Sigurd Slåttebrekk: ”The notes must embrace the bars, not the bars the notes”
Research Fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music
The project is a practice-based investigation into the performance strategies found in early sound recordings. Slåttebrekk is focusing on individual piano performances of particular interest and importance. Central to the project is the exploration of the aural effects of rhythm, tempo and agogics, without excluding other important aspects of performance.
I wish to study the immediately apparent features as well as investigate elements that are found beneath the surface layers of a performance – elements that often enter the mind of the listener at an unconscious level.
During the project period I wish to undertake a thorough study of a number of recordings of special interest, and apply some of the methods in the study of my own performance-in-progress. I am particularly interested in early recordings, often from the very first years of the recording era.
Simultaneously with the thorough study of other musicians´ performances, I will implement the results of my research into my own performance of related repertoire. This constitutes the artistic part of my project and will result in one or two CD-productions.
In the study of specific performances, I wish to use various analytical tools and approaches to rhythm, agogics and structure. A substantial part of the project is the reconstruction, or the re-creation of existing recorded performances or parts of performances.
Beardsley and Kubelik
In my investigation I aim not only to point out the apparent features of the performances I am looking into and their effect on the musical conception, but to describe the inner workings of these features, which remain a domain hidden to the normal listener.
Another part of my research into rhythm and agogics will be the analytical use of digital editing. I have taken part in the editing of two of my CD productions. During this process I have realised what a powerful tool the editing system is, and how one can come closer to the understanding of rhythm and agogics through its use
I should emphasise that the recordings I am investigating are limited in number. Rather than investigating a great number of performances and deriving generalized knowledge from them, my approach is to delve ever deeper into the material, trying to understand a specific performance from the inside.
The major element of my investigation will be the research into the performance style of Edvard Grieg. I wish also to look into a number of other performances of the period as a supplementary investigation, where I expect to find examples of similar performance strategies.