Morton Feldman - Triadic Memories (1981) for piano

Triadic Memories (1981) for piano
Composer: Morton Feldman (1926-1987)
Performer: Aki Takahashi
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"Triadic Memories is jointly dedicated to Aki Takahashi and Roger Woodward. After the first German performance, Morton Feldman laconically described it as the “biggest butterfly in captivity", and it is indeed vast, lasting over an hour and a half. During the eighties, Feldman's pieces began to escalate in length - compared to the 5-hour String Quartet No. 2 or the 4-hour For Philip Guston, Triadic Memories is almost aphoristic. Why these enormous lengths? Feldman says: "Personally, l think the reason the pieces are so long is that form, as I understand it, no longer exists... I'm not looking so much for a new form, I’d rather substitute the word scale or proportion, and in music it's very difficult to distinguish between a thing's proportions and its form...My pieces aren't too long, most pieces are actually too short...lf one listens to my pieces, they seem to fit into the temporal landscape I provide. Would you say that the Odyssey is too long?”
Let's not argue about Homer; there are other factors. During the eighties, Feldman became obsessed with 19th century Turkish carpets. Part of this interest was financial, and allowed him to die rich. But the patterning of these carpets also became a (musical) preoccupation for him, and is reflected in titles of late pieces such as Why Patterns? and Crippled Symmetries. This interest led him to completely reassess the role of pattern and repetition in his work, and, as indicated above, of 'scale':
'Music and the designs or a repeated pattern in a rug have much in common. Even if it be asymmetrical in its placement, the proportion of one component to another is hardly ever substantially out of scale in the context of the whole. Most traditional rug patterns remain the same size when taken from a larger rug and adapted to a smaller one...
I was once in Rothko's studio when his assistant restretched the top of a large painting at least four times. Rothko, standing some distance away, was deciding whether to bring the canvas down an inch or so, or maybe even a little bit higher. This question of scale, for me, precludes any concept of symmetry or asymmetry from affecting the eventual length of my music.
As a composer I am involved with the contradiction in not having the sum of the parts equal the whole. The scale of what is actually being represented, whether it be of the whole or of the part, is a phenomenon unto itself. The reciprocity inherent in scale, in fact, has made me realize that musical forms and related processes are essentially only methods of arranging material and serve no other function than to aid one's memory.
What Western forms have become is a paraphrase of memory. But memory could operate otherwise as well. In Triadic Memories, there is a section of different types of chords where each chord is slowly repeated. One chord might be repeated three times, another, seven or eight - depending on how long I felt it should go on. Quite soon into a new chord I would forget the reiterated chord before it. I then reconstructed the entire section: rearranging its earlier progression and changing the number of times a particular chord was repeated.
This way of working was a conscious attempt at formalizing a disorientation of memory. Chords are heard repeated without any discernible pattern. In this regularity (though there are slight gradations of tempo) there is a suggestion that what we hear is functional and directional, but we soon realize that this is an illusion: a bit like walking the streets of Berlin - where all the buildings look alike, even if they're not.' ”
Source: www.universale...
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For education, promotion and entertainment purposes only. If you have any copyrights issue, please write to unpetitabreuvoir(at)gmail.com and I will delete this video.

[@nikolausgerszewski2086]

I wonder why she repeats the patterns sometimes more than once although there is no such indication in the score. does anyone know?

[@unpetitabreuvoir]

As far as I understand, the repetitions are in Feldman's manuscript, but for some reason I ignore they don't appear in this edition. There exists a newer UE edition where this has been fixed.

[@nikolausgerszewski2086]

@@unpetitabreuvoir okay,thank's. I also have a score sample where they don't appear.

[@thorstentopp3824]

Very beautiful interpretation. One could see why Takahashi was one of Feldman´s favourites.

[@abkquan]

Yes, Takahashi's relatively flowing tempo works wonders. Makes some slower readings sound ponderous. The question with Feldman always is: At what speed?

[@litbyrequest7348]

This is the sonic equivalent of watching icebergs melt..at night.

[@gepmrk]

There are never any cheap tricks with Morton Feldman.

[@gabrielstein7256]

Expensive tricks, yes…

[@vomitimovgoldie3701]

I'm eternally grateful to Mattin for introducing this wonderful music to me in 2001 at Eddie Prevost's workshop. I own ten versions now.

