A conversation

Morton Feldman & John Cage in conversation - 1967
in 3 parts :  *  ,  **  ,  ***

 !!-!!

Neither

"Neither" is the only opera of Morton Feldman, on a Samuel Beckett's libretto.
As kind of dark existentialist lyrical poem, this work was composed for soprano and orchestra in 1977, despite Beckett, for their first meeting in 1976,  told to Feldman he hated opera, as well Feldman answered he rarely used any words in his music! In fact Feldman began to compose music before he received the text.

"I said to him, "I don't blame you!" Then he said to me, "I don't like my words being set to music," and I said, "I'm in complete agreement. In fact it's very seldom that I've used words. I've written a lot of pieces with voice, and they're wordless." Then he looked at me again and said, "But what do you want?" And I said, "I have no idea!" 
Morton Feldman

later...
"In 1985 Beckett suggested Feldman as the composer for a new version of "Words and Music" being produced for American radio. Putting aside his other work, Feldman completed the score, following it with a long piece dedicated to his friend, "For Samuel Beckett", in 1986. " - in  Neither words and music

"Neither" was commisonned and created by the Roma Opera in May 1977.

- a review titled "Beckett as librettist" by Howard Skempton here
- a chronicle (11 december 1978 - page 201) by Tom Johnson in "The voice of new music"


The first 10 minutes of this piece by the Radio Sinfonie Orchestra of Frankfurt conducted by Zoltan Pesko, and the beautiful british soprano Sarah Leonard.

 

 

III-0-III

Morton Feldman

 

A fascinating conversation of Morton Feldman with the composer Charles Shere in 1967. (on archiv.org)

Which speaks of John Cage, Karl Marx, Christian Wolff , Stockhausen, Anton Webern... and many others.

Created by the American painter Mark Rothko, Rothko Chapel is a spiritual environment, a space for contemplation where men and women, believers or not, may meditate in silence, in solitude or in a common celebration. In this chapel, built in 1971 by the Menil Foundation in Houston-Texas, Rothko painted fourteen large canvases.





enjoy the amazing 1971 piece "Rothko Chapel"
for soprano, contralto, doble choir & 3 instruments 

 

Inside the silence

" Jean-Yves Bosseur: Does silence play a role in your music?
Morton Feldman: My music is inside the silence..." 

A very interresting interview of Morton Feldman by the young composer and musicologist Jean-Yves Bosseur in 1967 on the website "prepared guitar". 
A conversation which happily complete the famous talk in between John Cage and Feldman the same year.

Just notice, for french spoken people, that this famous relax talk
titled "Radio happenings" is now published in french by éditions Allia.









A splendid interpretation of Morton Feldman's 1957 work "two pianos" by John Tilbury & Philip Thomas. 
From the double CD of Feldman works for multiple pianos: "Two Pianos and other pieces 1953-1969" on the label  Another Timbre.

Slow

"Sincèrement, je ne pourrais pas vivre dans mon art. Dedans, j'y mourrais. Compris? J'aime bien vivre, bien manger, j'aime vivre vite, parce que dans mon art je me sens mourir très lentement."  Morton Feldman
propos rapporté par Jean Yves Bosseur - in "Corps écrit" N°24 - La vitesse - PUF - 1988

"Route Investigations" - 1976

pièce pour piano, hautbois, trompette, alto, violoncelle et double basse, 
interprétée par l'Ensemble Recherche