On three discs, Fulkerson and co. manage to touch upon a portion of the three periods of Feldman's writing career. What is espacially significant are the numerous first recordings of both individual pieces (Instruments III, Voice and instruments II) and sets of like-titled pieces (the five-part Projection series from the '50's and the equally-parted Vertical Thoughts cycle from the '60's, as well as another cycle of Durations 1-5). As John Cage spoke of his friend in his book "Silence": Feldman's music does not evolve but continue. That phrase could not be more apropo here. The journey starts with the monophonic setting of 1947's "Only" (to me the only (no pun intended) weak performance on this disc; the Joan LaBarbara version is superior), continues to the graph pieces of Projections 1-5 and Intersections 2-4 (where numbers are placed onto graph paper to indicate pitch events), moves into the free duration pieces (where pitches are defined but their durations are left to the performer's discression) of the late '50's and early '60's, and closes with a handful of pieces dating from 1972-81 that presage the dark atmosphere of the large scale works that Feldman would explore in the last years of his life. A daring undertaking all around and I look forward to Fulkerson's next installment.
Sparky P.
MORTON FELDMAN (1926-1987)
Tracklist :
The Barton Workshop :
John Anderson (clarinets), Krijn van Arnhem (bassoon), Nina Hitz (cello), Frank Denyer (piano), James Fulkerson (trombone), Marieke Keser (violin), Tobias Liebezeit (percussion), Jos Tieman (bass), Manuel Visser (viola), Jos Zwaanenburg (flutes).
