Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Morton Feldman - For John Cage [Bridge Records - 2018]

Originally composed in 1982 For John Cage is one of the more angular, urgent & flightily moody compositions from the great Morton Feldman. Here from Bridge Records, we have a recent release of 2017 playing of the piece.

Though I've dabbled in the work of many modern classical/ minimalism composers work, I’ve always returned to  Mr. Feldman’s work again & again- finding it the most captivating, distinctive & rich with an often melancholic sentiment & real feeling of sadness.Feldman was a larger-than-life bespeckled composer from Buffalo New York, who wrote 184 pieces between the early 1940’s & mid 1980’s.  His compositions covered orchestral, chamber, and piano works- and he is most known for his often lengthy, quiet & skeletal pattern-based work. For John Cage was written for his friend & major influence John Cage, and it’s for Violin & Piano.

Many of Feldman’s pieces duration are dependant on  the pace the musicians play them; as he leaves this element of composition to the players. And the same is with For John Cage, with playing times lasting anywhere between seventy & eighty minutes. The version we have here comes in at seventy-one minutes- so as a result it's one of the more nervy, rapid, and shifting interpretations of the work.

The version we have here was recorded in March of 2017, at the Conrad Prebys Music center in San Diego Californian. The players where pianists Aleck Karis, and violinists Erik Carlson- both have played modern composition around the world, but are presently based in San Diego.

As one would hope/expect the recording here is wonderfully clear, crisp & balanced between both the violin & piano. The pair play the pieces patterns with both great control & depth- making sure the more angular nervy elements flit & dance perfectly, and the more tolling & haunting elements hit home with the right moody depth. I guess you could say the whole work has quite a seesawing quality-that moves between angular & fraught, and sombrely considered- with the two instruments either playing patterns together, apart, or briefly solitary.

For John Cage has always stood as one of my favorite (mid-length) longer works from Feldman, as it perfectly captures a feeling of both taut angularity and sad beauty. A few years back  I was lucky enough to see it performed live at one of the London Colleges, and it was truly spell-binding in a live setting. This is now the fourth playing of the work I’ve heard, and as with the other versions this has it’s own feel- which I’d say is that much tenser & scalpel-like precise in its attack.

Due to sparse, often pattern bound, and lengthy runtime of much Mr Feldman’s compositions, his work is not the easiest to get into. But I’d say if you're new to his work, this release & it’s playing would be a great introduction to the world of Mr Feldman, as it’s both forceful & moody- this release can either be bought directly from Bridge or via the likes of Amazon.

Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5Rating: 4 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Morton Feldman - For John Cage
Originally composed in 1982 For John Cage is one of the more angular, urgent & flightily moody compositions from the great Morton Feldman. Here from Brid...
060725   RDKPL - Herr Pes Trinch
050725   Stinking Lizaveta - Hopeless...
030725   Yann Novak - Continuity
030725   Tourist Trap - Tourist Trap( ...
030725   Palindromes - Palindromes( Bl...
020725   Noise Trail Immersion - Tutt...
010725   Atomic Rooster - Atomic Roos...
010725   Con Funk Shun - Organized
010725   Various Artists - Heatwave- T...
010725   The Good, The Bad, The Weird ...
Latest Articles

Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sharp t...
It’s fair to say the Sharksploitation genre is often tried, tested, and to be honest, tired. Fear Below is a 2025 Australian film that tries to do some...
180625   Matthew Holmes - Of razor-sha...
280525   The Residents - Visits From T...
090525   Ennaytch - Of walls, abused ...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom