Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

10 Questions About Morton Feldman

Violinist|violist Christina Fong and pianist Paul Hersey have been working on a recording of Morton Feldman's complete works for violin, viola and piano, planned for release in July on the OgreOgress label. Sequenza21 asked them to pose 5 questions to each other regarding their project.

[Christina Fong interviews Paul Hersey]
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CF: Though early Feldman is not idiomatic of his later music, would you say that these pieces have any possible forshadowing or hints of his later works?

PH: I could not detect any indication at all.

CF: Is it possible to play the extremely complex polyrhythms completely accurately, and is it worth the much greater effort?

PH: Certainly and most definitely. They are exquisite, and can be felt. Sloshing through them does them no justice.

CF: If you were to compare Morton Feldman's music to another genre of art, what would it be and how would you compare it?

PH: Let me make a comparison not to art forms but rather to interpersonal relations and a feeling or idea of love, tenderness, careful thorough attention and gentleness.

CF: Here is a silly question. I find Morton Feldman to be an interesting looking person. Depending on whether you saw a picture of Feldman first or whether you heard his music first answer one of the following questions. If you heard or played MF's music first, did seeing a picture of him surprise you in any way? If you saw a picture of MF, did hearing his music surprise you in any way?

PH: I think I played his music first. It was surprising because the music is so tender and delicate and he has a somewhat rough appearance.

CF: When listening to MF's extended works, do you find your perspective of time altered?

PH: Definitely. An hour or two does not seem like such a long time.

[Paul Hersey interviews Christina Fong]
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PH: I began working on this project in January 2003 and finished in August 2003 and I would say that until about May or June the music seemed to me completely without interest. Did you have an immediate attraction to Feldman or like me did it take an unusually long time of immersion, six months of constant work, before awakening to its magic?

CF: The first piece I heard of Feldman's was the percussion piece "King of Denmark". I remembered that it was a very large set-up and that it was unbelievably soft. I remember very little else about this except that I liked it but that it did not make a particularly great impression on me. The next time I heard Feldman was on the radio in 1987, back in the days when there was still decent and adventuresome classical music stations. It was a movement called "Snow Falls" (from Three Voices) sung by Joan La Barbara. It was an absolutely stunning 3-minute work. All of a sudden a light went on, and I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had heard: a piece that evoked such a musical quality and at the same time so programatic of what it was. Since then, I still love the piece "Snow Falls" and appreciate the miniature quality of it, but I prefer the very large expansive pieces.

PH: Describe for me in what ways this music evokes for you anything like tenderness, kindness, careful attention or gentleness?

CF: It is hard and impossible to describe how and what it is in his music that evokes this. His dynamics are very soft, but certainly there are many pieces that are soft that do not evoke this tender quality. His rhythms are very complex, but certainly there are rhythmically complex piece that do not create the feeling of careful attention. Describing his work in words is like trying to describe what a real rose smells like with scents from an artificial air freshener.

PH: During the project we discussed how Feldman took us into a kind of time warp where the slow tempo, the careful, subtle variations, and the tremendous length of the pieces at first seemed to drag, but then made other works seem hasty, inattentive, and lacking in thoroughness. I have not played any Feldman since. Don't you miss those qualities?

CF: I do miss this.

PH: Nothing in life has ever quite engaged me mathmatico-rhythmically as some of the more twisted, or should I say sophisticated, passages featuring rhythmic ratios such as 47:49. After the project did anything seem dull to you by comparison?

CF: Yes and no. When I play good music, there is always something that speaks. When I play bad music, it always feels like I have to do the speaking for it. And if I have to talk, I'd rather not go through a bad middle-man.

PH: Bach and Mozart, for instance, can be uplifting in what is fair to call similar ways. Have you encountered any music which can transport in a manner even remotely similar to that of Feldman?

CF: You touch on an interesting point for me. Bach and Mozart don't really "uplift" me in the same or even similar ways, so I suppose I cannot really answer the question.There are several composers like Bach and Mozart who's work I would say are just as close as humanly possible to perfection. To me, it is this perfection or whatever you want to call it that transports one. What I can definitely say is that no music remotely transports me in the same way as Feldman's.

Pieces Recorded for CD:
[Sonata] for Violin and Piano (1945)
Piece (1950)
Projection 4 (1951)
Extensions 1 (1951)
Vertical Thoughts 2 (1963)
Viola in My Life 3 (1970)
Spring of Chosroes (1977)
For Aaron Copland (1981)
For John Cage (1982)
[Composition] for Violin (1984)

posted by Jerry Bowles 1/11/2005