Improvisations: Romantic letters for 2 piano's

[karsty]

Recently there was a festival dedicated to all forms of improvisation at the Royal Conservatoire of Den Haag.

We played "Musical Letters", -alternating- improvisations on two piano's in romantic style. The audience decided who would start and who would play which piano. The audience also provided some thematic sugestions. The plan of keys was decided beforehand. This is the link to the performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SmflHfkxI8

(Karst de Jong on the right, Bert Mooiman on the left)

Any comments welcome!

Best regards, Karst

[ted]

This is an exceedingly interesting experiment, producing many fine moments. For me, the alternating first sections gave rise to the best music. The latter sections, while very clever mentally and aurally, with simultaneous playing, I feel serve to show the limitations of parallel improvisation. I am just guessing really, as I have never actually tried this sort of thing myself. However, even if the form were very obvious and the aural acuity of the participants exceptional, truly free, spontaneous creation, with organic form but no a priori structure, is essentially the product of one mind. That is not to say that multiple improvisation cannot have quality, it is after all what jazz groups do all the time, and it is very highly skilled.

Alternating improvisation, where each player might use some features of what has gone before, while retaining individual freedom from the temporal prison of simultaneous playing and structure, strikes me as very likely to produce vital sounds, as indeed it has here. I now have a desire to try it out for myself.

So overall, alternating improvisation yes, a brilliant notion; simultaneous improvisation no, rather too musically restricted for my taste.

[karsty]

Hello Ted,

Thanks for your extensive reply and listening to our improvisations. It was indeed the first time we attempted this, and I agree with you that the alternating solo improvisations are more interesting than the final epilogue which was improvised simultaneously (However, this is only in the last 4 minutes of the whole). Improvising together from scratch with NO preconceived harmonic scheme is indeed a challenge which can only be met with very regular playing together. Notice that even jazz musicians don't usually do this.

I am happy that you are inspired to try this yourself. Please keep me (us) posted about your findings and experience! It would be nice to share more experiences and materials!

Kind regards,

Karst

[Derek]

Hi Karst, Ted pointed this out to me and I'm glad he did, this is really fine stuff. Thanks for posting it. It's inspired me to dive back into some romantic improv, I've had a hiatus from it for a couple of months now.

As for the alternation vs. synchronization, this is an interesting topic. I think synchronized improvisation, while it must have some sort of common agreed upon basis, has certain components which can be just as free as alternating solo improvisation (the melody, etc.). This can be very surprising...when I improvise a boogie woogie duet with my father, every so often we will begin playing precisely the same "lick" at the same time perhaps at an offset, and it usually surprises and delights both of us at the same time, haha. Especially when that lick is not one out of a grab bag, but one invented on the fly, like we're having some sort of telepathic conversation in the language of boogie woogie. I imagine classical improv has the same potential.

[karsty]

Hi Derek,

Nice to hear from you again. Happy that it could inspire you to get back to some improv yourself!

I think the problems arise when improvising together with no pre-determined harmonical/rhythmical background. In that case playing together means being extremely sensitive to who is leading/following and very good listening. It becomes possible only by playing often together and getting to know each other's "musical" personality. There is certainly the same potential, and I believe it should become much more common to hear these things on stage!

Very best wishes,

Karst

[johnyprestige]

This is a magical set of improvisations, Truly moving, I loved every second. Incredibly thoughtful playing. I hope to be able to improvise this well some day.

[karsty]

Thanks Johny for your nice comment. And wishing you all a merry X-mas and happy 2014,

Karst