JOHAN PETRI

​A sound installation based on the composition vorschläge by German composer Mathias Spahlinger from 1993. The composition is in the form of a written text, or rather twenty-eight short texts. They are intended to be read and used as instructions and starting points for musical improvisations, thus resulting in the same number of pieces of music. Crucial to the interpretation of the composition is Spahlingers foreword, in which he problematizes the relationship between composer and musician by questioning the hierarchy of the composer as a decision-maker and the musician as executor. He raises the question of critical reading and emphasizes the importance of the musician to take responsibility for his/her relation to the instruction, and to the artistic expression. In this version of the composition the direction includes a discussion among the five musicians, exposing their attempt to understand Spahlingers words and intention. What we hear is thus a sequence that includes: the instruction (read by Spahlinger himself), a discussion among the musicians how the instruction can be understood, and then their musical interpretation. This sequence is repeated for each of the four texts that this version includes.

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Performed/exhibited at Tensta Art Center, Stockholm, Sweden. 2009.

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