An Interpretation of 72 Etudes Karnatiques Pour Piano
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To My Mum This artistic research was carried out at IPEM - Institute for Systematic Musicology, University of Ghent - in collaboration with the School of Arts of Ghent - KASK - Royal Conservatory. The dissertation is published for non-profit educational purposes. Copyrighted material has been included under the guidelines of academic fair use. On the cover page, the image Hands working for emotions (2014) by Alessandro Giorgi Art Photography is used with his permission. MIRRORING THE INTENTIONALITY AND GESTURE OF A PIANO PERFORMANCE An interpretation of 72 Etudes Karnatiques pour piano Giusy Caruso A dissertation submitted to Ghent University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Arts: Music Academic year 2017 - 2018 UNIVERSITEIT GENT Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschappen KASK – SCHOOL OF ARTS Gent Conservatorium Promoters: Prof. Dr. Marc Leman Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschappen - UGent Prof. Daan Vandewalle Gent Conservatorium, School of Arts of Ghent - KASK Examination committee: Prof. Dr. Marc Boone (Chairman) Prof. Dr. Kathleen Coessens (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel) Dr. Sofia Lourenço (Universidade Católica Portuguesa) Dr. Bruno Forment (School of Arts of Ghent - KASK) Dr. Luc Nijs (IPEM – UGent) Dr. Edith Van Dyck (IPEM – UGent) Prof. Dr. Pieter Jan Maes (IPEM – UGent) Dr. Micheline Lesaffre (IPEM – UGent) Dean (Ugent): Prof. Dr. Marc Boone Dean (KASK): Prof. Dr. Wim De Temmerman Rector: Prof. Dr. Rik Van de Walle Acknowledgements The important teaching I had during my research work is that ideas come not only from intuitions, studies or practicing but mostly from discussions, reflections and meetings with different people. First, my gratitude goes to the composer Jacques Charpentier (passed way 15 June 2017), who inspired the artistic topic of my dissertation, and to my promoters, Prof. Dr. Marc Leman and Prof. Daan Vandewalle, and my co-promoters, Dr. Sofia Lourenço and Dr. Luc Nijs. I want to gratefully acknowledge Prof. Dr. Marc Leman, who made possible my working within the IPEM group and led me towards an interdisciplinary approach on artistic research. In particular, I am thankful to Dr. Luc Nijs, who with his positive outlook and constructive approach coached me to become a keener researcher. I should also mention all my IPEM colleagues for the exchange of ideas we had every day at work and meetings (Think Tank and others) and for their warm friendship and welcome ever since my first arrival here in Ghent. Particular thanks go to Esther Coorevits, who contributed to my experiment, data analysis and publications; to Guy Van Belle for practical suggestions and for having provided the Dutch translation of the English summary of this dissertation; to Ivan Schepers, Bart Moens and Joren Six for technical supports in the Lab and to Katrien Debouck and Aagje Lachaert for administrative assistance. The topic of my research gave me the opportunity to collaborate with professors, musicians and artists that I would thank here for the time they spent with me on rehearsing or just talking: the group who made possible my practice on Indian music and the Re-Orient project (Ayla Joncheere, Sandeep Kalathimekkad, Francesco Magarò and Carlo Strazzante); Prof. Dr. Geert Dhondt, Prof. Dr. Jan Van Landeghem, Prof. Roberto Perinu, Dr. Alessandra Carlotta Pellegrini, Prof. Dr. Francis Maes, Prof. Atau Tanaka, Prof. Gabriele Manca, Katherine Rondou, Katherine Gravet, Arthur Mari, Lucie De Ley, Lukas Huisman, Liselotte Sels, Alessandro Cervino, Bart Lyssens, Jonatan Lysens and Andrea Gallo Rosso. v I would also thank Mr. Vincent Moreau for sending me copies of his private documents concerning his studies on the composer Jacques Charpentier and the musicologist Brigitte Françoise Sappey for being present at my concert Hommage à Jacques Charpentier (Carcassonne, 26 November 2016) and for her letter on my performance, published as an introduction to my CD booklet. Last but not least, I shall not forget all my friends in different countries for not letting me be tempted to work nonstop, and the members of my family for their immeasurable patience and the positive energies they always grant me, especially my loving mum who always follows and attends my work in first person. My heartfelt thought goes to my friend and colleague Eleonora Kojucharov, capable to transfer an unusual vitality, enthusiasm with a special predisposition to overcome the difficulties life brings up. We worked together on ideas and projects but her dreams were interrupted too early; we will never forget you, ciao Eleonora. Brussels, February 2018 Giusy Caruso vi Preface This doctoral dissertation bears witness to