Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet / Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Written two years before his death in 1987, Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet is a shimmering, pristine musical event. Contrasting Aki Takahashi's widely-spaced piano arpeggios with Kronos Quartet's extended chords, Feldman allows lingering sounds from either the piano or the strings to haze over many of the piece's near-silences. Kronos plays their parts with tremulous fragility, often making pointedly clear the viola's musical valley between the leading violins and the trailing cello. By the time Feldman composed this piece, he was deeply committed to extended works--chamber pieces that could telescope motifs and worry their tonality so that it warbled between hauntingly atonal and familiarly tonal singing. This is a powerful, evening piece, one that can set an extravagantly crystalline musical mood. --Andrew Bartlett
Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet / Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet, Music, Joan Jeanrenaud, Morton Feldman, Kronos Quartet, Aki Takahashi, Aki Takahaski, Hank Dutt, David Harrington, John Sherba, Chamber, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Four String Instrument with Keyboard/Continuo
Average customer rating:
- reaping the rewards
- downright spooky
- Extreme
- A Thinking Cane
- Dangerously relaxing music
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Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet / Aki Takahashi, Kronos Quartet
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
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Binding: Audio CD
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Similar Items:
- Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel; Why Patterns?
- Aki Takahashi Plays Morton Feldman
- Give My Regards to Eighth Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman
- Feldman: Crippled Symmetry
- Feldman: String Quartet (1979)
ASIN: B000005J27
Release Date: 1993-09-28 |
Tracks:
- Piano And String Quartet: Deep Dance
Amazon.com essential recording
Written two years before his death in 1987, Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet is a shimmering, pristine musical event. Contrasting Aki Takahashi's widely-spaced piano arpeggios with Kronos Quartet's extended chords, Feldman allows lingering sounds from either the piano or the strings to haze over many of the piece's near-silences. Kronos plays their parts with tremulous fragility, often making pointedly clear the viola's musical valley between the leading violins and the trailing cello. By the time Feldman composed this piece, he was deeply committed to extended works--chamber pieces that could telescope motifs and worry their tonality so that it warbled between hauntingly atonal and familiarly tonal singing. This is a powerful, evening piece, one that can set an extravagantly crystalline musical mood. --Andrew Bartlett
Customer Reviews:
reaping the rewards.......2007-01-20
J Scott Morrison has typically hit the nail on the head in his spotlight review. I've little enough to add except to say that Feldman's Piano and String Quartet is my absolute favorite Feldman piece. Among many loved pieces by this intriguing composer whose singular art marks the late 20th century as encouragingly fertile after all, for me, the Piano and String Quartet stands atop them all. I'm a musician and painter, and this is the ONLY music I ever allow when I'm painting. I figure this as maybe not surprising considering Feldman's well disclosed relationship to visual art. But at the same time, the Piano and String Quartet is music so whole it is impossible for it to play as 'background' music, thus it seems rather to afford a communion when I'm working, which quite says something to me about its importance. It's true that one of the great qualities of Feldman's scores is spaciousness. But even greater is the luxury afforded the written notes by that spaciousness. Music imbued with time, but time never for its own sake. Add to that the impeccable musicianship of Aki Takahashi whose playing, for me, opens entire new vistas of the feminine in art, and the indomitable Kronos Quartet whose jewelled work is ever new, ever important. Is there another opening to any score that rivals the first glass golden moments of the Piano and String Quartet? If there is, I've not found it. Feldman's scores treat the listener with abidingly profound respect. Nothing could be less true than that Morton Feldman's is music for aesthetes. Where that perception rises up, nothing is said about Feldman's aesthetic and everything dismaying is noted about a culture of immediate consumption that burdens us all. I also recommend to you Feldman's 'Give My Regards To Eighth Street' (I've yet to read 'Morton Feldman Speaks:') for miraculous insights about his work, and many pixie-like pages of humor and loving consolation. If you're looking for a passel of knowing commentary about Feldman's many scores, read Chris Forbes' absorbing reviews of many Feldman recordings in these review pages. I've learned a great deal from him, and am grateful for that. Begin to reap the rewards of truly listening. This is music so attuned it demolishes category, and reawakens hope.
downright spooky.......2006-06-17
Like the concentrated energy of an atom, if this lengthy piece is condensed, note for note, down to 2.5 minutes, it sounds like Ike Turner's "Rocket 88" played backwards.
