CDOTD 12/12/2025

 Morton Feldman: String Quartet [1] (Koch)

I think I bought this new in NYC, some place

Sigh, back to Feldman. 

No regrets though. Did I buy this at a Tower Records in NY many years ago? Possibly, probably? It seemed like a find at the time, and maybe it was.

Some time between listening to this for the first time and now, I couldn't play this on a disc player I had. It came up with errors. 

I've more recently bought a boombox-style player just so I've have a convenient disc player in general: discs in my mancave, outside for cookouts. 

So, it's playing. I don't have the quietest stereo system, just wow it's a noisy disc. And where is this piece leading? There are beautiful moments, true invention. But I think my opinion is colored by knowing where Feldman was heading later. There are times when the String Quartet II is this but slowed down 4X. Or sometimes sped up? It's not simple. 

In retrospect, this does feel anticipatory of things to come rather than the thing itself. But there's no way Morty himself could have known that. Or did he?

I should just enjoy the moments.

Which leads me to...

Feldman had a high degree of skepticism regarding Stockhausen. But he expressed admiration for Karlheinz' Momente. Moment-forming, is that something that Morton did without the formulas of Stockhausen? Or was it more intuitive?

As I'm listening, I'm thinking: I wish I could be in the room as this was being performed. I want to feel the vibrations. I'm grateful for the documentation on CD, but I wish I could feel it.