the research interests that emerged from my artistic practice as a pianist and the related empirical studies I conducted as artist researcher at IPEM - University of Ghent, in collaboration with the KASK - School of Arts, Royal Conservatory of Ghent. The topic concerns a study on my piano performance practice of the 72 Etudes Karnatiques pour piano (1957-1985) by the French composer Jacques Charpentier (1933-2017). This artistic research sprung from specific backgrounds: from one side, my interest on the philosophical aspects of music interpretation related to semiology, aesthetics, hermeneutics and cognitive psychology; on the other side, my experience within the pioneering artistic research program at the CODARTS (Rotterdam Conservatorium, 2004-2006) based on my interpretation of the Huit Préludes by Olivier Messiaen and on the influence of Indian Music in his piano compositions. By approaching Indian music, I discovered Charpentier’s 72 Etudes Karnatiques pour piano, a three-hour long piano work, which is a great example of a possible fusion of the Indian and the Western musical languages. Even if the composer clearly indicated at the beginning of each etude the correspondent Karnatic scale transcript in Western notation, aspects related to the interpretation of this music (especially on rhythm, timbre, pedal and articulation) needed, from my point of view, a deeper analysis. Inspired by my previous research on Indian music at the CODARTS and intrigued to build an original interpretation of the 72 Etudes Karnatiques, I set up a creative practice by involving the composer himself as well as some Indian music experts. I also decided to apply an empirical approach by using technology to explore the development of my performance gestures in relation to the changes of my interpretative intentions. In this way, technology became a useful means to study the “mirroring” relation between intentionality and gesture and to facilitate the understanding and the description of my inner artistic process converted into an artistic research. vii English Summary Nowadays, performance practice is a shared territory of research for artists and scientists. Artist-researchers are interested in searching for creative methodologies in describing the process of their artistic practice and production. Scientists are engaged in the understanding of the connection between subjective expressions and intentions, mostly directing their studies on gesture in performance practice. Focusing on the exploration of my piano performance practice and, specifically, on the “mirroring” relation between intentionality and gesture, my artistic research entails both the artistic and the scientific perspective. In Chapter 1, I describe how my work started with the object of defining and refining my interpretation and performance of the contemporary piano work, 72 Etudes Karnatiques by Jacques Charpentier (1933-2017). To arrive at a deep understanding of my performance practice and to systematically describe my artistic process (experimentation, performance and dissemination), this research work was embedded within the theoretical framework of embodied music cognition. I experimented with new practice strategies and produced new artistic performances, disseminating the knowledge gathered from this process. The analysis and dissemination of my artistic practice entailed not only traditional methods (written and verbal self-description, self-observation and self-evaluation) but also the use of technology as an “augmented mirror” for monitoring performance practice. The introspective look from the artistic approach and the empirical observation from systematic musicology are combined in a mixed methodology represented by a triangular artistic research system (TARS) which synthesizes theory, practice and production as constituent elements of the artistic process. In Chapter 2, I present the historical and musicological analysis that substantiated my interpretation of the 72 Etudes Karnatiques and inspired the creation of my multidisciplinary project Re-Orient. This analysis was based on the existing literature on Indian music (the Karnatic and Hindustani traditions), on my discussions with the composer Jacques Charpentier, and on my joint performance ix practice with Indian music experts. It points at the Indian music heritage in the piano composition of Charpentier, connecting it to some piano works by his teacher, Olivier Messiaen. Differences and similarities in their approach to Indian music were highlighted specifically in the elaboration of rhythmical structures, melodic patterns, scales and piano timbre. My analysis and interpretation of Charpentier’s piano work introduces the issue of the development of gestures in contemporary music performance. Chapter 3 focuses on this issue by describing two methods