[LesterSleepsIn]

This recording is pretty amazing:

Thanks, Andolink. I just ordered it.

Now, I think I’m in the mood for a Feldman mini-marathon.

[LesterSleepsIn]

[LesterSleepsIn]

[eljr]

Zdislawa Donat / Jadwiga Rappé / Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Maciejewski: Requiem, Missa pro Defunctis

Release Date March 30, 2018
Genre
Classical
Styles
Choral

[LesterSleepsIn]

[andolink]

How do you listen to these gigantic late Feldman pieces Lester?  In one sitting or broken up into segments?

I've got these works too but almost never seem to revisit them because of the daunting challenge of how to approach them.

With the ones that fit on to one (or even two) discs it's doable.  My favorite, I think, is For John Cage.

[eljr]

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[andolink]

Further thoughts on the new Kalitzke disc from Kairos per Lester's request:

I just gave another listen to the cello concerto "Story Teller" and it impressed me mightily.  Kalitzke is a boldly original composer; so much so that, as usual with me, the second run through of the piece revealed to me that I really wasn't getting it the first time around.  There's a wonderful absence of any obvious formal structure to what he's doing kind of like the best free-improv.  The music very much seems to play by its own rules, it's surprises and unpredictability greatly rewarding attentive listening.

[LesterSleepsIn]

How do you listen to these gigantic late Feldman pieces Lester?  In one sitting or broken up into segments?

I've got these works too but almost never seem to revisit them because of the daunting challenge of how to approach them.

With the ones that fit on to one (or even two) discs it's doable.  My favorite, I think, is For John Cage.

Oh, I defintely have to break up the larger pieces into segments for a deep listening session, though sometimes, if I’m the only one home, I’ll load up the 5 disc player and loop them as ambient back drop. I almost always walk away with something new.
I like Feldman. “Rothko Chapel” and Riley’s “In C” were the first two classical lps I purchased back in 1975 (?) and after those I was off to the races. I too like the Cage very much, he and Cage were neighbors, but I think the Rothko and Guston are my favorites because of the scale and spatial quality taken from the paintings. A
bucket list trip for me is to drive to Texas to visit the Rothko Chapel. (Btw, if anyone knows of a good Feldman print biography, please point me to it.)
Cheers,
Lester

[LesterSleepsIn]

Further thoughts on the new Kalitzke disc from Kairos per Lester's request:

I just gave another listen to the cello concerto "Story Teller" and it impressed me mightily.  Kalitzke is a boldly original composer; so much so that, as usual with me, the second run through of the piece revealed to me that I really wasn't getting it the first time around.  There's a wonderful absence of any obvious formal structure to what he's doing kind of like the best free-improv.  The music very much seems to play by its own rules, it's surprises and unpredictability greatly rewarding attentive listening.

Ordering it now. Thanks as always.

[andolink]

I too like the Cage very much,

Another favorite of mine is Patterns in a Chromatic Field which also has been recorded under the title Untitled Composition for Cello and Piano (which is the recording I have):

[andolink]

F. Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.60 In C Major, ‘Per La Commedia Intitolata Il Distratto’

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[LesterSleepsIn]

Morton Feldman: Morton Feldman
From AllMusic: “This collection of Morton Feldman's music, recorded by his contemporaries, friends, and students, among others, is both a fitting tribute to the man and a fitting showcase of Feldman's smaller compositions from 1952-1975. The set opens with one of Feldman's most "melodic" pieces, Piano Three Hands, from 1957, performed by Stephen Tilbury. There could be some criticism for what listeners might think of as Tilbury's "heavy hands," but it would be unfounded. The earlier scores did not contain the reliance on ppp or even pppp, but were more often in pianissimo or pp. In any event, it is a fitting place to begin, with its clipped tonal clusters and absence of pedals. Other notable contributions come from composer/pianist Cornelius Cardew and violinist James Negyesy, who perform a rendition of Vertical Thoughts, No. 2, from 1963. In a span of six minutes and 48 seconds, Cardew and Negyesy touch upon a tenet in Feldman's music that was a turning point: that tones and pitches did not have to move horizontally toward a fixed ending, but could move along a prescribed set of pitches seemingly at random for the purpose of creating new statements from the same colors. Of the later works -- there is nothing from the '80s here simply because everything Feldman composed after 1976 was very long -- David Tudor's piano-only Intersection 3 is a dead-on read, a brief but powerful orchestration of Feldman's more maximal style, full of harsh tonal clusters and jagged pitches arranged around a loose harmonic structure built from major sevenths and quarter notes. The final piece, the 25-minute Instruments from 1974, is one of the earliest of the mature, late works by Feldman. The period that had begun with Rothko Chapel in the late '60s was now coming in to its own in Feldman's music: large empty spaces, with single notes from a variety of instruments intersecting in the emptiness rather than in harmony, whispering their presence almost inaudibly, just floating, hovering for a moment as other tones rise, and then disappearing into the ether. It is performed beautifully by the ensemble from the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, and features Eberhard Blum on flute, one of Feldman's prized students and collaborators. In all, this is a fine Feldman tribute with a fantastic range of works. And while it is true that not all the performances here are stellar, there isn't a substandard one in the bunch.”

[andolink]

I think, after all these years, I’m finally becoming a Brucknerian. This recording makes a very strong case for this being Bruckner’s greatest symphony:

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 in B flat major

[Tyson]

Ever since getting a Jeff Korneff Type 45 DHT amp I can't get enough of soprano voice!  Alison Lau in 24/96 sounds amazing on my Super 7 speakers: