Abstracts
Abstract
This article explores the ways in which the music of experimental composer Christian Wolff engenders surprise through processes of disruption and provocation. The contexts under examination are: scores which employ cueing strategies; improvisatory pieces; ensemble pieces; pieces for solo piano; and Wolff’s practice as an improvising musician. These case studies show how Wolff’s music occupies a particular position between improvisation and composition. In examining the space that Wolff’s music opens up for contingency and play, and in adopting a view of indeterminacy as understood through performance rather than limited by its notation, the article puts forward a view of indeterminacy grounded in sociality. More broadly, in its contribution to the body of literature investigating the role of notation in improvisation practices, the article invites a reconsideration of the ontological understandings of composition, improvisation, and performance.
Keywords:
- Christian Wolff,
- improvisation,
- indeterminacy,
- performance,
- surprise
Résumé
Cet article explore la façon dont la musique du compositeur expérimental Christian Wolff parvient à provoquer la surprise en s’appuyant sur différentes stratégies de perturbation. Cinq contextes sont examinés : les partitions qui reposent sur l’échange de signaux entre les interprètes ; les pièces à base d’improvisation ; les pièces d’ensemble ; les pièces pour piano solo ; et, enfin, la pratique d’improvisation de Wolff lui-même. Ces études de cas montrent comment la musique de Wolff occupe une position particulière entre l’improvisation et la composition. En examinant l’espace que la musique de Wolff ouvre à la contingence et au jeu, l’article adopte une vision de l’indétermination comprise comme ressource pour l’interprétation (et non comme simple limite de la notation), qui repose en définitive sur les interactions sociales entre les musiciens. Plus largement, en s’inscrivant dans le champ des travaux qui analysent le rôle de la notation dans les pratiques d’improvisation, l’article invite à reconsidérer les ontologies implicites de la composition, de l’improvisation et de l’interprétation.
Mots-clés :
- Christian Wolff,
- improvisation,
- indétermination,
- interprétation,
- surprise
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Appendices
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Christian Wolff for his participation in our research. We also wish to thank Scott McLaughlin and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.
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Discography
Web links
Scores
Appendices
Notes biographiques
Philip Thomas
Philip Thomas se spécialise dans l’interprétation des musiques écrites expérimentales et improvisées à titre de soliste et en tant que membre de l’ensemble Apartment House, pionnier des musiques expérimentales. Quelques-uns de ses enregistrements récents incluent une collection de cinq disques consacrés à la musique pour piano solo de Morton Feldman, une autre collection de cinq disques consacrés à la musique pour piano solo de Christian Wolff, un album double, avec l’ensemble Apartment House, composé de Concert for Piano and Orchestra de John Cage et de Resistance de Wolff, des enregistrements d’oeuvres pour plusieurs pianos de Morton Feldman ainsi que des disques monographiques des compositeurs Christopher Fox, Jürg Frey, Michael Finnissy, Bryn Harrison, Cassandra Miller, Tim Parkinson, Michael Pisaro, James Saunders, and Linda Smith. Récemment, il s’est également produit aux côtés des pianistes Mark Knoop, Catherine Laws, Ian Pace, and John Tilbury, de même qu’aux côtés de la Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Thomas est présentement Professor of Performance à l’Université de Huddersfield et codirecteur of CeReNeM. Il publie de nombreux textes consacrés à l’interprétation et à la musique expérimentale.
Emily Payne
Emily Payne est chargée de cours en musique à l’Université de Leeds. De 2015 à 2018, elle a été auxiliaire de recherche postdoctorale attachée au projet « John Cage et le Concert for Piano and Orchestra », financé par le Arts and Humanities Research Council (ahrc). Ses champs de recherche incluent les approches psychologiques et anthropologiques de l’interprétation musicale – particulièrement en lien avec la musique de l’après-Guerre –, la créativité, la collaboration, l’incarnation et la matérialité. Ses travaux ont été publiés par Contemporary Music Review, Cultural Geographies, Music & Letters, et Musicae Scientiae. Elle est coéditrice du Oxford Handbook of Time in Music (à paraître en 2020) et de Material Cultures of Music Notation : New Perspectives on Musical Inscription (Routledge, à paraître en 2020). Elle est également Éditrice assistante de la revue Music & Science.