Projection 2, for flute, trumpet, violin, cello & piano
Projection 3, for 2 pianos
Projection 4, for violin & piano
Projection 5, for 3 flutes, trumpet, piano, violin & cello
Intersection 2, for piano
Intersection 3, for piano
Intersection 4, for cello
Piece for Four Pianos, for 4 pianos
Two Pianos, for 2 pianos
Piano Four Hands, for piano, four hands
Piano Piece 1964, for piano
Track Listings (10) - Disc #2
Durations 1, for alto flute, piano, violin & cello
Durations 2, for cello & piano
Durations 3, for tuba, violin & piano
Durations 4, for violin, cello & vibraphone
Durations 4, for violin, cello & vibraphone
Durations 5, for violin, cello, horn, vibraphone, harp & piano/celeste
Vertical Thoughts 1, for 2 pianos
Vertical Thoughts 2, for violin & piano
Vertical Thoughts 3, for soprano & chamber ensemble
Vertical Thoughts 4, for piano
Track Listings (5) - Disc #3
Vertical Thoughts 5, for soprano, violin, tuba, percussion & celeste
Voice and Instruments II, for female voice, clarinet, cello & bass
Instruments 1, for alto flute, oboe, trombone, celesta & percussion
Voice, Violin and Piano, for female voice, violin & piano
Instruments 3, for flute, oboe & percussion
Every aspect of this 3-CD collection, from its breadth to its precise sound to its expansive booklet to its bargain price, is top-notch. Morton Feldman's compositions, from the starkest to the most intense, have deserved a... more » collection of this nature for decades. To hear the string of five-part pieces (Projection, Durations, and Vertical Thoughts) laid end to end is amazingly instructive. Feldman excels from his earliest at the study of pitch relationships and intricate, luminescent structures. And the Barton Workshop shows this off with a blush of restraint as they pull together Feldman's odd mix of sonorities (flute, trumpet, violin, cello, and piano on Projection 2; violin, tuba, and piano on Durations 3; flute, oboe, trombone, celeste, and percussion on Instruments I) without breaching the seamwork Feldman so carefully wove around his studies. As this set progresses, the study advances from one focused on pitches and timbres to one focused on sonic dynamics beyond categorization. An early John Cage acolyte, Feldman is painted by these pieces more definitively than ever as a more concise, unflinching thinker. The music floats, surely and unwaveringly, but it punctures the air with atonalities that seem drawn from an entirely different musical language. --Andrew Bartlett« less
Every aspect of this 3-CD collection, from its breadth to its precise sound to its expansive booklet to its bargain price, is top-notch. Morton Feldman's compositions, from the starkest to the most intense, have deserved a collection of this nature for decades. To hear the string of five-part pieces (Projection, Durations, and Vertical Thoughts) laid end to end is amazingly instructive. Feldman excels from his earliest at the study of pitch relationships and intricate, luminescent structures. And the Barton Workshop shows this off with a blush of restraint as they pull together Feldman's odd mix of sonorities (flute, trumpet, violin, cello, and piano on Projection 2; violin, tuba, and piano on Durations 3; flute, oboe, trombone, celeste, and percussion on Instruments I) without breaching the seamwork Feldman so carefully wove around his studies. As this set progresses, the study advances from one focused on pitches and timbres to one focused on sonic dynamics beyond categorization. An early John Cage acolyte, Feldman is painted by these pieces more definitively than ever as a more concise, unflinching thinker. The music floats, surely and unwaveringly, but it punctures the air with atonalities that seem drawn from an entirely different musical language. --Andrew Bartlett
CD Reviews
An excellent cross-section of Feldman's writing career.
Sparky P. | composer, all around nice guy, yada yada yada | 01/25/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"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. Our 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 with 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 large 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."
Essential
Sparky P. | 07/18/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have many recordings of MF's compositions and this is one that is listened to a lot. (Second only to the California Ear Unit's For Philip Guston.) That is to say, the compositions and performances are first rate.This is very transparent and intimate music. Feldman is one of the important composers of the 20th century and it is worth whatever effort it may take to get to his music"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1