Morton Feldman speaks with Webern
Hearing Webern and Feldman next to each other is a real ear-opener. The other day I decided to explore this a little further. I listened to the Webern Symphony again, then to two Feldman pieces from the time of that famous concert walk-out: Projection 1 for cello (1950) and Structures for string quartet (1951).
Morton Feldman: Intermission 6, again
A good while back, I wrote about Morton Feldman’s Intermission 6. I’ve been playing it some more this month and just made a recording of it.
Interview at Ràdio Web MACBA
While in Barcelona, I was interviewed for Ràdio Web MACBA, the online radio program of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA). It was an interesting experience and is available online now.
Morton Feldman speaks with Beethoven
The latest music to migrate from the bookshelf to the piano to be worked on are pieces by Morton Feldman and Beethoven. What I’m finding is that these pieces are talking to each other—or at least Feldman is speaking to Beethoven—about voicing, weight, and sound.
October playlist
Time to post another playlist of what’s been reverberating around here (both externally and internally). Here’s what’s been going on in September/October.
About pagination in Feldman
An explanation of why my page numbering doesn’t match the Feldman scores now sold by Universal Edition.
For Bunita Marcus 7: pages 23-25
After attaining a state of deep concentration in pages 20-22, For Bunita Marcus breaks off and scatters a bit over the next few pages. This is another section where Feldman rearranges earlier music, disorienting our memories.
For Bunita Marcus 6: Settling down (pages 20-22)
As I noted at the end of the last installment of my trek through For Bunita Marcus, the end of page 19 signals something altogether different. What happens over the next three pages is an expansion of time and a sharpening of concentration in the piece.
For Bunita Marcus: end-to-end
Here in the blog, I’ve been describing my progress through Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus one section at a time. I’ve gotten through page 19, which is about halfway through the piece. In reality, I’ve been much further ahead of the blog. A couple of weeks ago, I finally reached the end.
For Bunita Marcus 5: The evolution of memory
In a recent lecture on Feldman’s music, Bunita Marcus said that Feldman was ”playing with memory and the evolution of memory.” The next part of For Bunita Marcus (pages 16-19) is devoted to this “playing with memory”.