Essential Feldman
A contemporary of John Cage and a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, American composer Morton Feldman wrote music comprising apparently free and floating rhythms, softly nuanced harmonies, and subtly unfocussed pitches. Feldman’s music evolves gradually, unfolding over time (and in his later music, over very long periods of time: his Second String Quartet lasts for five hours), drawing the listener in and mesmerizingly encouraging one to listen deeply to every single carefully placed note.
Read more…Through his encounters with John Cage, Feldman began to write music which had no direct connection to the compositional styles or systems of the past, and he experimented with non-standard methods of notation such as grid scores, in which he specified how many notes should be played at a certain time but not which ones.
It could easily be described as "minimalist", but Feldman's music has none of the obsessive loops and spooling repetitions of Philip Glass or Steve Reich. This is "minimal music": extremely pared down, it gently insinuates its way into the conscious, softly-spoken and subtly shifting rather than drowning one in an immersive sonic shower. Listen intently, and while structures and motifs may recur, they are never exact repetitions. Through the quietness of his dynamic palette, the delicately shifting surfaces of the music, like reflections on water, and the simplicity of his expression, Feldman gives us profound and intimate encounters with sound – and silence.