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Forlorn Hope

First performed by Stefan Östersjö (guitar) and Juan Parra Cancino (electronics), ORCiM Research Festival, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, 5 October 2012.

Video of first performance: http://youtu.be/HWLjkRH8ytk

Part of an ongoing collaborative project with Stefan Östersjö that explicitly sets out to explore the creative consequences of treating aspects of the respective composer and performer roles in a fluid manner. Ethnographic methodology is employed to document and analyse the creative interactions, with insight from this process being fed back into the strategies of composition and performance. Compositional materials are generated and tested through workshops and improvisation, and performance ‘problems’ are negotiated and embedded within notation. In the case of Forlorn Hope particular foci of exploration include: development of the microtonal tuning system and new instrumental techniques; use of an open form that requires the performer to recompose the structure and gestural shaping of the piece in each performance; the collaborative development of an improvising electronics part; the transcription and recomposition of John Dowland’s Forlorn Hope Fancy.

Work in progress was presented at the following conferences: Celebrating John Dowland's 450th Anniversary (RMA Study Day), Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University, 4-5 May 2013; From the Known to the Unknown: Possible worlds for artistic experimentation in music - Fourth Annual Research Festival, Orpheus Research Centre in Music [ORCiM], Ghent, 3-5 October 2012; The Reflective Conservatoire 3nd International Conference – Performing at the Heart of Knowledge, Guildhall School of Music. 17-20 March 2012; Performance Studies Network International Conference, University of Cambridge, 14-17 July 2011.

The research processes are described in the following book chapter: Eric Clarke, Mark Doffman, David Gorton, and Stefan Östersjö, ‘Fluid Practices, Solid Roles? The evolution of Forlorn Hope’ in Creativity, Improvisation and Collaboration: Perspectives on the Performance of Contemporary Music, ed. Eric Clarke and Mark Doffman (Oxford, forthcoming).