Theoria (album)

Theoria is an album by Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra, with pianist Irène Schweizer as soloist. Documenting a large-scale, 58-minute composition by Guy, it was recorded in February 1991 in Zürich, Switzerland, and was released in 1992 by Intakt Records. The work is basically a concerto for Schweizer, and was presented in honor of her 50th birthday.

Theoria, which was commissioned by Fabrikjazz, based in Rote Fabrik, Zürich, was premiered on February 17, 1991, at a concert organized by Rote Fabrik in collaboration with à-suivre-Basel (Kulturwerkstatt Kaserne) and Mühle Hunziken in Rubigen, in the canton of Bern. As with many of Guy's compositions, the work attempts to find solutions to the challenges surrounding the coexistence of improvisation and composition. In the score, the starting and ending points for soloists are precisely demarcated, allowing the musicians a considerable amount of freedom within a fixed structure. Schweizer recalled: "I had to read at times, but actually my part was free, I had a lot of room for improvisation. Mainly I had to know where to come in."