Morton Feldman

Here is the California EAR Unit’s recording of the late Morton Feldman’s monumental, 4 hour long For Philip Guston (1984). Included in this discount priced, 4 disc-set is an enhanced multimedia track, which includes Feldman’s remarks as well as a photo montage of the composer.

Morton Feldman stands as one of our century’s darkest and quietest musical poets. His music seems a muffled yet spiritually inspired reaction to the speed, noise and horror of the events of the 20th century-much as in the work of the painter, Mark Rothko. For Philip Guston, a composition from Feldman’s last years, is music that attempts to suspend time, but without the nervous "sequenced" energy that dominates so much of today’s "process art." In for Philip Guston, the gigantism of Feldman’s time-scale is offset by the extreme intimacy and seductiveness of the composer’s expression. As Bridge Record’s annotator, Alan Rich, puts it: "This is music of an outward immobility and inward irresistible propulsion, random yet purposeful-its construction, intricate and precise."