Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was born in New York on January 12, 1926. At the
age of twelve he studied piano with Madame Maurina-Press, who had
been a pupil of Busoni, and it was her who instilled in Feldman a
vibrant musicality. At the time he was composing short Scriabin-esque
pieces, until in 1941 he began to study composition with
Wallingford Riegger. Three years later Stefan Wolpe became his
teacher, though they spent much of their time together simply
arguing about music. Then in 1949 the most significant meeting up
to that time took place - Feldman met
John Cage, commencing an
artistic association of crucial importance to music in America in
the 1950s. Cage was instrumental in encouraging Feldman to have
confidence in his instincts, which resulted in totally intuitive
compositions. He never worked with any systems that anyone has
been able to identify, working from moment to moment, from one
sound to the next. His friends during the 1950s in New York
included the composers Earle Brown and Christian Wolff; painters
Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and Robert
Rauschenberg; and pianist David Tudor. The painters in particular
influenced Feldman to search for his own sound world, one that was
more immediate and more physical than had existed before. This
resulted in his experimentation with graph notation, "Projection 2"
being one of his earliest scores in this idiom. In these scores
the players select their notes from within a given register and
time structure. Because thee works relied so heavily on
improvisation Feldman was not happy with the freedom permitted to
the performer, and so abandoned graph notation between 1953 and
1958. However, the precise notation he used instead during this
period he found too one dimensional and so returned to the graph
with two orchestral works: "Atlantis" (1958) and "Out of Last
Pieces" (1960). Soon after these, appeared a series of
instrumental works called "Durations", in which the notes to be
played are precisely written but the performers, beginning
simultaneously, are free to choose their own durations within a
given general tempo.
1967 saw the start of Feldman's association with Universal Edition
with the publication of his last graphically notated score, "In
Search of an Orchestration". Then followed "On Time and the
Instrumental Factor" (1969) in which he once more returned to
precise notation, and from then on, with only the exception of two
works in the early 1970s, he maintained control over pitch, rhythm,
dynamics and duration.
In 1973 the University of New York at Buffalo asked Feldman to
become the Edgard Varese Professor, a post he held for the rest of
his life.
From the late 1970s his compositions expanded in length to such a
degree that the second string quartet can last for up to five and
a half hours. The scale of these works in particular has often
been the cause for the controversy surrounding his works, but he
would always be happy to attempt to explain his reasoning behind
them:
My whole generation was hung up on the 20 to 25 minute piece. It
was our clock. We all got to know it, and how to handle it. As
soon as you leave the 20-25 minute piece behind, in a one-movement
work, different problems arise. Up to one hour you think about
form, but after an hour and a half it's scale. Form is easy - just
the division of things into parts. But scale is another matter.
You have to have control of the piece - it requires a heightened
kind of concentration. Before, my pieces were like objects; now,
they're like evolving things.
Nine one-movement compositions by Feldman last for over one and a
half hours each.
One of his last works, "Palais de Mari" from 1986, is unusual for
a late composition in that it is only twenty minutes long. This
came about from a request from Bunita Marcus, for whom it was
written, for Feldman to sum up everything he was doing in the very
long pieces and to condense that into a smaller piece. Knowing his
sense of time, she asked for a ten minute work, knowing that it
would probably be twice that length.
In June 1987 Morton Feldman married the composer Barbara Monk. On
September 3, 1987, he died at his home in Buffalo aged 61.
Discography:
- Clarinet and String Quartet (1983); Two Pieces for Clarinet and
String Quartet (1961): IB Hausmann, clarinet, Pellegrini String
Quartet; 1995 (hat ART, CD6166)
- For Bunita Marcus (1985): Hildegard Kleeb, piano; 1990 (hat ART, CD
6076)
- For Bunita Marcus (1985): John Tilbury, piano; 1993 (LondonHALL,
docu 4)
- For Christian Wolff: N.Vigeland, piano, E.Blum, flute; (hat ART
CD3-61201/2/3)
- For John Cage (1982): Aki
Takahashi, piano, Yasushi Toyoshima,
violin; 1993 (ALM Records, ALCD-41)
- For John Cage (CP2 Recordings, CD569)
- For Philip Guston: N.Vigeland, piano, J.Williams, glockenspiel,
E.Blum, flute; (hat ART CD4-61041/2/3/4)
- For Samuel Beckett (San
Francisco Contemporary Music Players; Newport Classics, NPD 85506)
- For Samuel Beckett (1987): Ensemble Modern; 1992 (hat ART, CD 6107)
- Morton Feldman: Piano Three Hands, Intermission 5, Vertical Thoughts 2,
