Shifting roles and phrasing
The trio "Des Sommers Wochen" begins with a duet between the voice and the theorbo. The video excerpt demonstrates how the shifting of roles between leading and accompanying is reflected in the performers’ gestures and their actions in the gestural and ensemble spaces (Smalley, 2007; see page 21 in the thesis). The first bar, a slow falling arpeggio in the theorbo establishes the harmonic frame, an Ab-minor/major-tonality. At the end of the first bar, the voice enters with a quarter-tone-coloured vocal line whereas the theorbo part changes to an accompanying role. When the voice, in bar 3, stays on a long g, the theorbo continues with a responding rising embellished phrase.
Peter, the theorbist, starts with a very small but distinct nod (n) on the accented first note in the first bar, followed by another on the attack of the little slur in the first embellished figuration. The next nod in the same bar is clearly of another kind; it is deeper and seems to be carried out more consciously to facilitate the start for Mikael, the singer. The deeper nod leads to a more obvious release when he resumes an upright position. In bar two, Peter nods twice: on the first beat and on the last note of the bar. Then follows a sequence with a series of co-articulations including nods (Jensenius et al. 2010; see page 20 in the thesis). They are carried out in slightly different ways, all of them increasing in size following the increasing suspension of the phrase. In contrast to the first two nods as well as the nods in the second bar, which have a local character, the nods incorporated in the chunk of co-articulation gestures seem phrase- and harmony-related. Peter also changes his facial expression along with the harmonic change of the phrase.
Peter’s gestures have two general functions here and are also carried out in two different space forms. All of the gestures except one are of the ancillary type (see page 20 in the thesis) as they seem to serve and support his phrasing and sound production. They are carried out within the gestural space, whereas the nod on the third beat of the first bar is a direct communicative gesture and therefore belongs to ensemble space.
In the first bar, Mikael follows the embellishments of the theorbo part with empathetic gestures (emp) in gestural space. Thereafter, Mikael carries out an impulse gesture (I) with a breath, followed directly by expressive gestures of the hand (Eh) and the head (EH) in the melodic second bar. On the long-sustained g with diminuendo, he keeps instead very still (S). Worth noting here is that at this very place, Mikael sings the word “still”. This is an example of how Kent has used the meaning of the text and the phrasing of the poem as leading parameters for the vocal part and the overall musical structure.
Embodied dialogue
The two video excerpts of the trio "Single Form" (Videos 5 and 6) show a sequence of impulse–response character between the theorbo and the viola da gamba, carried out in gestural and ensemble space (Smalley, 2007; see page 21 in the thesis). However, the video excerpts also show how their embodied dialogue reaches out in arena space (Smalley, 2007; see page 21 in the thesis). The sequence develops from simple, arpeggiated minor chords and goes towards a denser polyphonic structure in which the countertenor eventually enters. Here, however, I focus solely on Louise’s (gamba) and Peter’s (theorbo) actions, which are tightly intertwined.
Throughout the sequence, Louise is playing pizzicato on the viola da gamba while Peter's theorbo part contains mainly harmonics. These playing techniques not only produce a sonic similarity between the two instruments but also result in similarities in the bodily movements: They both make frequent use of nods as ancillary and communicative gestures and follow the contours and harmonic evolvement of the music, starting with isolated minor chords that gradually are coloured by dissonant notes.
But their individual performing style also differs. Throughout the sequence, Louise makes large movements in her right arm and upper body – expressive gestures that can be seen as visual extensions of the rich sounding chords (marked with red dashed lines in the annotated score). Peter in his turn keeps his right hand and arm tighter to the instrument but makes frequent use of nods and changes of facial expression.
This can be seen, for example, in the very end of Video 5 (bars 26–27) where Louise carries out a soft arpeggio while nodding (n) followed by an expressive hand/arm gesture with her right hand. She is then sitting very still until Peter plays his accented note. Louise reacts to Peter’s accent with a small (empathetic) nod, but her nod also functions as an impulse (I) to her next chord in bar 27. This chord is performed with a short suffix (see p. 20 in the thesis) hand/arm gesture closing the phrase. Peter changes his facial expression while playing the appoggiatura in bar 27 and lands on the final note of the bar with a big nod (N).
From Peter’s chord in bar 28 onwards (Video 6), the denser musical structure is reflected by successively larger nods by both performers. This passage is an example of how Olofsson makes great use of the the affordances of the instruments, further enhanced by the embodied dialogue between Louise and Peter. The visual aspect is already embedded in the score; as Godøy states, the score in Western notation can be considered as partially a gestural script (2004). Reflecting on his working process, Kent states that the actual playing and how musicians move is a material to work with and something he includes as part of the compositional work (Ärlemyr, 2017).
