Freiheit in der Beschränkung
This contribution deals with the creative activities of two musicians who teach at the Jazz Institute in Graz - Dieter Glawischnig and Eje Thelin. With the aid of notes (and tapes registered as per footnotes at the Sound Archives of Austrian Radio and Television, ORF Studio Steiermark) a short analysis of their methods of work is given. As defining marks are to be noted, in the case of Glawischnig, a striving for the large form and for an improvisation anchored to the given motive ("motivisch gebundener Free Jazz"). Thelin, however, had reached, at the time of this report, a stage of development where he could not only improvise on given motives but managed to transcend the motive as such in order to arrive at a sequence of regular beats based on highly complex meters. Harmonically and melodically too complete freedom was approached - a concept which can only be realized when all participants contribute a maximum ability to communicate. Freedom, in this context, is to be understood as a phenomenon which counteracts impotence, caprice and prevarification. The self-imposed limitations are drawn by the conscious use of the given means, by the recognition of their limits and by the obligation to remain true to art.