In their artistic collaboration, electronic musician Richard Barrett and harpist Milana Zarić assume that improvisation can be seen as a method of composition and that many characteristics that are actually attributed to composition also apply to improvisation and vice versa. In 26th edition of our Sound & Lecture series on their Strategies of Collaborative Creation, they illustrate this idea in practice in a concert and talk about it in an artist talk moderated by Mathias Maschat.
One of the implications flowing from considering improvisation as a method of composition is that the improvisational method may be combined with other methods in a wide variety of ways, in order to create the conditions for new musical possibilities. One example is the concept of ‘seeded improvisation’, where performers alternate freely between ‘fixed’ (notated or prerecorded) material and spontaneous actions and reactions. Here, rather than the common model which proceeds from the paradigm of the score which is ‘opened up’ to improvisational freedom, free improvisation is instead taken as the starting point, within which an intricately notated score provides points of structural and expressive focus, influencing the improvisation without in any way determining it. Another example is the evolution of collaborative compositions through the ‘filters’ of different methods, such as recorded harp improvisations forming the material of a fixed media electronic piece which is then reinterpreted for live performance both for harp and electronics and for two live (acoustic) harps, the result of which might in turn undergo further transformations into different forms, through different improvisational strategies, both in concert and in the studio. These strategies are of course by no means an end in themselves, but acquire significance only in terms of the musical (structural or poetic) experiences they make possible.
Equally active in classical, contemporary composed, experimental and freely improvised music, harpist Milana Zarić connects creative performance with contemporary sensibility and new technologies. Principal harpist of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, solo and chamber musician, specializing in contemporary harp repertoire, artistic director of Ensemble Studio 6, curator and educator, she has been the initiator of many international projects, with a goal of establishing new bridges in collaborative creation. Her repertoire is diverse, spanning the classical and 20th/21st century works, free improvisation and original projects involving composers, sound artists and creative musicians.
Richard Barrett is internationally active as composer and performer, teaches at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and is Professor of Creative Music Research at the University of Leiden. His work encompasses a range from free improvisation to intricately-notated scores, and from acoustic chamber music to innovative uses of digital technology. Current projects include a major new cycle of works for the ELISION Ensemble, with whom Richard Barrett has been working regularly since 1990, for the Fonema Consort, Musikfabrik and Soundinitiative. His work as composer and performer is documented on over forty CDs. His books Music of Possibility (2019) and Transforming Moments (2023) are published by Vision Edition.
