Crippled Symmetry--The Music of Morton Feldman

[JK]

I'd read much about the music of the American composer Morton Feldman but the first time I actually heard it was (this is off the top of my head) in the early to mid 1980s, when Feldman visited NL. In the interview he gave on Dutch radio he came across as a warm person with an infectious sense of humour. I believe Crippled Symmetry, which was broadcast after the interview, was getting its first performance in Europe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dN0kLBHk1A

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Feldman

[JK]

The exotic sound world of The King of Denmark (1965) is fascinating, aurally but also visually. Feldman's graphic score gives an illuminating glimpse into his perspective on music at the time. The exceedingly detailed description of the work in the linked article is illuminating too!     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuYk2N9dTns

http://rohandrape.net/ut/rttcc/j/4/pdf/denmark.pdf

[JK]

Feldman's Rothko Chapel needs no comment from me. Read the articles on the work and on the artist who inspired it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF_peWNYu8A



https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/3120/rothko-chapel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rothko

[SBonilla]

I have a few of his CDs in my stash. I've liked every thing I've heard. I don't know anything about him. I've sort of kept him at a distance. Not for lack of curiosity but for keeping him in mystery territory.

[JK]

I have a few of his CDs in my stash. I've liked every thing I've heard. I don't know anything about him. I've sort of kept him at a distance. Not for lack of curiosity but for keeping him in mystery territory.

Really? In an ideal world, I'd ask you which ones but it isn't so I won't.

Glad you like him anyway. I must check out some of his really long stuff sometime.

This is Madame Press Died Last Week At Ninety (sans background information, for your benefit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rORvNjWchnw

[SBonilla]

I have a few of his CDs in my stash. I've liked every thing I've heard. I don't know anything about him. I've sort of kept him at a distance. Not for lack of curiosity but for keeping him in mystery territory.

Really? In an ideal world, I'd ask you which ones but it isn't so I won't.

Glad you like him anyway. I must check out some of his really long stuff sometime.

This is Madame Press Died Last Week At Ninety (sans background information, for your benefit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rORvNjWchnw

I don't know where they are all, to be honest. I'm also a dealer and I have personal items among my unlisted stock in a storage room. I have three ripped to my computer, they are:   Rothko Chapel / Why Patterns?  & Rothko Chapel; For Stephan Wolpe; Christian Wolff In Cambridge on Hanssler &  Clarinet And String Quartet on hatArt.
That's a beautiful piece. Thanks for the link.

[JK]

I first heard Patterns in a Chromatic Field a few days ago and was fascinated. (The link is to an interview Feldman gave in 1966.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HgVevI2hCM

https://www.cnvill.net/mfbeckett.htm

[JK]

Morty keeps coming up with the goods: "Piano and Orchestra [(1975)] is an anticoncerto, not only in its concentration on minimal effect in the solo part, much of which consists of single chords or note repetitions, all quiet, but also in its use of an orchestral piano to play some of the solo material while the ostensible soloist sits silent." [Source] Typical Feldman!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_gzPtMuKRw

As for the soloist (or antisoloist) John Tilbury, a strange quirk of fate led to some of my youthful compositions (ridiculous as they were) finding their way into his hands in the mid '60s. His (and the composer Edwin Roxburgh's) suggestion that I apply for a course on composition at London's Royal College of Music was well-meant but a waste of everybody's time!

[JK]

A pupil's homage to his teacher, Feldman's For Stefan Wolpe was written in 1986, a year before Feldman's death. The scoring is unusual: mixed choir and a pair of vibraphones. More stuff to float off on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfE6yH2H32I

https://www.cnvill.net/mfwolpe.htm



Stefan Wolpe (left) and Morton Feldman