CDOTD 1/22/2023

 Morton Feldman-Marianne Schroeder: Piano (hat ART)

Borrowed from library

I acknowledge Morton Feldman as one of the great composers of the last hundred years. I love much of his music. I sometimes think, how does one judge, critique, analyze the music?

This much I believe: he works best with small groups. I'm not generally fond of his orchestral music. Solo piano is a frequent setting for him, and it suits him.

This disc covers a little of several decades of Feldman's piano music. One piece from 1952, two from 1963, the title piece "Piano" from 1977, and a late work "Palais de Mari" from 1986. 

Generally speaking, the first three are roughly an early period for the composer. They're short and compressed, particularly the earliest of the three.

"Piano" is from what could be called a middle or transitional period for Feldman, a time that also produced "For Frank O'Hara" and "Rothko Chapel." It precedes the sometimes extraordinary lengths of the late works. Feldman in some ways tried to reflect the....methods? ....attitudes? of abstract New York painters at the time, the early works of Guston being of particular interest and influence. (He and Guston had something of a falling out over Guston's later, more representational and cartoonish paintings.) There's almost nothing melodic to speak of, sounds float into the time space irregularly. A quick inspection of the score (which I have also borrowed from the library) shows that he goes to great lengths to specify the rhythms, which read with far more complexity than they sound. That is to say, if a pianist was to play a 7:4 polyrhythm in the right hand on top of the left, you would hear that complexity. Feldman's rhythms can be very complex, but for the purpose of insisting no regular pulse be suggested. 

Something happens briefly and in passing in that work that is far more blatant in the final work of the set. There are irregular repetitions, patterns folding onto themselves in ever-changing ways. "Palais de Mari" is a short work for his later years; 15 minutes in this case, music from this time often lasts from one to over five hours continuously. I find that I enjoy the "crippled symmetry" (his term) of some of the late works. It's something like watching a Calder mobile slowly move in the wind, its shapes floating around each other and changing their orientation to our eyes. 

Feldman was a known fixture in the artist bars and clubs in the 50s and 60s, so much so that it's a wonder he also held down a job and had time for composing too. Conversations have been described as lasting all night, hours on end. I so wish I could find the source where I read this, but Feldman was known to go to the jazz clubs in the 50s. Supposedly he particularly liked Thelonious Monk. There is no hint of any influence of that music in Feldman's, but I enjoy the fact that his listening interests were far broader than what is reflected in his music. So too, you're not going to find a lot of Feldman in what I do, but he's in there somewhere. I have on rare occasions stopped and thought, what would Morty think? I guess I'll never know.