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Concerto for Improvising Soloist and Two Ensembles

Concerto for Improvising Soloist and Two Ensembles (287)

This work, commissioned by the Huddersfield Festival, forms a significant part of my research into notation, improvisation and the physicality of performance seen as possible forms of material.

The work explores a wide range of notational strategies from very precise complex notation to various degrees of freedom in spatial and open form notation. The material for Ensemble I is largely notated, whereas Ensemble II is formed by improvisers whose ‘material’ consists of instructions as to how they might react to and engage with the notated material. Similarly, the soloist’s part is improvised with specific instructions as to how he or she might develop and supplement material from the ensemble. Fully notated music alternates with completely improvised music. The order of the sections is free, and they may be combined or subdivided.

The aim of this work is to explore the nature of musical material in relation to instrumental techniques in terms of what can or can’t be notated and what might form meaningful boundaries of notation. As the score shows, each section addresses different notational and improvisational contexts with specific instructions as to how the material should be interpreted.

I have been working for some time with complex notational strategies which aim to redefine the gestural nature of material and performative responses to notation beyond inherited concepts of notation as a one to one mapping of a musical idea. But my work has also involved extended playing techniques and combinations of actions, which seem more related to the work of free improvising musicians and which perhaps transcend conventional notation. The potential connection between these extremes became apparent to me as an experienced improviser. In this work I was interested in exploring how the psychological aspects of notation or freedom change the nature of the material.