Page 39 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

28 The topography of composing work

and Serial Music, Erhard Karkoschka (1972) took into account the extent to
which the interpretation of notes by musicians was already indicated in the
score and how much room for interpretation remained. Karkoschka dis-
tinguished between precise notations, which contain exact instructions on how to
realise the score; parameter notations, which offer a choice within fixed
boundaries; indicative notations, which give the musicians the opportunity to
get a feel for timing and duration (for example) and then decide themselves;
and a musical graphic that encourages interpretation. Obviously there are
hybrid forms of these notation systems. In any case, our interview material
has led us to conclude that scores are always negotiable formulations,
regardless of the notation system on which they rely and regardless of their
intended precision. Scores are sequences of signs which always initiate a realm
of meaning while at the same time leaving much unwritten or even unrepresen-
table. The relationship between score and sound is therefore underdetermined
and in some cases even fundamentally metaphorical. The appropriate sound
has to be found, tried and negotiated while playing. There are of course different
ways of interpreting a piece of music. Katharina Klement’s statement makes
this clear: “That’s when we start discussing things that go beyond the values
of notes or dynamics or tempos […]. We’re no longer talking about crescendo
and decrescendo, but about tension and relaxation, and we use tacky expressions
and metaphors like ‘It sounds as if the sun is rising.’”
While some composers cannot always find the time to attend rehearsals
and only go to the final rehearsal, others can afford “the luxury”– as Bertl
Mütter calls it – of being present at all rehearsals: “The joy of working with
people and realising that my way of writing something is a kind of compres-
sion. And then it’s enriched by what I say during the rehearsal process, so that
some very complex things can be learned and reproduced in a very short time.
That way musicians sound fresh when they play it, and they enjoy it.” The
joint action of making music with others demands a sensory and emotional
fine-tuning with one another, so as to be able to work together on the sound
experience (see also Ravet 2016: 297f.). Many composers thus characterise
their attitude during rehearsals as pragmatic and ready to compromise. In
Christof Dienz’s words: “If somebody says to me, ‘That’s really shit, and it
just can’t be done that way’,I’d be the last person to say, ‘Too bad. It stays
like that.’ Instead, I’ll say, ‘Okay, let’schange it.’” The musicians’ commitment
while preparing the performance and their interpretative achievement during
it are among the factors that determine both the quality of the performance
and whether or not the practical implementation of the score conforms to the
composer’s vision. At the same time, it is up to composers to motivate musicians
properly and involve them in the creative process. In this, they need to consider
that musicians often prepare for a performance under great time pressure,
which requires knowledge of the working processes and conditions of
orchestras, ensembles and conductors. Such knowledge has an effect on com-
posing because the way the work process will be managed by the performing
ensemble and conductors is already thought out in the composer’sown