XIII.

Intro I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. next

A dramaturgical priority of mine is to choose forms that foreground and partake in the living, ongoing improvisation I refer to in ‘Variation VII’. For example: improve upon previous performances (hence my reflection after the initial endeavour in 2009). ‘In what sense might improvisation prove to be a sort of “improving”?’ asks philosopher Bruce Ellis Benson.

 

Traditionally, improvement has often been associated with the cultivation of land: to live on the land means ‘improving’ that land in the sense of enhancing and nourishing it so that it yields an abundant harvest. Cultivating the land is a way of dwelling in a place, but a way in which one becomes a part of that place and makes that place into a home. Thus, any increase in merit or value that this improvement brings about can be defined only in relation to those who dwell within that space. While it may be possible to talk about a kind of ‘progress’ that dwelling brings about, that progress is more like the kind about which Wittgenstein speaks – the kind that comes from scratching an existing itch. It is a kind of progress that can only be defined in light of actual needs, not theoretical ideals.¹

My improvements of previous performances have not resulted in an ever-sharper rendition of the same image, any more than Patterson’s edits have sharpened his own score. Rather, both Patterson and I have responded to ‘actual needs’ to extract new personal value from the piece. Thus, one finds a wide spectrum of forms in the three attached performances. In 2009, as I mentioned before, I played the piece for the first time, and the primary need was simply to get through the piece; most of the variations are therefore performed ‘as written’.

After I discovered that the length, pace, and combination of variations in this first performance were problematic, subsequent versions have all been shorter and more compact. But each includes different variations and orderings to reflect a slightly different focus and occasion. The 2014 performance, for example, which was programmed in a concert in honor of Patterson’s 80^th birthday, has a more theatrical, celebratory flavor, in which variations are strung together dramatically with a climactic inversion of the bass in ‘Variation VIII’. 

Clean up your coffee.