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October 08, 2010
Morton Feldman: 'Untitled composition for cello and piano' (1981)
Morton Feldman: 'Untitled composition for cello and piano' (1981)
Here is another gift from a generous music-lover. Olde Edo sent me a lossless copy of this extremely-rare compact disc – I thank him and, as I promised, I am passing it on to you.Morton Feldman's 'Untitled composition for cello and piano' had an unusually-protracted genesis. Feldman normally had no problem with titles – it was his publisher, Univeral Edition, who had the problems. Until the early 1970s, Feldman was a master of the evocative title – 'I meet Heine in the Rue Fürstenberg', 'The Viola in my life', 'False relationships and the extended ending' are fine examples. At the beginning of that decade, Feldman's music changed somewhat drastically and the titles, or lack of them, reflected this. The pieces were now fully-notated in the traditional manner and started to become longer. The material became more dissonant and rhythmically unpredictable; the 'smooth surface' of his earlier music was replaced by agitation, indecision and sudden, extreme shifts in rhetorical tone. In his interviews and writings Feldman seems somewhat shaken, at times unsure of what was happening. This is reflected in the titles, or lack of them – simply the instrumentation: 'String Quartet and orchestra' (1973), 'Piano and orchestra' (1975), 'Voice, violin and piano' (1976) and – my own favorite – 'Orchestra' (1976).
'Untitled piece for cello and piano' was Feldman's original name for this 1981 piece and, as the 'untitled' indicates, it must have seemed to him that 'Cello and piano' (for instance) was somehow incomplete. Universal Edition had already made the parts available to musicians before Feldman changed his mind and decided to call it 'Patterns in a chromatic field.' Under the latter name, this is one of the composer's most-recorded works, one of his most fascinating and (to my mind) one of his greatest. René Berman and Kees Wieringa made the first recording for the Dutch label Attacca when it was still 'Untitled'. This is a superb performance, on the quick side. Like the recording on Tzadik by Charles Curtis and Aleck Karis it fits on one disc; the performances on Hat Hut and Aeon stretch to two. John Tilbury's brisk recordings of Feldman's piano music have convinced me that late Feldman IS more convincing at a quicker tempo – it certainly makes the structure clearer, the mood both stormier and funnier and, above all, wards off the common misunderstanding of Feldman's music as entirely quiet, slow and 'ineffable.'
Now that I've brought up John Tilbury, I'd like to mention a 2009 release that seems to have been overlooked. Matchless Recordings have issued the first volume of a three-part series of Feldman's chamber music for strings and piano. The recordings were made at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. John Tilbury is the pianist; the Smith Quartet, both collectively and as soloists, play the string parts. It is being issued on DVD (audio-only) to allow the longer works to play uninterruptedly. Judging from the first volume ('For John Cage' for violin and piano and 'Piano and String Quartet') this should be a great series. ('Patterns in a chromatic field' will appear in Volume 2.) Matchless is not a widely distributed label, and the DVD format may put some people off, but I recommend this both for Tilbury's authoritative interpretation (nobody has worked on Feldman's music as long and as seriously as Tilbury) and for the contribution of the Smith Quartet, whose decision to use baroque bows for their lightness and flexibility gives the music an entirely new – and haunting – sound.
The Matchless recording is available directly from the label and, in the United States, from Erstwhile and the Jazz Loft. I have scanned the cover of Volume One and uploaded the first 20 minutes of the 70-minute 'Piano and String Quartet' in hopes of tempting some of you to buy it. And thanks again to Olde Edo for sending me the long out-of-print Attacca CD.
'Untitled Compostion for cello and piano' – Attacca CD – FLAC and scans
'Piano and String Quartet' (excerpt) – Matchless audio-only DVD – MP3 and scans
Originally from , ReBlogged by newmusicrebloggers on Oct 8, 2010 at 05:12 AM Posted by newmusicrebloggers at 05:12 AM