Morton Feldman/John Tilbury — Palais De Maris
Palais De Maris is one of the later piano works by modern American classical composer Morton Feldman. Like much of his work-it’s based around patterns- sometimes these are harmonic, sometimes they're moody, and other times their discordant/ angular.
This CD release appears on True Blanking, presented in a thick card slip, which features two inlays- one with text on both sides. The other is matte black on one side, with grey card/ minimal text on the other side- so a nice, arty and fitting minimal presentation for this release.
Palais De Maris was composed in 1986; Feldman sadly passed away the next year of pancreatic cancer at the age of just sixty-one. The composer is often known for his longer works- which stretch from anything from seventy minutes to three or four hours; the older he got, the pieces seemingly got longer/ more glacially- Palais De Maris was an exception to this trend, as it lasts just over twenty-six minutes, with a (relatively) active pace.
This version of the piece was played at the Tectonics Festival- which took place on the 3rd of March 2012- at Eldborg Concert Hall - Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland. The piece is played by highly respected English pianist John Tilbury, who over the years has played many of Feldman's works.
The piece opens with a repeated piano pattern, which is spritely harmonic -yet- somehow forlorn. As it progresses, we get one set of notation/ pattern after another- some of these are variations on the original pattern/ return to the original pattern, or others offer up a different pattern- which are either harmonic, angularly darting, or slightly uneasy. The work feels both flowing and, at times, awkwardly start-stop in its unfolding- and you can certainly hear that Tilbury has got this element spot on/ the balance just right.
I recall Palais De Maris being one of the first pieces of Feldman's work I’d heard- as I’d purchased a compilation CD with a few of his pieces on, say, twenty or so years back in Berlin. So, I’ve always had a soft spot for the work, and this is a wonderful take on the piece
In finishing, if you have yet to experience the distinctive modern classical world of Morton Feldman, I’d say this release is a great place to start, as it presents what he does in a smaller/ more palatable form.