Search - Morton Feldman, Peter Rundel, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Morton Feldman: Violin and Orchestra; Coptic Light

Some random thoughts about Violin & Orchestra

Sparky P. | composer, all around nice guy, yada yada yada | 10/08/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Violin & Orchestra" was finished in 1979 and first performed in 1984; not only was this the last in his series of "--- and Orchestra" works (there were eight of them so titled), this was the longest (this recording clocks in at 50 minutes but I have also known about another performance being 64 minutes). As usual this not the conventional "concerto" pitting a flashy soloist against an orchestral canvas; soloistic figures are mostly limited to bowed long tones and glissandi (with some pizzicato thrown in for good measure) with a constantly changing background.



This comes from a Feldman's so-called "Zippy period" (all right, called by me mostly) from 1977 to 1981, which also includes "Neither" (opera in one act), "Flute & Orchestra", "The Turfan Fragments", "String Quartet No.1", "Trio for piano, violin and `cello", and "Patterns in a Chromatic Field". Of course the usual hallmarks of Feldman are there: the low dynamics, variant obsessions with small motifs, and interruptions to silent stretches. The durations started to stretch out much further, too ("Neither" and "Vn/Orch" are just short of an hour, while "Fl/Orch" and "Turfan" are each a half an hour, but the three above named chamber works are all well over an hour and a quarter, at least). But, as in the cases of "Flute & Orch", "Turfan", "Neither" and, especially "Violin & Orch", there are quite a few occasions where treble winds play clusters in their high registers. Figures occasionally "zip" by rather fleetingly. Extended pages of chromatic sixteenth note melodies make appearances now and then. Staccato notes are on occasion barked out, loudly even. There is stillness, but there is also quirky motion. It is all serious, but there is also some humorous relief.



The opening two pages are similar to "Patterns in a Chromatic Field", with the violin playing a quick and skittish chromatic passage in high harmonics punctuated by sforzando blasts from the winds and brass (supported here by delicate, sprinkly string pizzicati). Later, almost toward the end, the soloist interrupts the proceedings by playing some 12-tone rows (supposedly Feldman was going to title this piece, "Why Webern?").



This piece is a glimpse as to what Feldman would be doing for remaining years of his life: His obsession with small patterns and various materials and stringing them together, following one item with another item, sometimes returning to the previous item, other times following it with yet another item, spontaneously. A splash of blue with a touch of brown. Waiting. A rattling from the percussion section. Anticipating. Some dense piano chords with low harp reinforcements. The focus shifts without warning. It's tradition and non-tradition. Don't expect Mendelssohn or Vivaldi; that's already been taken care of. One of Feldman's hardest pieces to pin down, but gratifying in the end, please be patient.



As of this writing, there are now six recordings of "Coptic Light", making this his most recorded orchestral work. On one hand, I am glad to see that some of Feldman's works are being played often enough, both on disc and in concert halls (and this recording is quite fine); on the other hand, there are still a host of other orchestral pieces that have still not seen the light of CD day (such as "Structures for orchestra", "On Time and the Instrumental Factor", "Orchestra" and "Chorus and Orchestra" (I & II)) but I know these will be released some day (or at least have a gut feeling) and I (and everyone else out there in "Feldmanland") will be patient when they do.

"

Great live Feldman

R. Hutchinson | a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds | 03/20/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having just discovered Feldman's 1970s "still-life" works, all among my favorites of his output, I was more than a little chirpy when I learned of this release in Col Legno's Musica Viva live recordings series last year. The feature is the still-life "Violin and Orchestra" (1979), never before recorded. 50 minutes long in this rendition by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Peter Rundel conducting on 2/2/01 in Munich, it was the last and the longest of the still-life compositions. (See my 8/8/04 review of the set of 4 still-life works -- flute, oboe, piano and cello -- conducted by Hans Zender.)



Isabelle Faust is fantastically impressive on violin, playing the long, quiet, but dazzlingly varied line. Like the other still-lifes, this is no conventional concerto, there is no melodic line to follow, and no grand cadenzas, but there is more variety and dynamic contrast than in the works by Feldman that followed. The growing length, compared to the other still-life works, most of which were about a half-hour long, was a sign of things to come.



Given that the 1999 Argo recording by Michael Tilson Thomas has gone out of print, it is a perfect bonus that this disc includes the same forces (Rundel & BRSO) performing "Coptic Light" (1985) for orchestra (also live, 11/15/02, in Munich), a slow, quiet, gradually shifting pattern of sound, repetitive patterns that subtly change over time. I don't find it quite as compelling as "For Samuel Beckett" from a few years later, a work similar in design, but it represents an early expression of a new twist in Feldman's work, what some have called his "Persian rug" period, which sadly would prove to be his last."