[@OtherSideOfTheVoid]

mattin as in the Spanish noise artist?

[@TimGoldieAbjectBloc]

@@OtherSideOfTheVoid yes Mattin the Basque artist

[@OtherSideOfTheVoid]

@@TimGoldieAbjectBloc very nice it's cool he likes morton feldman too! all the best

[@johnnyfx82]

Thank you SO much for uploading this!! Btw., one of my favorite passages: 37:06 of course, there are many more ... :p EDIT 2021-01-09: plus the short reprise @ 56:15

[@abkquan]

Yes, absolutely. I see what you mean. That's when the line gets longer, more sensuous and, after a long time on the upper registers, we descend into the sonority of the bass clef.

[@johnnyfx82]

@Stephen Routledge yes, I do indeed :)

[@aastudillojara]

31:44 too

[@paxwallace8324]

This is the real Interstellar.

[@tatanedupont6400]

Superbe performance ! Merci beaucoup (Christian-Yves, France)

[@faktablad]

Massive

[@ninojanjgava]

So great

[@markdowding1371]

Hypnotic!

[@litbyrequest7348]

This is the sonic equivalent of watching icebergs melt..at night.

[@z-e-r-o-]

すげー、、アキさん、人間シーケンサー

[@CatkhosruShapurrjiFurabji]

Nice

[@Tizohip]

nice work

[@SendyTheEndless]

d a n k n e s s

[@victorgoemans8644]

There is absolutely no need for the notation using quadruplets. It probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does but... Anyway, beautiful piece.

[@prepcoin_nl4362]

Feldman often deliberately notated passages in ways that would make them harder to play. One can speculate as to the reasons why but I've always chosen to believe it's because he wanted to invite indeterminacy. He wanted passages even when literally the same to be played ever so slightly differently outside of the performer's control or choice, to create just that extra bit of microvariance. And indeed, you do see that in the opening here. The pianist makes a few mistakes with the rhythm as notated and the overall tempo wobbles. I believe this is exactly what Feldman wanted and it adds to the hypnotic feeling.

[@davidkanejazz7019]

@@prepcoin_nl4362 Stravinsky did much the same thing in "Agon". Some rhythms are notated an eighth note displaced from their natural accents, lending the music an intended nervous quality. A lot of that is likely due to it being genuinely terrifying for the performers.

[@Hist_da_Musica]

The amount of times a section is repeated is up to the pianist?

[@nicolafiorillo4048]

If I understood well, a manuscript version exists which indicates the number of repetitions

[@johnsluggett1822]

The score here indicates the number of repetitions.

[@Tizohip]

5:48

[@bernab]

Few parts remind me Messiaen but with much less development. And I understand why Phillip Glass prefered this music instead of European Avant Garde of 50's and 60's. It has his beloved repetition!.

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

It took a lot of guts for Morton to compose music like this that lasts an hour. His work is best appreciated if you are laying down and very comfortable. If you doze off that's OK because you didn't miss much.

[@Cleekschrey]

my favorite composer

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

@@Cleekschrey Do you nap during his longer pieces?

[@Cleekschrey]

@@stephenjablonsky1941 I can nap through anything

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

@@Cleekschrey That is a talent that should guarantee you a long life. May it be so!

[@yannmondehard4171]

My favorite sleep music, my wife doesn't get it

[@Tizohip]

12:23

[@clementebiancalani7469]

How can the pianist not fall asleep during the performance remains a mystery to me

[@Schaeffer-scores]

Listen to Dennis Johnson's 'November' and then ask this question 😂

[@patrickguillot1865]

On ne peut pas s'endormir à écouter la pulsation du monde

[@lasseklasse5027]

Minute 14 why docent he play the brakes. On my opinion its to much pedal

[@sucroseboy4940]

It’s marked ‘1/2 pedal’ which i think the pianist is actually doing. I don’t think the intentions are for the pianist to actually play the breaks here

[@stephenjablonsky1941]

I am always amused at how Morton went out of his way to make the rhythms more complicated than need be. I guess it was part of his desire to be modern like all the rest of us back in those days.

