Performing, Experiencing and Theorizing Augmented Listening

As a follow-up project to the perception-sensitive music-analytical approach developed in the FWF-project A Context-Sensitive Theory of Post-tonal Sound Organization [CTPSO] (201214), the present project Per- forming, Experiencing and Theorizing Augmented Listening [PETAL] concentrates on the intersection be- tween musical analysis and musical performance by building on interdisciplinary research methods sug- gested by the term augmented listening (Nicholas Cook). The PETAL-project focusses on a performance- related analysis of large-scale musical form by systematically investigating and categorizing performance strategies towards cyclic works, and it takes up the idea that musical form is not merely defined by a score but also created in real time by a performer (Robert Hill). We integrate diverse perspectives on the inter- dependence between local and global dimensions of musical form into a comprehensive analytical model; this model sets out to contest the widely shared assumption that large-scale form is irrelevant for the per- ception and performance of music. We hypothesize, in contrast, that different performance strategies to- wards the large-scale form of the same piece of music may have a substantial effect on how this form may be experienced or analyzed. The researchers will investigate a number of prominent cyclic compositions of the solo piano and lied repertoire comprising works from the 18th to 20th centuries, including complex cycles such as Bachs Goldberg Variations, Beethovens Diabelli Variations and Kurtgs Kafka-Fragmente. We employ a threefold research strategy: (1) Comprehensive research into historical sources on the relationship be- tween form-related analysis and performance practices, aiming at an integration of historical dimensions of musical listening and musical performance into the projects model. (2) A study of musical recordings and related sources, documenting a comprehensive performance and recording history of the selected reper- toire and applying a combination of computer-based and qualitative research methods. (3) New, innovative dialogic forms of research in a series of three interactive workshops, in which PETAL-scholars, collaborating performers and scholars, as well as other expert and non-expert listeners share their perspectives on the selected repertoire. The main intention of this component is to interlock performance and analysis closely and to experiment with different performance and listening modes. The three workshops will be documented in the form of video and audio recordings and written tran- scripts. This documentation will be interpreted against the framework provided by the other two major research components. The connection between the three fields of research will be facilitated by a comput- er database. Results will be made accessible through a project website, a number of peer-reviewed articles in open access journals, two monographs, an open access edited volume as well as a number of annotated score editions.

The project set out to scrutinize the intersection between musical analysis and musical performance by building on the interaction of quantitative and qualitative research methods, here signified by the term "'augmented listening'" (N. Cook). The research undertaken in this project focused on the area of macroformal analysis by systematically investigating and categorizing performance strategies towards cyclic works, taking up the idea of a "(formal) analysis in real time" (R. Hill) through a specific disposition of tempo, dynamics, articulation etc. in performance. The research team further deve-loped the idea that musical form is not grounded in the score alone, but is also brought forth by performers. Expanding this idea, one might argue that musical form is ultimately constituted only in the sounding event of a performance. We thus considered the musical text and its sounding performance(s) as central representations of a musical work. The goal was not simply to compare or even adjudicate between performances seen merely as different interpretations of a fixed text, but rather to emphasize the autonomy of a performance with respect to its model. We investigated a corpus of cyclic compositions of the solo piano and lied repertoire comprising works from the 18th to 20th centuries, including complex cycles such as Bach's "Goldberg Variations", Beet-hoven's "Diabelli Variations", Schubert's Winterreise, Mahler's Lied von der Erde, Schoenberg's Six Little Piano Pieces op. 19, and Kurtg's Kafka Fragments for Soprano and Violin op. 24. We employed a threefold research strategy: 1. Research into secondary historical sources on the relationship between macroform-related analysis and performance practice(s); 2. Studies of musical recordings documenting a comprehensive performance and recording history of the aforementioned musical works; combination of quantitative (computer-based) and qualitative research methods; 3. Dialogic forms of research in a series of interactive workshops aiming at enhancing the dialogue between researchers and performers (including expert and non-expert listeners). We have been guided by the hypothesis that varying conceptions of the performance of the large-scale form of a musical work can fundamentally shape both the perception and (music-theoretical) analysis of this form, and can lead to markedly different interpretational consequences. Our research attempted to demonstrate that practical, sounding interpretations can exhibit fully valid analyses of a work.