One of the most enduring outcomes of the research project remains, however, how the participants’
own practices were conclusively exposed and mo-dified through the concrete work on material – th-rough dialogues and gatherings, artistic processes, concerts and works that came into being over the course of the project – whose topicality and explo-siveness often surprised us . Another aspect con-cerns the way the questions open up to and branch out into adjacent areas such as a radicalisation of the role of teaching, norms for copyright principles and an expanded notion of theory . The latter is re-latively underdeveloped in contemporary discourse
and demands a systematic, profound and to some degree radical research initiative that our project was unable to accommodate . It may also be here that the key to a genuinely expanded field lies hid-den . In other words, there remain many paths to explore and there is no doubt that the project’s con-ceptual world – although disputed and perhaps be-cause of that – contains a significant subject matter for music as a dynamically changing art form .
One of the aims of the research was to put to-gether an anthology in which a variety of texts would express our own processes and considera-tions, and reflect the thoughts of invited guest authors on some of the questions exposed by the work . Consequently, in the final phase of the project, we published Freedom and Limitations in Music – 16 variations on a theme (editor: Magnus Haglund, Daidalos förlag, 2012) with articles by writers such as Anna Christensson, Fredrik Ny-berg, Jenny Hval and Mats Persson, accompanied by concise black and white photographs taken in the authors’ homes by Lina Selander and Lena Bergendahl . The anthology does not claim to sum-marise or explain . Quite the reverse; the texts constitute a kaleidoscopic document that – like the research against which it is braced – scans and sounds out an artistic field full of contradictory, vertiginous depths .
For individual project contributions see pp. 138–147.
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Joint activities – an overview
below are brief summaries of some of the events – symposia, workshops, concerts and others – that came out of the research project. The purpose of the list is to provide an insight into what proved to be the most productive arena and medium of the re-search: the physical encounters relating to common interests, dilemmas and expectations.
then=noW – rewriting history
ultima Festival, norwegian academy of music, 18/09/09 – The symphony orchestra of the norwe-gian academy of music with soloists einar steen-nøkleberg and jonas cambien performed a pro-gramme that, layer by layer, presented adaptations of a musical canon in the form of orchestral interpre-tations of arnold schönberg’s sechs kleine klavier-stücke (op. 19) by composition students from oslo and gothenburg, together with a work for orchestra, schumannphantasie, by hans Zender. The concert was curated by henrik hellstenius and ole Lützow-holm (concept), morten wensberg (conducting), su-sanne Øglænd (direction) and ignas krunglevicius (video).
the Boundaries of interpretation
iscm world new music days, artisten, gothenburg, 02/10/09 – a public seminar on the research project,
which collected participants from the fields of theatre, opera and music, including director johanna garpe, conductor andrew manze and interpreters Victoria johnson and Fredrik ullén. The questions addres-sed and discusaddres-sed through performative contribu-tions, dialogues and individual statements aimed at examining the possibilities and limits of interpretation as well as problematising the sociocultural basis for understanding the musical work.
an expanded field of art music – through a glass darkly
academy of music and drama, university of gothen-burg, 14–15/06/10 – discussions over two days with a reference group consisting of magnus Florin (dra-maturge/author), cecilia hansson (poet), anna koch (choreographer), mats persson (pianist/composer) and Lina selander (visual artist). The group was in- vited, from a subjective perspective, to give feedback and critical response to the individual sub-projects of the research, all of which were works in progress at that time.
limits of interpretation – are there any?
academy of music and drama, 26/10/10 – seminar workshop considering the options of viewing inter-pretation work as an emancipatory act, based on the music by johannes brahms. participants: string
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musicians camilla hedner, helena åberg, johanna östling and hanna bendz (academy students) plus pianists jonas cambien, anna christensson and Love derwinger.
inteRfeRence
inter arts center, malmö, 08–09/04/11 – public sympo-sium with interdisciplinary encounters between prac-titioners of music and theatre. joint event with Teatr weimar and ars nova in malmö. The symposium al-ternated between short lectures and performances, workshops, readings, rehearsals and discussions concerning potential productive links between the different ways that the two art forms approach the work’s sense of place and context, interpretation and examination. one of the hypotheses was that art music, like traditional theatre, is in need of institutionally critical strategies to maintain some sort of relevance as a vibrant form of expression. a host of actors, musicians, researchers and doctoral students from oslo, malmö, gothenburg and stockholm took part, alongside students from the malmö Theatre acade-my and malmö acadeacade-my of music.
“Who creates the creator”
– and the limits of interpretation?
gothenburg concert hall 06/10/11 – a public seminar in conjunction with anders hultqvist’s production of beethoven’s symphony no. 5 and the first perfor- mance of melancholia for oboe, guitar and orchestra.
participants: Lydia goehr, andrew manze and anders hultqvist.
excursions and Refuges
artisten, academy of music and drama, 03/04/12 – con-cert by the musica Vitae chamber orchestra (conduc-tor: staffan Larson, cura(conduc-tor: ole Lützow-holm). in ad-dition to music by benjamin britten, charles ives and paul dessau, the programme included a performance of exposition – reprise, a new work by Lützow-holm that examines concepts such as leakage, co-creation and the incomplete. The concert opened with a pres- entation of the research project, a more in-depth work commentary and a few excerpts from the piece.
soUndinteXt
norwegian centre for new playwriting, oslo, 01–
03/06/12 – public symposium with participants from
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the fields of theatre, literature and music. The pro-gramme built on the dramaturgy from the malmö con-ference inTerFerence and once again alternated performances with seminars, presentations and dis-cussions. This time the focus was on transgressions/
cross-fertilisation between text and sound in the con-text of different experimental genres. The idea was for concrete practices/methods that in various ways gen- erate, blend and reformulate linguistic/musical mate-rial to influence each other reciprocally and provoke a different discourse in this cross-disciplinary field.
anthology Release
rönnells antikvariat (antiquarian book store in stock-holm), 09/10/12 – swedish release of the anthology freedom and limitations in music (editor: magnus haglund, daidalos förlag, 2012); appearances by anna christensson, anders hultqvist, magnus Florin, Lena bergendal, mats persson, ole Lützow-holm and magnus haglund. an introduction to the research project was also given.
final seminar
academy of music and drama, university of
goth-enburg, 28/02/13 – a final seminar on the research project towards an expanded field of art music.
The time had come to report what had happened with the project’s fundamental concepts and spec- ulative assumptions and to ask questions about results, new knowledge, dissemination and possible further research: where did the ideas take us? how can our experiences be reviewed and assessed by others? how has the practice itself been modulated, changed and expanded? in order for the seminar also to provoke a critical discussion of methodology development and individual artistic works, which the research generated, we called in dr catharina dyrssen, professor of architecture, and dr maria bania, a musician with a phd in musical performance, as opponents. both made valuable observations, two of which are to be mentioned here: 1) The project’s critical potential could be neutralised as soon as it is embraced by the establishment and it also runs the risk of itself becoming a dogma. 2) a central im-petus and contribution appears to have come from conceptual confrontation and reinterpretation: music viewed as alternately text, configuration, materiality and corporeality.