Extensions 3, Four Instruments, Piano Piece, Intersection,
Instruments 1; Morton Feldman, David Tudor, Cornelius Cardew
et al; 1991 (Editions RZ 1010)
- Palais de Mari (Academy, ACA 8505)
- Patterns in a Chromatic Field (1981): Rohan De Saram, cello, Marianne
Schroeder, piano; (this piece was formerly known as Untitled
Composition for Cello and Piano) 1995 (hat ART, CD2-6145)
- Piano: Marianne Schroeder, piano; 1989 (hat ART, CD 6035)
- Piano & String Quartet (1985): Aki Takahashi, piano,
Kronos Quartet; 1993 (Elektra/Nonesuch, 9-79320-2)
- Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello (1987): John Snijders, piano, Josje Ter Haar,
violin, Ruben Sanderse, viola, Job Ter Haar, cello; 1995 (hat
ART, CD 6158)
- Piano Works for 3/4/5 Hands and/or pianists: (Sub Rosa)
- Pieces for More Than Two Hands: Le Bureau Des Pianistes, pianos;
(Sub Rosa SUBCD 018-41)
- Quartet for Strings (Koch International Classics, 3-7251-2)
- Rothko Chapel; Why Patterns? (UC
Berkeley Chamber Chorus, D.Abel, viola, K.Rosenak, celeste,
W.Winant,
percussion, California EAR Unit; New Albion, NA039)
- Routine Investigations; The Viola in My Life I & II; For Frank
O'Hara; I Met Heine on the Rue Furstenberg: Ensemble
Recherche; (Disques Montaigne MO 782018)
- String Quartet: The Group for Contemporary Music; 1994 (Koch
International Classics, 3-7251-2)
- Three Voices (for Joan LaBarbara)
(J.LaBarbara, soprano;
New Albion, NA018)
- Triadic Memories (1981); Aki Takahashi, piano;
1989 (ALM Records, ALCD-33)
- Triadic Memories: Jean-Luc Fafchamps, piano; (Sub Rosa SUBCD
012-35)
- Triadic Memories; Piano; Two Pianos; Piano 3 Hands; Piano 4 Hands:
Roger Woodward, piano; 1991 (Etcetera, KTC 2015)
- Untitled Compositions for Cello & Piano (Attacca, Babel 9160-3)
- The Viola in My Life; False Relationships and the Extended Ending; Why
Patterns?: M.Feldman, piano, D.Tudor, piano, E.Blum, flute, J.Williams,
percussion, a.o.; 1992 (CRI, CD 620)
- Why Patterns?; Crippled Symmetry (E.Blum, flute, N.Vigeland, piano,
J.Williams, glockenspiel; hat ART, CD2-6080)
- Works for Piano 1: (hat ART, CD6035)
- Works for Piano 2: S.Schleiermacher, I.Mundry, M.Persson, K.Scholz,
N.Vigeland, pianos; 1994 (hat ART, CD 6143)
Collections:
- "Bass Clarinet and Percussion" from Reich, Bryars, Feldman, Perrin,
Zimmermann, Johnson, Fox, Morricone; R.Heaton, clarinet,
S.Limbrick, perc, et al; (Clarinet Classics C0009)
- "Chorus and Instruments (II)"; "Christian Wolff in Cambridge" from
Extended Voices: New Pieces for Chorus and for Voices Altered
Electronically by Sound Synthesizers and Vocoder: works of Feldman,
Cage,
Oliveros,
Lucier, Ashley, Ichiyanagi; Brandeis
University Chamber Chorus, Alvin Lucier, director, Harvey
Phillips, tuba, John Bergamo, chimes; 1967 (Odyssey, 3216 0156
LP)
- "Durations 3" from Tuba Intim: works of Feldman, Vogt, Horwood,
Zimmerlin, Stravinsky, Luedeke, Schlunz, Glandien; Michael
Vogt, tuba (ReR, Tuba 1)
- "King of Denmark" from works of Feldman,
Cage,
Stockhausen, Brown,
Bussotti; Max Neuhaus, percussion; 1969 (Columbia, ML7139 LP)
- "King of Denmark", "Intersection 2", "Intersection 3" from New
York School 2: works of Feldman,
Cage,
Brown, Wolff; E.Blum, flute, S.Schleiermacher,
piano, J.Williams, perc; 1994 (hat ART CD 6146)
- "King of Denmark" from Perkin' at Merkin: works of Feldman,
Cage,
Xenakis, Vigeland, Norgaard, Pugliese; 1991 (mode, 25)
- "Madam Press Died Last Week at Ninety" from American Elegies: works
of Feldman, Adams, Ives, Marshall,
Diamond; Orchestra of St.
Luke's, John Adams conducting; 1991
(Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79249-2)
- "Principal Sound" from ZEIT: Contemporary Organ Music: works by
Feldman, Rihm, Ruzicka, Scelsi, Hespos; Friedemann Herz, organ;
1993 (Koch, 3-1389-2)
- "Principal Sound" from Organ Music from the USA: works of Feldman,
Ives, Copland,
Cage;
Hans-Ola Ericsson, organ (BIS, CD 510)
- "Projection 1", "Extension 3", "Intersection 4", "Duration 2" from
The New York School 1: works of Feldman, Brown,
Cage, Wolff;
Eberhard Blum, flute, Frances-Marie Uitti, cello, Nils Vigeland,
piano (hat ART, CD6101)
- "Spring of Chosroes" from works of Feldman, Schnabel; Paul Zukovsky,
violin, Ursula Oppens, piano (Music Observations, CP2 CD 102)
- "Structures (1951)" from Concord Quartet: works by Feldman,
Cage,
Brown, Crumb, Druckman, Hiller, Kirchner, Wolff, Wolpe; Concord
String Quartet; 1973 (VOX, 3-VOX SVBX-5306, 3 LPs)
- "Structures (1951)" from USA: works of Feldman, Nancarrow, Carter,
Ives, Yim, Lucier, Young,
Cage;
Arditti String Quartet (Auvidis
Montaigne, MO 782010)
- "Three Pieces for String Quartet" from Mondriaan and Music: works
of Feldman, Xenakis,
Cage;
Mondriaan String Quartet (Vanguard
Classics, 99066)
- "Trio for Flutes" from None But the Lonely Flute: works by Feldman,
Babbitt, Mosko, Alexander,
Cage;
Dorothy Stone, flute, Arthur Jarvinen,
percussion, a.o.; 1994 (New World Records, NW 80456-2)
- "Two Pianos" from U.S. Choice: works of Feldman, M.Monk,
Ellington/Strayhorn, Powell, Borden, Bowles, Tenney, Tyranny;
Double Edge, pianos; 1992 (CRI Emergency Music, CD 637)