WGBH Radio WGBH Radio theclassicalstation.org

Feldman: Piano & String Quartet / Kronos Quartet, Takahashi


Release Date: 09/28/1993 
Label:  Nonesuch   Catalog #: 79320   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Morton Feldman
Performer:  Aki Takahashi,  David Harrington,  John Sherba,  Hank Dutt,   ... 
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Kronos Quartet
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 20 Mins. 

Low Stock: Currently 3 or fewer in stock. Usually ships in 24 hours, unless stock becomes depleted.  

This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.

Notes and Editorial Reviews

New York native and avant-garde composer Morton Feldman composed this work just two years before his death in 1987, and it haunts the listener into a prism of melancholy. Shifting, unsettling, and yet every bit hypnotic, pianist Aki Takahashi and the world-renowned Kronos Quartet conjure up the ghost of Feldman to wander the streets of New York as if they were abandoned. This single piece, over 79 minutes in length, is like an icy flower that blooms almost undetected. Takahashi is so delicate on the piano as to whisper quiet clusters of notes, reverberated by the Kronos Quartet for further contemplation. Feldman often preferred his performances and recordings to be very quiet, almost inaudible at times. Truly, it would make no sense to play Read more a Feldman piece at volume ten on the stereo -- it would be like shining huge spotlights on a Rothko painting. The beauty is in the shadows, and the chill of "Piano and String Quartet" opens it's vast arms and pulls the listener in alongside the darkness. Breathtaking.

-- Glenn Swan, AllMusic.com Read less

Works on This Recording

1.
Piano and String Quartet by Morton Feldman
Performer:  Aki Takahashi (Piano), David Harrington (Violin), John Sherba (Violin),
Hank Dutt (Viola), Joan Jeanrenaud (Cello)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Kronos Quartet
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1985; USA 
 Date of Recording: 11/1991 
Venue:  Skywalker Sound, Marin County, CA 
Length: 79 Minutes 33 Secs. 

Customer Reviews

Be the first to review this title
Review This Title
Review This Title Share on Facebook