ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the participation of Misha Mengelberg and Willem Breuker in the forms of political activism sweeping across contemporary composed and improvised music. It describes their role in the Notenkrakersactie together with Louis Andriessen, Reinbert de Leeuw, and Peter Schat, as well as their founding of grassroots institutions to defend the interests of improvising musicians and secure government support. The founding of the Instant Composers Pool is thus understood as an important part of a broader movement towards the democratization of musical practice in Dutch musical life, indicating that improvised music played an important part in the formation of the Dutch “ensemble culture” which has primarily been understood as a development in contemporary composition. Within this movement, however, debate arose as to whether democratization, apart from increased self-determination, should also imply greater accessibility for performers and/or listeners. Mengelberg rejected this idea, and rather sought to develop a performance practice that did not distinguish between composers and improvisers. His written repertoire, considered in terms of bricolage rather than engineering, was conducive rather than opposed to this ideal.
