Morton Feldman:
”For Philip Guston” approximately 30 – 15 minutes until the end
approximately the last 15 minutes (1984)
Performed by Jan Williams, Eberhard Blum, and Nils Vigeland
Another recording available on this compact disc
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In lieu of the best Montreal contemporary music concerts of the year list that I wrote last year I want to more carefully focus on a few remarkable composers, pieces, or performances that I heard live in the last year. One concert I went to that fits into all three categories of these categories was an intimate uninterrupted performance of Morton Feldman’s four and a half hour “For Philip Guston” by Claire Marchand, Brigitte Poulin, and D’Arcy Philip Gray.
By just including the last thirty minutes of this elegiac masterpiece I almost feel putting the carriage before horse, especially since this section works much better if you arrive it after listening to the rest of the work in a quiet and meditative state. However if you either take the time to really enjoy this fragment or this fragment compells you to seek out and listen to all of “For Philip Guston” my work is done.
Jacob, great choice! I have the same recording and it’s definitive. The other works for similar (but different) forces (why patterns, crippled symmetries, for christian wolff) are also great and yet very different. FCW is pretty neglected. I like it, but feel it doesn’t work as well as the others in the group. You should definitely experience it, however.
Jacob,
Thank you for posting this excerpt. Although more of a jazz fan, I’ve recently been drawn to Mr. Feldman’s music and I really enjoyed this beautiful excerpt. However, in your post, you claim this is a 30-minute download but I ended up with 12 minutes.
Otherwise, thanks again for this lovely piece of music.