Morton Feldman (1926 to 1987), born in New York, was a major figure of twentieth century music and, with John Cage, Christian Wolff and Earle Brown, a member of the New York School. An early experiment with graphic notation gave the performers freedom over pitch, but he soon returned to precisely notated music of extreme quietness and slowness. His work is defined by soft dynamics, floating chords and, in the last years, enormous length: the String Quartet No. 2 runs some six hours, For Philip Guston past four.

Morton Feldman (1926 to 1987), born in New York, was a major figure of twentieth century music and, with John Cage, Christian Wolff and Earle Brown, a member of the New York School. An early experiment with graphic notation gave the performers freedom over pitch, but he soon returned to precisely notated music of extreme quietness and slowness. His work is defined by soft dynamics, floating chords and, in the last years, enormous length: the String Quartet No. 2 runs some six hours, For Philip Guston past four.