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Two US Premieres of Works by Morton Feldman

Sep. 27, 2012

Two US Premieres of Works by Morton Feldman

In this year of John Cage centennial performances, Petr Kotik and the S.E.M. Ensemble have organized an historic concert dedicated to the music of Morton Feldman as part of their monumental Beyond CAGE Festival taking place in New York this month and next. On November 5 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Kotik leads the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra in the first all-Feldman orchestral concert in the U.S. The program, featuring four of Feldman’s major works for orchestra and three with soloist, includes his haunting Piano and Orchestra as well as the eagerly anticipated U.S. premieres of both Flute and Orchestra and his hour-long masterpiece, Violin and Orchestra.

Piano and Orchestra, composed in 1976 for Roger Woodward, features a shimmering and intimate fusion of timbres in what Woodward described as “a piece where time takes over.” Composed two years later and dedicated to Edgard Varèse, Feldman’s delicate Flute and Orchestra was premiered by Roswitha Staege with Hans Zender leading the Sinfonieorchester des Saarlandischen Rundfunks. With its subtle and intuitive repetitions of varied material, this work marks the beginning of Feldman’s transition into his late period of composition. In 1979, Feldman completed his Violin and Orchestra, originally titled Why Webern?. The piece serves as the real pivot in his output, leading to a new phase that would continue until his death. A mesmerizing work of enormous breadth and control, Violin and Orchestra is dedicated to the formidable violinist Paul Zukofsky who premiered the work in 1984. 30 years after their composition, Petr Kotik brings these significant works to the U.S. “This music puts very different demands on the performers,” Kotik relates. “You open the score, and you see something that you have never seen before.”

Cornelius Cardew, composer and admirer of Feldman’s work, provided the following observation on his music:

Almost all Feldman's music is slow and soft. Only at first sight is this a limitation. I see it rather as a narrow door, to whose dimensions one has to adapt oneself (as in Alice in Wonderland) before one can pass through it into the state of being that is expressed in Feldman's music. Only when one has become accustomed to the dimness of light can one begin to perceive the richness and variety of colour which is the material of the music. When one has passed through the narrow door and got accustomed to the dim light, one realizes the range of his imagination and the significant differences that distinguish one piece from another ...

Petr Kotik and the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra have established themselves as a leading champion of the music of Morton Feldman, having performed at least 10 of his major orchestral works. Soloists for the event include the esteemed pianist Joseph Kubera, flutist Erin Lesser, and violinist Hana Kotková. Feldman’s first orchestral work, Structures (1961), rounds out the program at Alice Tully Hall.

For more information on Morton Feldman, please visit his profile at www.universaledition.com

To learn more about the performance and the Beyond Cage Festival, please visit www.semensemble.org

Morton Feldman
Piano and Orchestra (1976)
4.4.4.4-2.3.3.1-2perc-hp-pno(cel)-str
21'

Flute and Orchestra (1978)
3.4.4.4-3.3.4.1-6perc-hp-cel.pno-bass tpt-str
35'

Violin and Orchestra (1979)
4.4.4.4-3.3.4.1-4perc-2pno-2hp-str
65'

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