Morton Feldman (1926-1987)

[milk]

Suddenly realize how much I dislike this:

and so I got this:

So far it seems much better but why hasn't this been recorded more?

[Uhor]

Does anybody know any Feldman orchestrations? I imagine the different repetitions as played by different instruments,  a great way to explore timbre.

[Uhor]

Maybe orchestrating Feldman's piano works will become a thing long after I'm dead and they become public domain.

[milk]

Does anybody know any Feldman orchestrations? I imagine the different repetitions as played by different instruments,  a great way to explore timbre.

I'm not sure how to put this and I think this came up in interviews with some of his students but there is something about the way Feldman uses the timbre of the instruments in his composition. It makes me wonder if this is a good idea. I know I don't know enough about music so say exactly but I do think it's a good question. I'm just wondering whether it goes against what Feldman was doing or not. I'm interested in an informed opinion.

[Uhor]

It's true that Feldman's work is even fundamentally timbre oriented; I still think orchestrating the piano pieces would be very cool.

[snyprrr]

Debussy, Prelude 'Footprints in the Snow'


It's obviously the opening of Feldman's 'Piano,Violin,Viola, Cello,... huh, how bout that?

[Mandryka]

This is just sooooooooo depressing, I mean piano, violin, Viola and cello. He must have been unbelievably down in the dumps, Tilbury knows what he wanted if anyone does I guess. Unbearable music, excruciatingly bleak, torture. Somehow the quietness of it makes it even more painful than For Samuel Becket. It feels like one of those EST seminars designed to break you down, but then it doesn't build you up again.

What did Feldman know, what secret of the universe had he glimpsed, which prompted such hopelessness?

[snyprrr]

This is just sooooooooo depressing, I mean piano, violin, Viola and cello. He must have been unbelievably down in the dumps, Tilbury knows what he wanted if anyone does I guess. Unbearable music, excruciatingly bleak, torture. Somehow the quietness of it makes it even more painful than For Samuel Becket. It feels like one of those EST seminars designed to break you down, but then it doesn't build you up again.

What did Feldman know, what secret of the universe had he glimpsed, which prompted such hopelessness?

Like I said in the previous Post, PVVC sounds JUST like 'Footprints in the Snow' by Debussy... there right there is an allusion to hopelessness...

...if there's time...

[Mirror Image]

---THREAD UPDATE---

Thought I would revive this thread before it is rendered in a prolonged stasis, which would be rather Feldman-like if I do say so myself. Anyway, who's listening to Feldman here and what works have you discovered/rediscovered?

I suppose some cross-posts are in order:

Loaded up on some Feldman:

Just bought:

[amw]

My most recent Feldman acquisition, which I've listened to with pleasure, is this one:



These pieces come from my favourite of Feldman's two or three "artistic periods"—just after the graphic scores, but before he got into the 1 hour+ pieces of his last decade and a half. The playing is slower than on other recordings I have of these works. The articulation of each note or chord is pellucid and rounded, as though playing a Bach invention; virtually every John Tilbury recording at this stage is a masterclass in piano technique. Simon Reynell as always delivers top quality sound engineering. Also, some might disagree but I find the narrow cardboard slipcases very cute.

[Mandryka]

who's listening to Feldman here and what works have you discovered/rediscovered?

Numbers
On Time and the Instrumental Factor
The King of Denmark

[vers la flamme]

My most recent Feldman acquisition, which I've listened to with pleasure, is this one:



These pieces come from my favourite of Feldman's two or three "artistic periods"—just after the graphic scores, but before he got into the 1 hour+ pieces of his last decade and a half. The playing is slower than on other recordings I have of these works. The articulation of each note or chord is pellucid and rounded, as though playing a Bach invention; virtually every John Tilbury recording at this stage is a masterclass in piano technique. Simon Reynell as always delivers top quality sound engineering. Also, some might disagree but I find the narrow cardboard slipcases very cute.

I have been looking at some of the Feldman (and Cage) recordings on this label, Another Timbre. That one looks excellent, I shall have to check it out.

