(re)thinking improvisation

RethinkingImprovisation-CD

Two CD’s and a DVD were produced as part of the publication (re)thinking Improvisation: artistic explorations and conceptual writing, published in a box by Lund University Press in 2013. All recordings were made live during an international festival at the Inter Arts Center in Malmö, Sweden.

Wu Wei and Cléo Palacio-Quintin joined The Six Tones for a performance of Sandeep Baghwaati’s Transience (2008), a comprovisation with an interactive score designed for a group of three Asian and three Western performers, drawing on the musical traditions represented by each individual musician. In the three large group improvisations titled The ethics of improvisation 1-3 The Six Tones are joined by more guests from different musical cultures and parts of the world, displays the collaborative capacity of an improvising community.

The relationship between freedom and constraint, as well as between improvisation and composition, was also highlighted in the conducted performances in the recordings, most notably in the rendering of parts of Cardew’s Great Learning, directed by John Tilbury, as well as in the performance of Gino Robair’s opera I, Norton with the Swedish group Operaimprovisatörerna, and in Ture Larsen’s Beslutningens anatomi with The Six Tones and guests. The difference between a sign inscribed as visual gesture in space and as written text is questioned, while a different question also emerges that has to do with work identity and individual agency.

The CDs contain the world premiere recordings of works by the Vietnamese composer Kim Ngoc Tran Thi, the swedish composers Christer Lindwall, Staffan Storm and Henrik Frisk and by the British composer Helen Papaioannou, all drawing on various aspects of encounters between cultures and between the practices of improvisation and composition.

All material on these two CDs was recorded live during (re)thinking improvisation at Inter Art Center in Malmö, Sweden.

CD 1

1. Ture Larsen: Beslutningens anatomi (12:28) performed by The Six Tones and Wu Wei, Kalina Goudeva, Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, Liudas Mockunas, Jakob Riis, Thanh Thuy, and conducted by Ture Larsen
2. Matthew Ostrowski & George Cremaschi: Humpenscrump (5:07)
3. Group Improvisation: Duty (The ethics of improvisation #2) (12:03) performed by Per-Anders Nilsson, Wu Wei, Thanh Thuy, Kalina Goudeva, Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, Liudas Mockunas, Quang Hung, Stefan Östersjö and Jakob Riis
4. Kim Ngoc Tran Thi: Chuyển Dịch (Move) (2011) for tranh, bầu and electric Vietnamese guitar (11:36), performed by The Six Tones
5. Helen Papaioannou: Cogs (2011) for two saxophones and electric guitar (7:13) performed by Helen Papaioannou, Henrik Frisk and Stefan Östersjö
6. Henrik Frisk: The Transparent I (2011) for chamber ensemble and electronics (11:23) performed by The Six Tones with Wu Wei, Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, Markus Falkbring, Kalina Goudeva and conducted by Rei Munakata The Six Tones: Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, đàn tranh / Stefan Östersjö, guitars and tỳbà, Nguyễn Quang Hưng, đàn bầu / Henrik Frisk, saxophone and electronics Wu Wei, sheng / Liudas Mockunas, saxophones / Jakob Riis, electronics / Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, accordion / Markus Falkbring, viola / Kalina Goudeva, double bass Per-Anders Nilsson, electronics Matthew Ostrowski, electronics / George Cremaschi, double bass Helen Papaioannou, saxophone Ture Larsen, conductor / Rei Munakata, conductor

CD 2

1. Matthew Ostrowski & George Cremaschi: Mateotechny (4:39)
2. Christer Lindwall: Es muss alles anders werden (2008) for chamber ensemble (world premiere) (10:53) performed by The Six Tones with Wu Wei, Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, Markus Falkbring and Kalina Goudeva, conducted by Rei Munakata
3. Group Improvisation: Virtue (The ethics of improvisation #1) (9:11) performed by Wu Wei, Liudas Mockunas, Henrik Frisk, Jakob Riis, Rasmus Scharff Kjøller
4. Staffan Storm: While the City Sleeps No 2 (2006) for dan ty ba, dan bau and electro- nics (9:45) performed by The Six Tones
5. Sandeep Bhagwati: Transience (2008) for voice(s), 1–3 aerophones and 1–3 chordophones on texts from the 13th century Japanese anthology Wakan Roei Shu (transliterated and translated by J. Thomas Rimer) (11:57) performed by Wu Wei, Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, Nguyen Quang Hung and Markus Falkbring
6. Group Improvisation: Happiness (The ethics of improvisation #3) (17:03) performed by The Six Tones with Wu Wei, Liudas Mockunas, Jakob Riis, Kalina Goudeva and Rasmus Scharff Kjøller The Six Tones: Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, đàn tranh / Stefan Östersjö, guitars and tỳbà, Nguyễn Quang Hưng, đàn bầu / Henrik Frisk, saxophone and electronics Wu Wei, sheng / Liudas Mockunas, saxophones / Jakob Riis, electronics Rasmus Scharff Kjøller, accordion / Markus Falkbring, viola / Kalina Goudeva, double bass Per-Anders Nilsson, electronics / Cléo Palacio-Quintin, flute Matthew Ostrowski, electronics / George Cremaschi, double bass Rei Munakata, conductor

All video recorded and edited by Rutberg Media, mastered at MPEG.SE, Stockholm.
All audio recordings were produced by Henrik Frisk at the Inter Arts Center.
Mixed and mastered at Inter Arts Center by Henrik Frisk and Stefan Östersjö.

Thanks to all organisations that contributed to the festival and conference at the Inter Arts Center:

Ars Nova, C/Y Contemporary, CIRMMT, Debaser, Grace och Philip Sandbloms fond, Helge Ax:son Johnsons stiftelse, Frim Syd, Inkonst, Jazz i Malmö, Kulturrådet, Konstnärssnämnden, Letterstedtska föreningen, Media Massage, Signal, Skånes scen för live- och crossoverkonst, St Johannes Church, Malmö stad, Musik i Syd, Sparbanken Finn Framtidsstiftelse, Stiftelsen framtidens kultur, Swedish Research Council

 

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