Extreme.......2006-03-20
This has to be one of the most extreme pieces of music ever composed and recorded. And you have to be very patient to listen to the whole thing from start to end. But the patient are always rewarded. If you want something unique, truly experimental, hypnotic, and captivating, get this. This is minimalism in its purest form.
A Thinking Cane.......2006-02-15
I think this is the CD to buy if you like puzzles, deep conversation with a valued interlocutor, or thinking problems through. Feldman's 12-tone music is really intended as a kind of intriquing, thought-nourishing background, not as the object of one's pointed concentration in and of itself. When you try to focus on it, you end up in a very tense mood. When you simply ALLOW it to be forgotten and recede, it's purpose comes into play.
Acedemic or retro pretention is not neccessary, as Feldman was the very picture of an American character bent on enjoying himself (the guy actually worked in his father's laundromat most of his life while working on his compositions in his private leisure) This piece (and pretty much all else Feldman composed) was never intended to financially support career music students, it was meant to be enjoyed without being the center of one's attention, attended to at one's convenience and for the sake of one's own private, utterly personal ends.
Aki Takahashi--expressive and thoughtful in his interpretation of the loose "suggestions" written by the composer--plays other of Feldman's compositions in an equally engaging manner, but this particular recording is a small gem of its own worth the price of admission.
Dangerously relaxing music.......2005-11-19
If you're looking for a nice, catchy tune, this is probably not for you.
The best way to listen to this is as a kind of sound sculpture, designed to get you very very very relaxed indeed.
Recently on holiday, lying on the beach, I had this playing on my i-pod and, on more than one occasion, became aware of not breathing - so frighteningly relaxed had I become. Not an altogether pleasant experience, but a pretty powerful indication of the music's effectiveness.
On the face of it, nothing much happens in this piece, nor is there is any discernible beginning or end. The basic pattern of sustained, broken piano chord echoed by strings basically stays the same, although, on the way, individual notes chime in from time to time and sounds and emphases shift almost indiscernibly. The conversation between piano and stings strongly resembles very relaxed, very slow breathing - hence the sensation of catching yourself apparently not doing the same!
On another level, this is a deeply meditative piece - a profound contemplation on the sensuality of sound. Its mesmeric repetitiveness effectively hypnotises the listener into a heightened sense of awareness for the everyday, largely blocked out noises that fill our ears. Indeed every incidental sound - the barking of a dog, traffic horns, a police siren roaring past - are engulfed in and become part of the music itself - and, in this way, the mundane becomes significant and beautiful.
Again, this really is not for everyone, but as a piece of sound sculpture it is truly a work of art.
Average customer rating:
- A worthwhile investment
- Excelent compilation!
- Amazingly Now Retrospective
- How Could You Not Listen?
