MORTON FELDMAN : Works for Piano 2 (Steffen Schleiermacher, Isabel Mundry, Mats Persson, Kristine Scholz, Nils Vigeland) (1990) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This second volume of Feldman's piano works is like the first: based on the idea of aesthetic development rather than the pursuit of a chronological or complete presentation of the composer's works written for that instrument. Interestingly enough, however, is the fact that all but one of the pieces here are from the 1950s, when the artist was obsessed with the subtle timbres in the piano's range of expression. Each work from the re-recording of "Intermission V" which appeared on the first volume, through the four "Last Pieces" in 1959, "Piano Piece," 1952, "Two Intermissions," from 1950 and 1953's "Intermission VI", reveals a different part of the mysterious puzzle Feldman was working on. Tension, timbre, color, nuance, harmonic interval, and the idea that whatever could possibly be called melody in these pieces could only evolve from the silences between the notes; all were being developed during this period. During this time, Feldman was using a kind of notiation that allowed for structured silences, some so subtle they didn't even register on the page. This leaves a lot to the discretion and judiciousness of the performer. Steffen Schleiermacher, like many of the Europeans that have discovered a kindred spirit in Feldman since his passing, proves this point. Often his durations and extensions of silence are erratic, notes are held longer than others, and a score is read differently from the one just preceding it. This is especially true in "Two Intermissions." The second of the pair is played without artifice or intent, executed with transparency where the first seems almost forced in its tension, as if he were fighting the piece instead of playing it or letting it play him. The final work here, the 36-minute "Five Pianos" is another thing entirely. Here the notation is precise; Feldman had long since ceased giving control of the score to the performer. This work, the beginning of his larger scale compositions, is stunning in its ability to pare down even the slightest of timbres to their essential ordered silences and pass them through the prism of another piano's timbres involved in the same process until all five are engaged in the act while space between them abounds. That the work can be played at all is a miracle; that it is performed here with such precision and care is a tribute to the inherent humanity and grace in Feldman's music. Each player loses himself in the score, and as a result in its lines finds himself anew, altered by silence and its relationships to sound and its organization. This is fine second addition to the Hat catalogue of Feldman works. Thom Jurek    Tracklist + Credits :

MORTON FELDMAN : For Christian Wolff (Eberhard Blum, Nils Vigeland) 3xCD (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Late in his life, New York School composer Morton Feldman was prolific. This piece, written less than a year before his death stands, with "For Philip Guston" and his two string quartets (one of which is six hours long), as a statement on the relationship of music as sound, how they interact with one another and separate into different entities over extended periods of time when notions of rhythm, pitch, timbre, etc., are dispensed with. But Feldman was an exacting composer when it came to dynamics. Basically, there weren't any; all of his late music, of which "For Christian Wolff" (written for another member of Feldman's circle, the composer by the same name) is a prime example. Almost three and a half hours in duration, the work is composed in 12 movements, where one ends and another begins is anybody's guess. The piano and celesta are scored for pppp, and meant to be played back just above the level of silence. This spaciousness and constant but sparse activity is meant to allow for other sounds to enter the composition that would normally be heard. When Feldman would tour with his works, he was very aware -- usually jovially -- at just where an audience member would cough during a performance. Often just one instrument is playing one single note, responded to by the other instrument playing its same note for long periods of time. They gradually evolve into the piano or celesta playing chords in brief clusters while the Flute is playing an almost unheard trill. Eberhard Blum and Nils Vigeland were both supervised by Feldman in the debut performance of this work. They were his students and collaborators who understand implicity the rigors of performing his work, which is, for the listener, almost overwhelming in its ambiguous, haunting beauty. To listen to the entire piece, on a 5 CD changer, is, for the listener, a transformative experience; it's a chance to encounter our own view of sound and its (lack of) varying forms. There is plenty of room for listeners to roam around inside "For Christian Wolff," specifically, because for the performers there is no room for variation from this demanding, unfolding of the score. As is the case with most of Feldman's late work, it can be ignored as background music, or it can be entrancing as a journey into a hidden universe; profound and mystifying. Thom Jurek    Tracklist + Credits :

MORTON FELDMAN : Why Patterns? | Crippled Symmetry (Nils Vigeland, Eberhard Blum, Jan Williams) 2xCD (1991) APE (image+.cue), lossless

This double-disc collection of Morton Feldman's late-period work brings together two of his own most cherished pieces, both in the longer style that became his working method for the last 17 years of his life. Why Patterns? from 1978 is a work for flute, glockenspiel, and piano. It was inspired by Feldman's deep fascination with Persian rugs and their methods of creation. He discovered that there was an inexactitude in many of them that made the final product appear more mysterious and allowed for a deeper gaze on the part of the viewer. In true fashion, Feldman followed this course in creating a composition that followed suit. It consists of a large variety of patterns and is notated separately for each instrument. The trickiness is that in the score, the three parts don't coordinate or link up until very late in the score. The notation is close but is never synchronized, and it allows for more elaborate and chance relationships to develop in harmony, timbre, and color. Nothing given to one instrument is interchangeable, and the patterns, too, have their complications in that some repeat exactly and others with slight variations. Feldman creates a floating music that touches referent points seemingly only by chance, and intersects patterns at intervals that allow the listener a deeper mystery to contemplate. Crippled Symmetry is from 1983 and is one of Feldman's true masterpieces. Also written for flute, piano, and glockenspiel, it is notated as well for the inclusion of vibraphone and celesta. This work is over 90 minutes in length. It begins as a series of symmetrical statements by the percussion instruments and a phrase by the flutes that become interchangeable throughout the score's notation. Timbres and dynamics are in an arresting conflict with one another as the instruments struggle, seemingly, throughout the work for a kind of dynamic range that Feldman never allows to establish itself. Everything is played so softly and tentatively that a beautiful but defined dramatic tension is created by the nature of restraint itself. The glockenspiel and celesta hover about the irregular heartbeats of the vibraphone, which changes its patterns only three times in the course of the work but establishes a timbral superiority. Flutes take one line from the piano, one from the glock, and one from the celesta and cover all territories and patterns in the work as the piano creates minor triads that mysteriously shift emphasis from one interval to the next. What is symmetrical here is the constancy of movement -- its gentle, quiet, understated shifting of patterns and harmonic consonances. What is crippled is the strategy of the composer who creates these relationships among instruments and their tonal balances only to cancel them out gradually in favor of imbalances that must again work to create symmetry. This was Feldman's genius, never assuming anything about harmonic totality or tonal regularities. All tones in his work were ambiguities waiting to be encountered and entered into relationship with, however briefly. The three performers here, Jan Williams (glockenspiel and vibraphone), Nils Vigeland (piano and celesta), and Eberhard Blum (flutes), are intimately familiar with Feldman's notions about the mysterious nature of sonic encounter and (im)balances. They worked with him and were taught by him. They bring about a truly balanced and deeply nuanced reading of this work. And, as usual, Hat's recording quality is over the top. This two-disc set is still the watermark of definitive performance for these works, though many others have been attempted. Thom Jurek         Tracklist + Credits :

MORTON FELDMAN : For Philip Guston (Nils Vigeland, Eberhard Blum, Jan Williams) 4xCD (1992) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

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