References:
Ärlemyr, H. (2017, October, 7). Möt tonsättaren Kent Olofsson. [Radio broadcast]. Umami Produktion. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1111978
Coorevits, E., Moelants, D., Östersjö, S., & Gorton, D. (2015). Decomposing a Composition: On the Multi-layered Analysis of Expressive Music Performance. In M. Aramaki; R. Kronland-Martinet, & S. Ystad (Eds.) Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research. 171–189. The Laboratory of Mechanics and Acoustics.
De Preester, H. (2007). To Perform the Layered Body: A Short Exploration of the Body in Performance. Janus Head, 9(2), 349–383.
Gibson, J. J. (1986). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Godøy, R.I. (2004). Gestural Imagery in the Service of Musical Imagery. In Camurri, A., Volpe, G. (Eds.), Gesture-Based Communication in Human-Computer Interaction. GW 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2915. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24598-8_5
Godøy, R. I., & Leman, M. (2010). Musical Gestures: Sound, Movement, and Meaning. Routledge.
Jensenius, A., Wanderley, M., Godoy, R., & Leman, M. (2010). Musical Gestures: Concepts and Methods in Research. In R. Godøy & M. Leman (Eds.), Musical Gestures: Sound, Movement, and Meaning (pp. 12–35). Routledge.
McCaleb, J. (2014). Embodied Knowledge in Ensemble Performance. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315094540
Olofsson, K. (2008–16). (Composer). Champs d’étoiles. Svensk Musik.
Olofsson, K. (Composer). (2017). Champs d’étoiles. Lipparella (Artist). dB Productions. [CD recording].
Olofsson, K., (Composer), Dahlqvist, J., (Director), Lipparella., (Artist), Norrman, M. (Video). (2014). Okända rum. [Performance], R1, Stockholm.
Olofsson, K. (Composer, Narrator), Dahlqvist, J., (Director), Lipparella, (Artist), (2016). I skuggorna. [Performance], Inter Art Center, Malmö.
Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal Knowledge. University of Chicago Press.
Rilke, R. M. (2005). Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (A. Barrows, & J. Macy, Trans. The 100th Anniversary Edition). Riverhead Books. (Original work published 1901)
Rilke, R. M. (2008). Das Stunden-Buch. (Originally published in 1901). https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24288/pg24288-images.html
Smalley, D. (2007). Space-Form and the Acousmatic Image. Organised Sound, 12(1), 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355771807001665
Champs d'étoiles is a musical composition by the Swedish composer Kent Olofsson written for ensemble Lipparella between 2008 and 2016. Lipparella, consisting of countertenor, baroque violin, recorder, viola da gamba and theorbo, has since its establishment in 2008 continually initiated new collaborations with composers to explore the field of tension between the sound world of baroque instruments and a musical language rooted in our own time.
In Champs d'étoiles, Olofsson has combined different texts; a central theme in the collected texts is pilgrimage. The starting point for the composition was a passage from Das Buch von der Pilgerschaft , the second part of Rainer Maria Rilke's Das Stunden-Buch (1901/2008). Olofsson describes this poem as being about the necessity of searching, both within oneself and in the world. In the musical composition, Rilke's poems are juxtaposed with poems by Rimbaud, Hammarskjöld and fragments of testimonies about apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Another central feature of the musical work is the Baroque and Renaissance instruments of the ensemble. A close collaboration between Olofsson and the members of Lipparella resulted in an idiomatic, virtuosic music built on a deep knowledge of the affordances (Gibson,1986) of the instruments.
Champs d'étoiles forms the basis of the first sub-study of my artistic research project; here I have studied the embodied and tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1958) of chamber music performers, and how it is articulated through gestural interaction during performance. Building on previous research in the field of embodied music cognition, including Leman and Godøy (2010), Coorevits et al. (2015) and De Preester (2007), the Champs d'étoiles-study resulted in a detailed mapping of how musical gestures correspond to musical structure at both individual and collective levels. It also revealed the ensemble's strategies for performing complex music without external direction. Introducing the concept of inter-reaction, McCaleb (2014) proposes a more detailed understanding of chamber music performance. Inter-reaction is based on the three stages of transmitting, inferring and attuning, terms that are more dynamic than, for example, "communication" or "reaction" (pp. 100–101).
Alongside more traditional concerts, Champs d'étoiles also formed the basis for two semi-staged performances, Okända rum (2014) and I skuggorna (2016), which Lipparella realised in collaboration with the Malmö-based performing arts collective Teatr Weimar.
