Notes and Editorial Reviews
Morton Feldman’s sparse, fragile, meticulously calibrated, and singularly sonorous piano output attracts more and more pianists on disc, including Sabine Liebner, whose sonically and interpretively gorgeous recordings of For Bunita Marcus, Palais de Mari, and Triadic Memories on Oehms Classics are points of reference. She completes her Feldman piano cycle with an equally desirable two-disc collection of the composer’s early pieces. It includes just about everything that Feldman wrote for piano solo between 1950 and 1964, excepting the 1949/50 set of four Illusions.
Listeners familiar with the lengthy, introspective piano works from Feldman’s later years may find the time scale of his
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briefer, more compact earlier works better suited to his style. At the same time, the half-hour long Piano from 1977 contains more overtly dramatic gestures and dynamic extremes that put both the notes and their residual resonance on equal footing. For this reason the Bavarian Radio production’s closely detailed yet atmospheric sonics factor into the performance’s riveting impact, along with Liebner’s finely tuned gradations of touch and her pinpoint observation of Feldman’s meticulous articulations and rests.
She may not capture the implicit lilt and melodic trajectory that John Tilbury conveys in certain miniatures like Vertical Thoughts 4, or the 1954 Three Pieces, but her sterner conceptions are no less valid. In one earlier review I likened both of these Feldman pianists to conductors, saying that Liebner is Klemperer to Tilbury’s Beecham. A clear-cut preference for one pianist over the other is impossible, except that the Tilbury cycle is not easy to find. But don’t expect that Liebner’s Feldman recordings will be around forever. If you have the slightest interest, don’t hesitate; buy them now.
-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Intermissions 1 & 2, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1950; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 3 Minutes 34 Secs.
2.
Intermission 3, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1951
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 2 Minutes 1 Secs.
3.
Intermission 4, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1952
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 2 Minutes 8 Secs.
4.
Intermission 5, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1952; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 4 Minutes 19 Secs.
5.
Intermission 6, for 1 or 2 pianos by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1953; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 5 Minutes 36 Secs.
6.
Variations, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1951
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 6 Minutes 35 Secs.
7.
Nature pieces, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1951
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 14 Minutes 34 Secs.
8.
Extensions 3, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1952; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 8 Minutes 1 Secs.
9.
Piano Piece 1952, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1952
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 7 Minutes 59 Secs.
10.
Three Pieces for Piano, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1954
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 7 Minutes 28 Secs.
11.
Piano Piece 1955 by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1955; USA
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 2 Minutes 24 Secs.
12.
Piano Piece 1956 A, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1956
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 3 Minutes 6 Secs.
13.
Piano Piece 1956 B, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1956
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 3 Minutes 23 Secs.
14.
Last Pieces, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1959
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 14 Minutes 24 Secs.
15.
Vertical Thoughts 4, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1963
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 1 Minutes 51 Secs.
16.
Piano Piece (to Philip Guston), for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1963; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 4 Minutes 12 Secs.
17.
Piano Piece 1964, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1964
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 5 Minutes 48 Secs.
18.
Piano, for piano by Morton Feldman
Performer:
Sabine Liebner (Piano)
Period: Contemporary
Written: 1977; United States of Ame
Venue: Studio 2, Bayerischen Rundfunks
Length: 31 Minutes 34 Secs.
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