimenti playing and my own practice, in a
light-hearted atmosphere that contradicts the pompousness which so
often accompanies the notion of Western art music.
"In
18th century Naples, a student of a conservatorio is preparing for
-besides his daily studies of partimenti-
a performance of a piece by Domenico Scarlatti, then famous in the
whole of Europe for his brilliant oeuvre for cembalo. One evening, he
plays the piece by Scarlatti during a concert for a small audience of
music lovers and connoisseurs. As the piece is well-known and a
touchstone for any clavecinist, he does his best to play exactly what
is written in the score and be acclaimed for his refined
interpretation. The next day, however, during his daily routine of
practising partimenti,
he remembers an intriguing passage from Scarlatti's score and starts
to play around with it, in an improvisatory manner. He then combines
the passage with some of the partimenti
that he is actually working at, as a special exercise and to make the
improvisation more varied. The same evening, he shares his musical
experiment with
some fellow musicians
in an informal setting, different from the concert the day before.
This time, he doesn't play around, but critically judges the balance
between variety and repetitions, as a composer would do and after
returning home he makes some sketches, as a memory aid. On Sunday, at
the organ in a church nearby, he is asked to play some music during
the offertory. Again our student improvises on the passage by
Scarlatti and the partimenti,
according to the sketches he made, but taking care to adapt his
improvisation to the
particular qualities
and needs of the organ. During the week that follows, he writes a
complete version of the piece, one that he considers as
well-balanced. This does not imply that on future occasions he would
always play this version; on the contrary, one day, waiting for his
bread at the baker's, he heard someone whistle a tune that would
match his piece to perfection, so he decided to integrate that also,
with some slight adjustments. On another occasion, this adapted
version served a duet for flute and cembalo. Unfortunately, the
student's piece did not remain in history; the manuscript was never
printed and one day accidentally thrown away by his landlady."
This
story also refers to interchangeability of instruments, a typically
eighteenth century feature and completely in line with my use of the
organ and the piano.
It
will be followed by an account of the relation between Bruno Nettl's
Thoughts on Improvisation one
the one hand, and partimenti
playing and radif in
traditional Persian music on the other (Mohsen Mohammadi, a foremost
authority on radif, is
a good friend of mine and we discussed it already rather thoroughly).
It will then appear that both partimenti
playing and radif are
manifestations of similar ways of thinking and practising, which also
fully apply to my practice. Consequently, my practice will be taken
out of the limited context of Western classical music and be
considered on a more universal level.
The
second section will focus on putting the many cross-references made
in chapters two until four in a coherent context, including
a reflection on my own development similar to the following.
From
when I started to improvise in churches I have been developing my own
musical language, sometimes very slowly during a period of some
years, but since the late '90s with growing intensity. At first, this
language was rather one-dimensional, based on modality similar to
Gregorian chant and Coltrane's free jazz and suitable only for free
improvisation in an overall rubato
atmosphere. Playing with African musicians between 1998 and 2000 was
the starting-point for creating a continuously extending network of
rhythmic melodic patterns, resulting in a language with a much
tighter rhythmic organisation, but still only two-dimensional. Since
2007, a third dimension has been added by integrating mainly atonal
fragments from organ works by Messiaen, leading to a melodic and
harmonic enrichment which made the language complete and suitable for
cross-overs with jazz, world music and pop. Whereas the first, second
and third dimension have come “from within”, these cross-overs
may result in a fourth dimension “from the outside”. Whereas the
first three dimensions are rather complete now and made me we well
equipped, the fourth still has to grow, in particular through playing
with other musicians.
Finally,
there will be an account of how the research may generate new
insights in the fields of:
● nineteenth
century based performance practices, free improvisation, the early
music movement, world music, jazz and pop separately
● musicianship
in general by demonstrating that tracks created by traditions
and music industry are not exclusive and that other rewarding paths
may be found.
