aworks :: "new" american classical music

Patterns in a Chromatic Field (1981). Morton Feldman /i and i/

With work being hectic and with separate visits by both sets of parents-in-law this week, I'm too busy to think of anything new to write (although I'm still pondering Steve Hicken's Carter concerto post). Instead, for the me-me meme, I'll recycle myself via my Internet permanent record:

• I am quite impressed with the Wikipedia encyclopedia article on the Beastie Boys.
• I am not not much for Charles Ives' use of popular song in his works.
• I want to listen to my Terry Riley "happy" collection (or rather, my Terry Riley "hippie" collection).
• I wish iTunes had predictive capability i.e. if you liked that, you'll like this.
• I hate to say it but when did Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell become old and Chick Corea become, er, heavy-set?
• I love Rothko Chapel and say, his sparse works for two pianos but don't care much for Coptic Light and am struggling right now with Patterns in a Chromatic Field (despite the new release on Tzadik with Aleck Karis).
• (While) I miss album covers, I can live without the sound of the needle as it gets accidentally bumped and scratches across the record.
• I fear I've ruined my brain.
• I hear some appealing, pleasant, albeit older and not very well recorded, string quartet music.
• I wonder if Appalachian Spring is one of the few pieces after 1915 that Hucbald doesn't hate?
• (On my death bed, will) I regret this?
• I dance
  • Apparently, I don't.
• I sing
  
  • I don't sing either, although I do quote Julia "I sing alto" Wolfe.
• I cry
  • Nope, at least not for the blogging record.
• I am not always
  • Apparently instead, I am consistent. In particular, I always thought Alan Ulrich's musical judgment was excellent so it was a treat to find his review in FT and I always wondered but David declared Peter is no relation.
• I make with my hands...
  • ...not much.
• I write about my response to music and commerce rather than about the music itself...
• I (often) confuse the American Composers Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra.
• I need some time with say, Music Mavericks' Crunchy Channel.
• I should be ok over the next week unless my skull cracks open or something.
• I('ll) start with some Adagio blogging.
  • And regarding recent Amoeba blogging, I start in the new classical aisle, go to used classical, then jazz, electronica, world, DVD, and finally back to the classical bargain bins on the floor. I only occasionally browse the John Zorn section, though. I think it's an irrational fear of the Tzadik label.
• (Can) I finish the aworks Top 10 Tracks of 2004 in 2004?
• (The composer is Ernst Bacon although the composer) tag says John Cage.

Patterns in a Chromatic Field (1981). Morton Feldman

I generally like the music of Morton Feldman, I like sparse, non-goal oriented music (am I a simpleton?), Aleck Karis is great, I've absorbed works longer than its 80-minutes (e.g. La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned Piano), the piece is easy to comprehend (compared to something by say, Boulez that still makes no sense to me), the CD booklet has some great Feldman quotes, a handy Morton Feldman work list, and lush and colorful graphics, it's on John Zorn's esteemed Tdazik label, and yet, I find nothing to like in Patterns in a Chromatic Field. The piano has a muffled quality and I find the cello part excruciating. It makes me appreciate John Cage's Freeman Etudes.

Morton Feldman from the liner notes: Art is a crucial, dangerous operation we perform on ourselves. Unless we take a chance, we die in art.