Rothko Chapel / Why Patterns? cover
Released

Two lovely works from Feldman, the former from 1971, the latter from 1978. Rothko Chapel is the stunner here (though they’re both great) – the performance has a beautiful chill to it, a mesmerising stillness, that’s disrupted several times by surprising interventions, like the subtle yet very surprising appearance of a ‘quasi-Hebraic’ melody towards the end of the composition. It makes sense that a work like this would be composed for a space of such contemplative mood as Rothko Chapel, and Feldman does a good job of intimating the space and Rothko’s painting, which seem to slowly swallow the rooms they’re hung in, without anything obvious or immediately parallel to the visual experience. It’s gorgeous work, expanded by the ‘uncoordinated score’ that dictates (to a degree) Why Patterns?, where flute, glockenspiel and piano carefully tiptoe around each other in differing clusters of melodic-rhythmic patterns and permutations.

Jon Dale

Recommended by

Suggestions
Morton Feldman: For Philip Guston cover

Morton Feldman: For Philip Guston

Julia Breuer, Matthias Engler, Elmar Schrammel
Penumbra cover

Penumbra

Luís Cília
Les Espaces Acoustiques cover

Les Espaces Acoustiques

Ensemble Court-Circuit, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, Pierre-André Valade, Sylvain Cambreling
Chamber Works For Flute And Piano cover

Chamber Works For Flute And Piano

Carin Levine, Edith Salmen-Weber, Kristi Becker, Peter Veale
The Orchestral Works 2: La Nascita Del Verbo; Quattro Pezzi (Su Una Nota Sola); Uaxuctum cover

The Orchestral Works 2: La Nascita Del Verbo; Quattro Pezzi (Su Una Nota Sola); Uaxuctum

Concentus Vocalis, Johannes Kalitzke, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Peter Rundel, RSO Wien, Wiener Kammerchor
Scelsi: Yamaon; Anahit; I Presagi; Tre Pezzi; Okanagon cover

Scelsi: Yamaon; Anahit; I Presagi; Tre Pezzi; Okanagon

Annette Bik, Hans Zender, Klangforum Wien, Pierre-Stéphane Meugé, Roland Hermann
Curva Triangulus cover

Curva Triangulus

Catherine Lamb, Ensemble Proton Bern