Aura Go: Perspectives on the Piano Music of Einojuhani Rautavaara – Michael Chekhov and Piano Performance in Dialogue
Thesis: Playing in the Creative State: Michael Chekhov and piano performance in dialogue
Concert series: Five perspectives on the piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara
- Examiners of the thesis: Dr. Briony Cox-Williams and Dr. Roanna Mitchell
- The board which assessed the artistic demonstrations: Juhani Lagerspetz (chair), Anders Kilström, Annikka Konttori-Gustafsson, Risto-Matti Marin, Jyrki Linjama
- Custos: Mieko Kanno
Programme
Opening of the Public Defense (Mieko Kanno)
Lectio praecursoria, including musical performances of works by Einojuhani Rautavaara:
- Pelimannit
- Sonata No. 2 ‘The Fire Sermon’
- Demonstration excerpts from Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelles Op. 126
Examiner’s statement: artistic component
Examiner’s statement: thesis
Discussion
Examiners’ closing statements
Audience questions
Closing of the Public Defense
Doctoral concerts
Five perspectives on the piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara
The series of doctoral concerts operates on two levels in this doctoral project. First, it is an in-depth exploration of the piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara. It achieves this by placing Rautavaara’s work in five distinct contexts: the compositional quest for the ‘infinite’ (Concert 1), the Finnish context (Concert 2), the world of song and poetry (Concert 3), the world of colour (Concert 4) and the spiritual realm (Concert 5). Second, the concerts – and crucially, the preparation and reflection processes undertaken for each – are key to the research methodology employed in the thesis. Through a range of composer-performer collaborative configurations, as well as a variety of performance lineages, traditions and conventions, I undertake embodied research in applying the Michael Chekhov acting technique to the creative process of preparing and performing musical works.
Abstract of the thesis
Playing in the Creative State: Michael Chekhov and piano performance in dialogue
Situated within the paradigm of artistic research, this thesis constitutes the final component of a doctoral research project in piano performance. Propelled by questions about how musicians within the domain of Western Classical Music may enliven their engagement with repertoire and develop a practice of creative freedom and imaginative play, this work investigates the application of the psychophysical acting technique of Michael Chekhov (1891–1955) to pianistic practice and to music performance more broadly. It utilises embodied research methods and reflective analysis to examine the ways in which a Chekhovian approach may awaken the musician’s embodied experience of movement, develop the imagination, and open the door to a ‘creative state’ for music-making characterised by freedom, play, and connection to the present moment. Utilising Rautavaara’s Sonata No. 2 The Fire Sermon as a case study, this work examines the potential of the Chekhov technique to guide and synthesise the creative process of preparing repertoire for performance. Taking a broader view, this work situates Chekhov within understandings emerging from music performance and creativity studies and reconceptualises music performance to reflect the integral role of the imaginatively embodied musician.
My research makes a significant original contribution to knowledge in three ways. Firstly, it is the first interdisciplinary study of Michael Chekhov technique undertaken from the perspective of instrumental music performance. While interdisciplinary research into Chekhov is growing (with recent work discussing its application to dance, design, therapeutic and community contexts, to name a few), intersections with instrumental music performance have not been explored. Secondly, it offers to performing musicians a new methodology for embodied practice. Embodied perspectives are gaining traction within the scholarly literature in music performance studies, with this domain primarily concerned with the ways in which embodied knowledge may make valuable contributions to music (performance) analysis. My research utilises and develops embodied knowledge not for analytical purposes, but for the purpose of enriching and deepening embodied practice itself. Thirdly, it develops a new conceptual model for music performance. Building upon the work of scholars including Nicholas Cook, John Rink and Lawrence Kramer, I develop a conceptual model for music performance that highlights its essentially collaborative nature. This new model, Embodied Imaginative Collaboration, describes the synergistic web of elements that constitute music performance and the imaginatively embodied musician’s role within it. It positions the Chekhov technique as both a conceptual frame (highlighting the synergies between Chekhov and current views in embodied creativity studies) and as a practical methodology for musical embodiment in and through performance.
More information
Aura Go
aura.go@uniarts.fi
Aura Go is an Australian pianist whose practice encompasses performance, collaboration, curation, education and artistic research. Her curiosity and versatility have taken her across the globe, working as a soloist in concertos from Bach to Gubaidulina, as a recitalist, chamber musician and cross-disciplinary collaborator. She regularly collaborates with composers and is an advocate for new and underrepresented music. With pianist Tomoe Kawabata, Aura is a member of the acclaimed KIAZMA Piano Duo. Their CD Five Rocks in a Japanese Garden features first recordings of four-hand and two-piano works by significant Japanese composers. Other projects include a reimagining of JS Bach’s The Art of Fugue, a new interdisciplinary work One Space One, and the commissioning of new work, most recently Holly Harrison’s Crunch (2021). Aura also enjoys regular collaboration with cellist Timo-Veikko Valve (Australian Chamber Orchestra), with whom she has presented recitals across Australia. Recently, Aura took a leading role as pianist-actor in the filmed stage adaptation of Paul Kildea’s book ‘Chopin’s Piano’, directed and co-written by Richard Pyros. Chopin’s Piano will tour nationally for Musica Viva Australia in 2023. Aura has performed at international music festivals, most notably the Edinburgh Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and PianoEspoo. Aura is Head of Piano at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance at Monash University. She has been visiting artist at the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas (USA), the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (Denmark) and the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (Poland). She completed her Master of Music at the Yale School of Music before undertaking doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy. Aura’s artistic research explores embodied imagination, creativity, and collaboration in music performance.