[Mandryka]

My most recent Feldman acquisition, which I've listened to with pleasure, is this one:



These pieces come from my favourite of Feldman's two or three "artistic periods"—just after the graphic scores, but before he got into the 1 hour+ pieces of his last decade and a half. The playing is slower than on other recordings I have of these works. The articulation of each note or chord is pellucid and rounded, as though playing a Bach invention; virtually every John Tilbury recording at this stage is a masterclass in piano technique. Simon Reynell as always delivers top quality sound engineering. Also, some might disagree but I find the narrow cardboard slipcases very cute.

After listening to a lot of Cage, the music on this one sounds too nervous, too stressy, too eventful. This may well be Tilbury's influence, he's more intense, more tense, than other Feldman performers in the solo music I think, and I remember someone saying to me once that that was his trade mark style, something he had developed after a lot of thinking about the music and interraction with the composer. Be that as it may, I'm not sure it's my sort of thing at the moment.

[San Antone]

https://www.youtube.com/v/sQHPyMm5ldY

This is the YouTube clip of Two Pianos from this disc:



I think it is a nice 10 minute piece by Feldman.  This disc brings together a number of works do not appear to have been recorded that much previously (if at all), and for that reason alone it would be a worthwhile purchase for Feldman fans. 

However, based on this one clip there is reason to expect that all the performances are equally excellent. Philip Thomas has recorded a 5CD box of Feldman piano music, also on Another Timbre, to add to his impressive catalog of recordings of new and/or experimental music.

[T. D.]

---THREAD UPDATE---

Thought I would revive this thread before it is rendered in a prolonged stasis, which would be rather Feldman-like if I do say so myself. Anyway, who's listening to Feldman here and what works have you discovered/rediscovered?

I suppose some cross-posts are in order:

I bought the book many years ago (pub. 2000). Feldman's opinionated, which makes for interesting reading IMO. I hadn't purchased any recordings in a long time, but recently ordered For John Cage in connection with number piece listening. I never much got into the graphic score or ultra-long material, but enjoy the rest. Probably listen to Triadic Memories (L. Goldstein) and Ecstasy of the Moment (Etcetera  / Barton Workshop collection of early works) most often. Two obscure short pieces I particularly like are I met Heine on the Rue Fuerstenberg and Vertical Thoughts.

[Mirror Image]

I bought the book many years ago (pub. 2000). Feldman's opinionated, which makes for interesting reading IMO. I hadn't purchased any recordings in a long time, but recently ordered For John Cage in connection with number piece listening. I never much got into the graphic score or ultra-long material, but enjoy the rest. Probably listen to Triadic Memories (L. Goldstein) and Ecstasy of the Moment (Etcetera  / Barton Workshop collection of early works) most often. Two obscure short pieces I particularly like are I met Heine on the Rue Fuerstenberg and Vertical Thoughts.

I'm with you on the extremely long works. I think Feldman could say what he wanted to within an hour and that would be enough, IMHO, but to extend it any further would be not really something I'd enjoy, which is why I basically have no interest in String Quartet No. 2 for example.

[Mandryka]

I think Feldman could say what he wanted to within an hour and that would be enough

I wonder why he didn't make them shorter, if what you say is the right way to look at it.

[Mirror Image]

I wonder why he didn't make them shorter, if what you say is the right way to look at it.

I think he took a rather Wagnerian approach to durations towards the end of his life. I'm not why this was the case, but I find that the more condensed works are much more effective, but, I suppose, there's a certain aural pleasure that could be derived from a 3-hr work for example which I believe is the length of For Christian Wolff and For Philip Guston. As stated in another thread, I find his works from the 60s and 70s to be right up my alley. He didn't really start getting into these long durations until his 'Persian rug' late period works.

[San Antone]

Feldman stated that in his later works he became interested in longer durations because of the effect on a person's senses who engaged in a listening experience for long periods.  According to Feldman, a physiological change occurs.

[Mandryka]

Ah.

Has anyone here ever had an interesting altered state of mind while listening to a piece of music by Feldman? A halucination maybe? A little vision of the eternity?

When I lived in California in the 1980s I had a friend at UC Santa Cruz who was doing a course called Altered States of Mind where they looked at this sort of thing, and I remember that at the time there were installation art pieces which were designed to alter the state of mind of the spectator.