Research

What the platform offers

• Catalogues: the Discography with line-ups, recording dates and catalogue numbers, the Catalogue of works with instrumentation, first performance, ISWC and availability of scores, the Chronology, the directory of People as well as Press and Literature.
• Evidence: Every record is documented with its source, with a page reference where there is one. Contradictions between sources are named and not smoothed over, for example in dates relating to the Jazzzwio, to teaching in Graz or to years of release.
• Permanent identifiers: Releases carry identifiers of the form HP-T-nnnn, works HP-W-nnnn. How to cite them is explained under Citing.
• Open data: Discography, works, chronology, people, press and literature are available as CSV and JSON for download (Open data).
• Personal access: With personal access you can save lists and retrieve additional, non-public materials.
• Material on request: Listening copies of recordings, scans of scores, programme booklets and press, as well as information from the estate, can be requested for research projects (Research enquiry). Each request is assessed individually; for recordings and images the rights of third parties must also be taken into account.

Key literature

• Nikolaus Kohler: Harry Pepl. Ein Porträt des Musikers und Komponisten. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna 2006. With interviews that Kohler conducted with Pepl himself.
• Stefan Heckel: Instant Composing. Das Spätwerk des Jazzgitarristen und Komponisten Harry Pepl. Doctoral dissertation, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna 2024. With case studies, transcriptions and 22 conversations with contemporary witnesses and musicians.
• Christian Haudej: final thesis at the University of Arts Graz, 1999, with interview and stylistic analyses.
• Peter Stachel: article “Pepl, Harry”, in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online.
• Thomas Albert Zlabinger: Free from Jazz. The Jazz and Improvised Music Scene in Vienna after Ossiach (1971-2011). Dissertation, City University of New York 2013.

Further titles are listed in the Literature archive.

Open research questions

The work done so far points, among other things, to these tasks:

• Processing the home-studio material. From the mid-1990s Pepl recorded every day, on CD, ADAT, minidisc and hard disk. For many pieces only stereo mixes exist. Inventory, dating and evaluation of this holding are only beginning; for recordings surviving only as a mix, Heckel suggests also examining the separation of the tracks with present-day methods.¹
• Comparing original, notation and interpretation. Pepl himself wished for a comparison between his original recording, the written score and the performance, for example for the string quartet for the Artis Quartet or for the work for STUDIO PERCUSSION graz.²
• Transcriptions and stylistic analyses. Kohler found analyses of the music itself lacking. So far only individual transcriptions exist, for example of “More Far Out Than East” and “Alone Is a Golden Stone”.³
• Completing the catalogue of works for the years 1988 to 1994. The titles are unknown of ten works premiered on 20 January 1989 at the ORF Studio Tyrol and of seven works that Thomas Larcher played there on 17 February 1991. Works for Thomas Demenga, Heinrich Schiff, the Altenberg Trio and the Austrian Art Ensemble are also only patchily documented.⁴
• Evaluating broadcast archives. In the ORF archive and at German broadcasters there are recordings that are only partly known.⁵
• Reception in France. Pepl's years with the group of Michel Portal, the recordings of French radio and the French press have scarcely been studied. Nor has the article in which Le Monde is said to have called him a ‚Gigant der Improvisation‘ [“giant of improvisation”] yet been found in the original.⁶
• Clarifying dates. The start of the Jazzzwio, the end of his teaching, premieres by the Kronos Quartet and the years of release of individual albums are given differently in the sources.
• Performance practice today. How can music that exists only as a recording be played anew with ensembles? Heckel's attempt with a verbal score and the live project with Pepl's original tracks are first answers.⁷

Anyone working on one of these questions, or able to contribute material and pointers, can reach us via the contact form. Pointers to new theses and publications are welcome for the bibliography.