- Good for help to know up-to-date contemporaly music
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25 Years: Retrospective
Suzanne Elder , Paul Hillier , David Krakauer , John Adams , Franguiz Ali-Zadeh , Ken Benshoof , George Crumb , Morton Feldman , Philip Glass , Osvaldo Golijov , Henryk Gorecki , Sofiya Gubaydulina , Arvo Part , P. Q. Phan , Astor Piazzolla , Steve Reich , Terry Riley , Alfred Schnittke , Peter Sculthorpe , Kevin Volans , Aki Takahashi , Ellen L. Hargis , Neal Rogers , and Kronos Quartet
Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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Similar Items:
- The John Adams Earbox: A 10-CD Retrospective
- Three Tales (CD & DVD)
- Varèse - The Complete Works / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra · Asko Ensemble · Chailly
- Schnittke: Complete String Quartets
- Alban Berg: Lyric Suite
ASIN: B00000DD9B
Release Date: 1998-10-27 |
Tracks:
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Judah to Ocean
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Toot Nipple
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Dogjam
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Pavane: She's So Fine
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Rag the Bone
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Habanera
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Stubble Crochet
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Hammer & Chisel
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Alligator Escalator
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Standchen: The Little Serenade
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Judah to Ocean (Reprise)
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Fratres
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Psalom
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Summa
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Missa Syllabica: Kyrie
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Gloria
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Credo
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Sanctus
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Agnus Dei
- John's Book of Alleged Dances (1994): Ite, missa est
Tracks:
- Traveling Music: 1. Gentle, easy
- Traveling Music: 2. Moderate
- Traveling Music: 3. Driving
- Song of Twenty Shadows
- Five Tango Sensations: Asleep
- Five Tango Sensations: Loving
- Five Tango Sensations: Anxiety
- Five Tango Sensations: Despertar
- Five Tango Sensations: Fear
- Five Tango Sensations: Four, for Tango
Tracks:
- Piano And String Quartet (1985) - Various Artists
Tracks:
- Quartet # 4 (Buczak, 1989): I
- Quartet # 4 (Buczak, 1989): II
- Quartet # 4 (Buczak, 1989): III
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): 1957 - Award Montage
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): November 25 - Ichigaya
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): 1934 - Grandmother and Kimitake
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): 192 - Body Building
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): Blood Oath
- Mishima Quartet, Quartet #3 (1985): Mishima/Closing
- Company, Quartet #2 (1983): I
- Company, Quartet #2 (1983): II
- Company, Quartet #2 (1983): III
- Company, Quartet #2 (1983): IV
- Quartet #5 (1991): I
- Quartet #5 (1991): II
- Quartet #5 (1991): III
- Quartet #5 (1991): IV
- Quartet #5 (1991): V
Tracks:
- The Dreams & Prayers of Isaac the Blind: Prelude: Calmo, sospeso
- The Dreams & Prayers of Isaac the Blind: I. Agitato - Con fucco - Maestoso - Senza misura, oscilante
- The Dreams & Prayers of Isaac the Blind: II. Teneramente - Ruvido - Presto
- The Dreams & Prayers of Isaac the Blind: III. Calmo, sospeso - Allego pesante
- The Dreams & Prayers of Isaac the Blind: Postlude: Lento, liberamente
- Quartet #4 (1993)
- Mugam Sayagi (1993)
Tracks:
- Quasi una fantasia (Quartet #2), Op.64 (1990-91): I. Largo (Sostenuto - Mesto)
- Quasi una fantasia (Quartet #2), Op.64 (1990-91): II. DecisoEnergico (Marcatissimo sempre)
- Quasi una fantasia (Quartet #2), Op.64 (1990-91): III. Arioso: Adagio cantabile
- Quasi una fantasia (Quartet #2), Op.64 (1990-91): IV. Allegro (Sempre con grande passione e molto marcato)
- Already It is Dusk (Quartet #1), Op.62 (1988)
Tracks:
- Different Trains: America Before The War
- Different Trains: Europe During The War
- Different Trains: America After The War
- Black Angels: I. Departure - 1. Thenody I: Night Of The Electric Insects - 2. Sounds Of Bones And Flutes - 3. Lost Bells - 4. Devil-Music - 5. Danse Macabre
- Black Angels: II. Absence - 6. Pavana Lachrymae - 7. Threnody II: Black Angels! - 8. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura - 9. Losts Bells (Echo)
- Black Angels: III. Return - 10. God Music - 11. Ancient Voices - 12. Ancient Voices (Echo) - 13. Thenody III: Night Of The Electric Insects
Tracks:
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Introduction
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Cadenza: Violin I
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Where Was Wisdom When We Went West?
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Cadenza: Viola
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): March of the Old Timers Reefer Division
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Cadenza: Violin II
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Tuning to Rolling Thunder
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): The Night Cry of Black Buffalo Woman
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Cadenza: Cello
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Gathering of the Spiral Clan
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): Captain Jack Has the Last Word
- Cadenza on the Night Plain (1984): G Song
- Salome Dances for Peace (1985-86) - III. The Gift: Echoes of Primordial Tim
- Salome Dances for Peace (1985-86) - III. The Gift: Mongolian Winds
- V. Good Medicine: Good Medicine Dance
Tracks:
- Quartet No. 2 (1981): I. Moderato
- Quartet No. 2 (1981): II. Agitato
- Quartet No. 2 (1981): III. Mesto
- Quartet No. 2 (1981): IV. Moderato
- Quartet No. 4 (1989): I. Lento
- Quartet No. 4 (1989): II. Allegro
- Quartet No. 4 (1989): III. Lento
- Quartet No. 4 (1989): IV. Vivace
- Quartet No. 4 (1989): V. Lento
- Collected Songs Where Every Verse Is Filled With Grief (1984-85)
Tracks:
- Jabiru Dreaming, Quartet #11 (1990): I. Deciso
- Jabiru Dreaming, Quartet #11 (1990): II. Amoroso
- Quartet #8 (1969): I. Con dolore
- Quartet #8 (1969): II. Risoluto; calmo
- Quartet #8 (1969): III. Con dolore
- Quartet #8 (1969): IV. Con precisione
- Quartet #8 (1969): V. Con dolore
- From Ubirr (1994)
- Tragedy at the Opera (1995)
- White Man Sleeps Quartet #1: First Dance
- White Man Sleeps Quartet #1: Second Dance
- White Man Sleeps Quartet #1: Third Dance
- White Man Sleeps Quartet #1: Fourth Dance
- White Man Sleeps Quartet #1: Fifth Dance
Amazon.com
Seems like only yesterday the Kronos Quartet stepped up their career as musical mavericks with a coveted, wide-open contract with Nonesuch Records. Now it's Nonesuch's turn to give Kronos the big-package nod, gathering key works recorded by the group--from younger composers and time-tested veterans alike--into this 10-CD box set. As one might expect, the set is stuffed with contrasts, from the first CD, with its 11-part, upstepping John Adams suite and then the far more solemn Missa Syllabica from Arvo Pärt. Nearly 20 of these pieces here were composed expressly for Kronos, pitched and sculpted for their easily-racked mixture of straightforward string quartet roles and intelligently restructured approaches to the even the simplest gestures. Perhaps most key here is George Crumb's Black Angels, in large part due to Crumb's role in inspiring David Harrington to form Kronos 25 years ago. Crumb's music spirals and chases through the air, engaging high pitches and fast pacings as if they were ends in themselves. Gone from this set are most of the short snippets that have filled some of Kronos's other fine single CD recordings. In abundance instead are some of the legendary works: Morton Feldman's long, endlessly patient Piano and String Quartet (with Aki Takahashi), Steve Reich's unnerving Different Trains, and Henryk Górecki's String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2. There are also some of the astounding Eastern European works from Night Prayers as well, including the stunning Quartet No. 4 from Sofia Gubaidulina. And of course there are the Kronos biggie pieces: Philip Glass's works fill one CD, and so do Terry Riley's. What's more, Riley's Cadenza on the Night Plain and "G Song" are presented here in entirely fresh, new recordings. What the listener gets is a huge block of music, full of shifting colors and textures but perfectly apt in giving a wide-angle vantage on what Kronos has done for contemporary music. --Andrew Bartlett
Customer Reviews:
A worthwhile investment.......2003-10-06
It would be an understatement to say that this is a fabulous box set. All 10 CDs are packed with some fabulous music that beautifull highlights the first 25 years of the Kronos Quartet, and the booklet included provides a great history of the group as well as nice blurbs on the composers and their pieces.