- Examiners of the thesis: Dr. Briony Cox-Williams and Dr. Roanna Mitchell
- The board which assessed the artistic demonstrations: Juhani Lagerspetz (chair), Anders Kilström, Annikka Konttori-Gustafsson, Risto-Matti Marin, Jyrki Linjama
- Custos: Mieko Kanno
Programme
Opening of the Public Defense (Mieko Kanno)
Lectio praecursoria, including musical performances of works by Einojuhani Rautavaara:
- Pelimannit
- Sonata No. 2 ‘The Fire Sermon’
- Demonstration excerpts from Ludwig van Beethoven: Bagatelles Op. 126
Examiner’s statement: artistic component
Examiner’s statement: thesis
Discussion
Examiners’ closing statements
Audience questions
Closing of the Public Defense
Doctoral concerts
Five perspectives on the piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara
The series of doctoral concerts operates on two levels in this doctoral project. First, it is an in-depth exploration of the piano music of Einojuhani Rautavaara. It achieves this by placing Rautavaara’s work in five distinct contexts: the compositional quest for the ‘infinite’ (Concert 1), the Finnish context (Concert 2), the world of song and poetry (Concert 3), the world of colour (Concert 4) and the spiritual realm (Concert 5). Second, the concerts – and crucially, the preparation and reflection processes undertaken for each – are key to the research methodology employed in the thesis. Through a range of composer-performer collaborative configurations, as well as a variety of performance lineages, traditions and conventions, I undertake embodied research in applying the Michael Chekhov acting technique to the creative process of preparing and performing musical works.
Abstract of the thesis
Playing in the Creative State: Michael Chekhov and piano performance in dialogue
Situated within the paradigm of artistic research, this thesis constitutes the final component of a doctoral research project in piano performance. Propelled by questions about how musicians within the domain of Western Classical Music may enliven their engagement with repertoire and develop a practice of creative freedom and imaginative play, this work investigates the application of the psychophysical acting technique of Michael Chekhov (1891–1955) to pianistic practice and to music performance more broadly. It utilises embodied research methods and reflective analysis to examine the ways in which a Chekhovian approach may awaken the musician’s embodied experience of movement, develop the imagination, and open the door to a ‘creative state’ for music-making characterised by freedom, play, and connection to the present moment. Utilising Rautavaara’s Sonata No. 2 The Fire Sermon as a case study, this work examines the potential of the Chekhov technique to guide and synthesise the creative process of preparing repertoire for performance. Taking a broader view, this work situates Chekhov within understandings emerging from music performance and creativity studies and reconceptualises music performance to reflect the integral role of the imaginatively embodied musician.
My research makes a significant original contribution to knowledge in three ways. Firstly, it is the first interdisciplinary study of Michael Chekhov technique undertaken from the perspective of instrumental music performance. While interdisciplinary research into Chekhov is growing (with recent work discussing its application to dance, design, therapeutic and community contexts, to name a few), intersections with instrumental music performance have not been explored. Secondly, it offers to performing musicians a new methodology for embodied practice. Embodied perspectives are gaining traction within the scholarly literature in music performance studies, with this domain primarily concerned with the ways in which embodied knowledge may make valuable contributions to music (performance) analysis. My research utilises and develops embodied knowledge not for analytical purposes, but for the purpose of enriching and deepening embodied practice itself. Thirdly, it develops a new conceptual model for music performance. Building upon the work of scholars including Nicholas Cook, John Rink and Lawrence Kramer, I develop a conceptual model for music performance that highlights its essentially collaborative nature. This new model, Embodied Imaginative Collaboration, describes the synergistic web of elements that constitute music performance and the imaginatively embodied musician’s role within it. It positions the Chekhov technique as both a conceptual frame (highlighting the synergies between Chekhov and current views in embodied creativity studies) and as a practical methodology for musical embodiment in and through performance.
More information
Aura Go
aura.go@uniarts.fi
Aura Go is an Australian pianist whose practice encompasses performance, collaboration, curation, education and artistic research. Her curiosity and versatility have taken her across the globe, working as a soloist in concertos from Bach to Gubaidulina, as a recitalist, chamber musician and cross-disciplinary collaborator. She regularly collaborates with composers and is an advocate for new and underrepresented music. With pianist Tomoe Kawabata, Aura is a member of the acclaimed KIAZMA Piano Duo. Their CD Five Rocks in a Japanese Garden features first recordings of four-hand and two-piano works by significant Japanese composers. Other projects include a reimagining of JS Bach’s The Art of Fugue, a new interdisciplinary work One Space One, and the commissioning of new work, most recently Holly Harrison’s Crunch (2021). Aura also enjoys regular collaboration with cellist Timo-Veikko Valve (Australian Chamber Orchestra), with whom she has presented recitals across Australia. Recently, Aura took a leading role as pianist-actor in the filmed stage adaptation of Paul Kildea’s book ‘Chopin’s Piano’, directed and co-written by Richard Pyros. Chopin’s Piano will tour nationally for Musica Viva Australia in 2023. Aura has performed at international music festivals, most notably the Edinburgh Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australian Festival of Chamber Music, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and PianoEspoo. Aura is Head of Piano at the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance at Monash University. She has been visiting artist at the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas (USA), the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus (Denmark) and the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz (Poland). She completed her Master of Music at the Yale School of Music before undertaking doctoral studies at the Sibelius Academy. Aura’s artistic research explores embodied imagination, creativity, and collaboration in music performance.