[@mm-dn6oe]

If he was just trying to be rhythmically complicated to be trendy, he probably wouldn't have written rhythms like the top system of 22:06, or the music around 34:40. Rather, I think he is using rhythm to create different subtle feelings of time throughout the piece. For example the repeats at 22:06 have a certain feeling of intensity to me because of the surrounding music and concentration required to perform it, even though it's just about the simplest thing you could possibly write down in music notation. If you look even for a moment beyond the surface level it's clear this music is doing more than just trying to be modern.

[@christophedevos3760]

@@mm-dn6oe Is there anything written how he composed this works? I have read the book on his early graphic scores, but I have not gotten much wiser.

[@mm-dn6oe]

@@christophedevos3760 Yes! His own book "Give my Regards to Eighth Street" is a collection of essays mostly on aesthetics but sometimes they give a little bit of insight into his process. He seemed to not want to be so obvious on his exact procedures, for good reason.

[@christophedevos3760]

@@mm-dn6oe thanks for the tip. Yes he was secretive about his methods. As are most contemporary composers I have the impression actually. But I understand indeed why.

[@johnsluggett1822]

@@mm-dn6oe Just ordered it. Can't wait.

[@__414.88b_]

This time signature is LaMeNtAbLe 4/4 with a slow triplet on the long notes would be so much playable I know he knew, still he choose the HARD way cause it's more tricky He hates us all, not good

[@Fangednoumena]

Feldman rarely gave concession to the performer

[@prof.sirjeffreydarling-mil3463]

SO FAST.

[@robkb4559]

Agree. I have Sabine Liebner's recording, which seems to be about twice as long. Having said that, there's no metronome mark at the beginning of the score, so I guess any speed you like is fair game, and Takahashi is a highly respected interpreter of Feldman. However, I find this version frenetic rather than relaxing, and the speed makes it harder to hear the subtle variations in timing between the repetitions... but I guess that's my problem.

[@BrontalMusik]

wtf ca. 45"

[@johnnyfx82]

yes, everytime I listen to 44:56, I'm dumbfounded, too :)

[@alfredwtennant]

This is just a guess, but apparently Feldman is giving you a choice of four ways of playing this tremolo, reading each hand on either treble or bass, and she is switching back and forth between them.

[@johnzielinski9951]

It was one of the goals of 20th century modernism to write endless pages of mind-numbingly boring music and dress it up in the program notes with all sorts of intellectual pretensions. As such, Feldman was a brilliant success.

[@lonchaneyfanch9568]

You have no arguments

[@adude9882]

Behind this is the desire to avoid the intention and aggression behind both traditional classical and popular music. The passion of the mob. You have to feel negatively towards that, basically society in general, to see the point of this rambling music. Once you do it's like balm.

[@patallison8137]

Man do you know nothing.

[@portlyoldman]

...Emperor's new clothes......

[@portlyoldman]

@Richie Beirach - one of my greatest friends is a composer, pianist and Royal Academy graduate and he’s introduced me to this sort of ‘experimental’ “music” and I’ve taken the time to discuss it with him in some detail over a number of years, which, of course, doesn’t make me any sort of authority or knowledgeable critic, but it does mean I have tried hard to see the “music” inside the cacophony. I applaud the attempt to explore new avenues of creativity, this is absolutely necessary to advance the art. However, those that are observing the experimental art must have the balls to call out nonsense when it appears. I simply contend that a jumbled cacophony of notes does not necessarily constitute music. I’ve been assaulted by a great deal of this type of sound and cannot, in all conscience, agree that the composition represents real music. Sound experiments, yes, music no.

[@douglynch8954]

@@portlyoldman I don't think it is really a "jumbled cacophony of notes." There's a great deal of structure in it. A lot of people object to this music because of its austerity. It's music that you really have to sit and completely tune into it. That makes it hard to listen to, but at a certain point you get into it (if you like this kind of music, which I do).

[@portlyoldman]

@@douglynch8954 - ok, but this does sound very much like the “you’re not clever enough to understand “ defense.

[@douglynch8954]

Nope, not what I said. My points were first that this music is truly challenging to listen to (for me too!). I don't think you have put forth a good case that this music is a jumbled cacophony. The fact that you don't like it or don't respond to it is justification enough for not listening to it. You don't need to malign it.

[@peterrowan9955]

@@portlyoldman cringe

[@psijicassassin7166]

This music sounds like it was composed for Auschwitz prisoners awaiting their turn at the shower.