Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet cover

Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet

Composer
Released

This roughly 80-minute piece was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and written with them and pianist Aki Takahashi in mind as the performers; they premiered it in Los Angeles in 1985, and recorded this version in 1993. It’s a breathtaking record, the two elements of the title working in unison but not together — the strings release long, slow chords as the piano offers single notes, or short figures of between two and at most six notes, all swathed in shimmering reverberation with the sustain pedal held to the floor throughout. The tiny variations on a very simple theme make you feel like you’re picking up leaves one at a time and staring at them, noticing their differences and their similarities.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Last Desert cover

Last Desert

Liberty Ellman
Live in Japan cover

Live in Japan

John Coltrane
Lifelong Ambitions cover

Lifelong Ambitions

Muhal Richard Abrams, Leroy Jenkins
Cake cover

Cake

Jonathan Coleclough
12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 cover

12 Comp (ZIM) 2017

Anthony Braxton
Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt cover

Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt

Ingrid Laubrock, Sam Pluta, Cory Smythe
ISM cover

ISM

Junius Paul
Old and New Dreams cover

Old and New Dreams

Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell, Dewey Redman, Don Cherry