Equally nice about the box set is the inclusion of multiple new recordings, thus making this a worthwhile investment for fans. The Peter Sculthorpe Quartets are a particularly nice addition, as are the added Piazzolla, Part, and Riley compositions.
Along with this, the "classic" Kronos recordings are all here: "Black Angels" "Different Trains" "Salome Dances for Peace" (well, exceprts), and Feldman's Piano and String Quartet. Of particular note, I think is the inclusion of Gubaidulina's Quartet No 4, a fabulous recording that is otherwise hidden in Kronos' recording "Night Prayers."
Yes, this is quite an investment, but I firmly believe that it's worth it - longtime fans and newcomers alike have a lot to gain from this collection.
Excelent compilation!.......2001-09-09
I like more classic period, like Hayden, but Cronos does it very well, technicaly excelent. The ten sets are wonderful recordings and the selection is unique. It deserves the investment, If you buy it, youre going to have more than ten hours of joy.
Amazingly Now Retrospective.......2001-06-26
Since their youthful start in the NW back in the 70's, Kronos has collaborated with, commissioned, or just played such a breadth of musicians it almost seems that breadth - and especially non western world culture - is their mission. But, while this conservatively and esthetically designed 25-yr-retrospective box (with its increasingly sophisticated photo-portraits) belies the pulsation of social angst and conscience that underlies the bulk of the inclusions, the latter concern, its vitality and relevance - and not some stylish chasing after cultural breadth - is what overtakes the listener/reader, rather soon. I say reader, since the booklet is very helpful, especially to the relative novice, and well balanced in its coverage of composers, historical contexts, performers, individual texts, etc.
There are probably more non contemporaries performed by the Quartet over the years than this selection would indicate. That undercuts their ties with the sense of revolution in music throughout the ages, but it leaves more time for the present: and that is where one expects the group wishes to be, is most contributory and challenged, and is best and most fairly judged. Highly recommended, both for those who know Kronos's work well and wish a handsome tribute on their shelf, and for those who do not but are open and ready to be affected, whether impacted esthetically, reminded socio-morally, or whatever combination of both befits.
How Could You Not Listen?.......1998-12-19
My opinion pales when compared to this CD. Indeed the group's ingeniousness, its knowing and its balls are in full display here, hopefully to put to rest any lingering contention that there is little more to Kronos than form. To any person who accepts the merits of 20th-century music, this CD presents the genius of our culture and teaches that daring and ingenuity do not have to be sacrificed on the road to technical brilliance. My only regret is that the CD does not include Kronos's interpretation of Bartok. But, so what? Górecki's here, as are Part and Benshoof. Listen to this CD -- soar and struggle with it.
Good for help to know up-to-date contemporaly music.......1998-11-28
The Kronos Quartet has released many albums. There let us see what the quartet has tried new titles and arrenges in each period. But this is the best set for understand the quartet as summary of thier works. The CDs are distributed by each composers and we can see thier identities easily.Unfortunately this dose not include all but be enough to see what the quartet has been.I hope that every classical music fans(not only contemporaly music fans) listen this CDs.
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Music Review
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Rock Music rock-music-51
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46 / Berlioz: Harold in Italy Op16 [IMPORT]
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1; Beethoven: Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 ("Pathétique")
Third Annual Farewell Reunion
Debussy: Forever by the Sea [Enhanced]
First Impression
Drop By Drop [Import]
Director's Cut
Don't Stop Music [Import]
Brahms: Symphony No. 1; Academic Festival Overture; Tragic Overture
Coral [SACD] [Import]
Arpa Internacional [Import]
Angelitos Navidenos
Gould: American Ballads / Foster Gallery / American Salute
Build a Bridge