Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Morton Feldman's mid-period works, though not traveling a particularly different course, do take a mild and investigative turn. Subtle and explorative, these pieces are characterized by an intended tentativeness of figure, and the small chamber ensembles here are given a short leash on expression (though, within boundaries, certain notes are actually up to the performer to render duration and attack). Rarely do the oboe, flute(s), piano, violin, etc. overlap, but the spaces between are small and not the focus of Feldman's concentration. With no discernable meter, key, or delineated timbre, and an unbalanced harmonic structure, nonetheless, these pieces are lovely and quiet, outlining the flow of time without obscuring it. --Robin Edgerton
Morton Feldman: Routine Investigations / The Viola in My Life I & II / For Frank O'Hara / I Met Heine on the Rue Fürstenberg - Ensemble Recherche Edition 1, Music, Morton Feldman, Ensemble Recherche, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical
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Morton Feldman: Routine Investigations / The Viola in My Life I & II / For Frank O'Hara / I Met Heine on the Rue Fürstenberg - Ensemble Recherche Edition 1
Morton Feldman , and Ensemble Recherche Manufacturer: Disques Montaigne ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD  All Works by Feldman
| Feldman, Morton
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General
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General
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ASIN: B000003VQG Release Date: 1994-08-09 |
Tracks:
Amazon.com
Morton Feldman's mid-period works, though not traveling a particularly different course, do take a mild and investigative turn. Subtle and explorative, these pieces are characterized by an intended tentativeness of figure, and the small chamber ensembles here are given a short leash on expression (though, within boundaries, certain notes are actually up to the performer to render duration and attack). Rarely do the oboe, flute(s), piano, violin, etc. overlap, but the spaces between are small and not the focus of Feldman's concentration. With no discernable meter, key, or delineated timbre, and an unbalanced harmonic structure, nonetheless, these pieces are lovely and quiet, outlining the flow of time without obscuring it. --Robin Edgerton
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Feldman: For Frank O'Hara; I Met Heine on the Rue Fürstenberg
Manufacturer: Disques Montaigne ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Feldman
| Feldman, Morton
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| Featured Composers, A-Z
| Classical
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Chamber Music
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| Classical (c.1770-1830)
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ASIN: B00004WKJA Release Date: 2000-10-10 |
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Customer Reviews:
A classic Feldman recording reissued.......2004-01-25
The four pieces that make up The Viola in My Life date from 1970 and 1971, and on this disc we hear the first two (the third is for viola and piano, the fourth is a viola concerto). The first is for viola, flute, percussion, piano, violin and cello and is made from fragmentary melodies and Webernian harmonies, though in the closing stages two repeated figures (a falling minor third in the flute and a rising pizzicato figure in the cello) become more important. If the first of the pieces in this series is still marked by the austerity of Feldman's late 1960s works, the second--which adds clarinet and celesta to the instrumentation of the first--is very different in its emphasis on a singing melodic line in the viola. The important figures from the end of the first piece return about half way through the work, dominating the second half, though the viola's melodies never cease.
I met Heine on the Rue Fürstenburg was written in 1971, and stylistically lies somewhere in between the first two Viola in My Life pieces. Scored for wordless mezzo-soprano, flute doubling piccolo, clarinet doubling bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and cello, this parallels the Viola pieces in the manner in which the lead melodic role is taken by the singer, though the melodic line is more abstract than in the second Viola piece. The music also has a more pensive atmosphere, one that is accentuated in the extraordinary 1973 work For Frank O'Hara, a memorial to the late poet for flute doubling piccolo and alto flute, clarinet, two percussionists, piano, violin and cello. Here, there is a constant undercurrent of tension generated by the ominous drum rolls in the background. The musical progress is extremely slow, with only fragmentary melodies and harmonies, and when a single fff breaks in on the snare drum, the effect is astonishing.
Routine Investigations, written in 1976 for oboe, trumpet, piano, viola, cello and double bass, shows Feldman beginning to move away from his 1970s style towards the Turkish rug-inspired pattern pieces of his last ten years. The rhythms are more regular than in the earlier pieces (though they are still more complex than they appear to be), the instrumental sound harsher. The closing bars are particularly striking, taking a brief melody that was common to many of Feldman's 1970s pieces and tossing it from one instrument to another.
This was my first Feldman disc, and it was the perfect introduction to the composer; none of these pieces have the extreme length of later Feldman, and the musical processes and textures have a transparency--perhaps an inheritance from Webern--that remains very appealing. As one would expect from the ensemble recherche, the performances are quite outstanding. Recommended with enthusiasm.
Short Feldman - What a Concept!.......2002-11-22
All of the works on this disc date from the 70s, a period that is particularly underrepresented on disc. The earliest pieces, The Viola in My Life 1 and 2, date from 1970 and the latest, Routine Investigations dates from 1976. As is always the case with Feldman, the ensembles are imaginative and varied, constisting of combinations of winds, strings, soft percussion, piano and mallet instruments. (Feldman used to say that once he had chosen the instrumentation for his pieces, the work was basically done!) Feldman's style on these pieces is minimal in the most basic sense of the word. The traditional elements of music are eliminated or at least re-examined. There is very little melody to speak of. It is so minimal that, in the Viola In My Life 1, there is a two note "cuckoo" style pattern that takes on tremendous melodic force, just because the two notes are associated. Rhythm is precisely notated, but the effect is of a free floating tempoless meter. Harmony consists of soft tense dissonances, which function less like harmony and more like tone color. Form is flexible and almost undisernable in this context. Tone color takes on extreme importance. Feldman once said that he considered himself mostly an orchestrator. Listening to the gorgeous sounds on this CD, one is inclined to agree with him.
Each track displays something unique and interesting in Feldman's output. Routine Investigations is particularly interesting in that the later part of the piece is dominated by an almost "minimalist" ostinato, though without the motoric pulse associated with Glass or Reich. The piece is also more full of a sense of existential dread than most Feldman music. Both Viola In My Life tracks are essential Feldman. This was a beautiful series of works based on an instrument that Feldman felt a special bond with. For Frank O'Hara is the longest piece on the disc and is probably the most minimal and Webern-like of the tracks. And the Heine piece is also quite lovely.
Performances and recorded sound are exemplary on this Montaigne release as is usual for this company. And it is priced to sell. This is a wonderful addition to the Feldman discography and highly recommended to beginners and Feldman cognicetti alike.
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