This exposition provides examples of the gesture analysis, a link to a CD recording of the complete work, the video documetation of Okända rum, as well as the full score.
Coordinating strategies
The quartet movement "A une raison" is quite austere in form and structure, with many strong accents, mechanical bell-like figurations and sections of what Olofsson refers to as “exploded melody lines” (when a melody line is distributed between several parts). Due to the denser musical structure and the somewhat larger number of performers, this movement requires more directed visual communication than "Des Sommers Wochen" and "Single Form". The ensemble carries out a complex web of communicative actions, making frequent use of coordinating gestures such as impulse gestures, eye contact and pulse-indicating gestures.
Communicative and coordinating gestures are made at all crucial passages in the instrumental parts. Sometimes they are clearly directed to the co-performers, such as in the first bar and in the meno mosso (bar 7), where the new tempo needs to be settled. But the impulses can also be of a more ancillary character such as the much smaller gestures carried out in bars 7–9. Expressive swaying gestures emerge in all parts as soon as the structure of the music becomes more linear (bars 5–6).
An analysis of this passage has to be done by looking at the phrasing patterns. The two first phrases are both striving forward; in the second phrase, an embellished variation of the first, the voice rises to a higher pitch.
Louise (gamba) starts the second phrase and has a trill in bar 4. Here, the change of character in her body gestures is striking: from being very rhythmical and precise in her gestures, she changes to a more free-manner expressive swaying in upper body and head. By contrast, both Anna (violin)and I (recorder) are more directed towards the accent of bar 6 after which Anna gives an impulse gesture to the tempo transition in bar 7 in her upper body. The last phrase, bars 7–9, closes the first section of the piece. It is an instrumental section with short trills and overlapping embellished notes. Here the gestures are carried out in a more individual manner using ancillary impulse gestures.
In the beginning of bar 7, Mikael lifts his whole body and at the same time makes a hand gesture; together these gestures result in a particularly expressive moment in his interpretation. This seems to be mainly related to the meaning of the text but also underlines the unaccented ending of the musical phrase.
The gestures of Mikael and Peter have several functions. They reflect the rhythmical and harmonic structure and convey musical meaning. The way the gestures are carried out is also a result of the performers' shift of roles. Going into further details, this example illustrates how the performers’ interpretation of their respective parts is supported mainly by ancillary gestures. The inter-reaction is here spotted at places such as the entrance of Mikael in bars 1 and 6 and the rhythmical structure of bar 7. There is also a high level of attuning, (McCaleb, 2014) as can be seen in the empathetic gestures and the blending of sound and timing in both parts.
Des Sommers Wochen standen still,
es stieg der Bäume Blut;
jetzt fühlst du, dass es fallen will
in den, der alles tut.
Du glaubtest schon erkannt die Kraft,
als du die Frucht erfasst,
jetzt wird sie wieder rätselhaft,
und du bist wieder Gast.
Der Sommer war so wie dein Haus,
drin weißt du alles stehn –
jetzt mußt du in dein Herz hinaus
wie in die Ebene gehn.
Die große Einsamkeit beginnt,
die Tage werden taub,
aus deinen Sinnen nimmt der Wind
die Welt wie welkes Laub.
R. M. Rilke (1901/2008)
Das Stunden-Buch; Das Buch von der Pilgerschaft
Okända rum (Unknown rooms, 2014)
Countertenor, recorder, baroque violin, viola da gamba, theorbo, electronics, video projections
Lipparella:
Countertenor, Mikael Bellini
Recorders, Kerstin Frödin
Baroque violin, Anna Lindal
Viola da gamba, Louise Agnani
Theorbo, Peter Söderberg
Composer: Kent Olofsson
Texts: Rainer Maria Rilke, Arthur Rimbaud, Dag Hammarskjöld
Video: Maria Norrmann
Concept: Kent Olofsson, Jörgen Dahlqvist
Lighting design: Mira Svanberg
Technichan: Johan Nordström
Space: Marcus Råberg
Performances:
Reaktorhallen, R1, Stockholm, 21–22 February, 2014
Photo: Simon Söderberg
The weeks stood still in summer
The trees’ blood rose. Now you feel
It wants to sink back
Into the source of everything. You thought
You could trust that power
When you plucked the fruit;
Now it becomes a riddle again,
And you again a stranger.
Summer was like your house: you knew
Where each thing stood.
Now you must go out into your heart
As onto a vast plain. Now
The immense loneliness begins.
The days go numb, the wind
Sucks the world from your senses like withered leaves.
R. M. Rilke (2005)
The Book of Hours; The Book of the Pilgrimage
