Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 1-6
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 2-6
Why patterns?
An analysis of Morton Feldman's "Piano and string quartet"
by Frank Sani
In discussing his 1978 work Why Patterns? Morton Feldman said:
"The most interesting aspect for me, composing
exclusively with patterns, is that there is not one organizational
procedure more advantageous than another, perhaps because no one pattern
ever takes precedence over the others. The compositional concentration
is solely on which pattern should be reiterated and for how long ..."[1]
Such preoccupation with patterns can be seen in other works from Feldman's later output (e.g. Triadic memories, 1981; Palais de Mari, 1986), of which Piano and string quartet (1985) is one.
During our investigation we shall discuss some patterns found in Piano and string quartet (henceforth referred to as PSQ).
A) MELODIC PATTERNS
From the '70s onwards, Feldman began to 'glue' pitches together to form
melodies. Such compositional interest manifests itself in PSQ, where we
observe five melodies in the 'cello part, as shown in Ex. 1a.
If we transposed the second, third, fourth, and fifth melody so that the
first note of each matched that of the first melody, we would find that
the five melodies are virtually identical - see Ex. 1b.
Then we may treat them as one same melody, in spite of the first and
last bearing a time signature (9/8) which differs from that of the
middle three (3/2).
There seems to be no underlying set of rules for such melodic patterns:
each note follows the previous one without change in duration, dynamics,
mode of attack, and the intervallic structure seems to be shaped by
inexplicably subjective choices. What is, if any, the guiding principle
of these melodies?
If we transcribed the first of the 'cello melodies to form a chromatic scale as shown in Ex. 1c, we would accept readily that the interval of a minor second, or semitone, is an element of vital importance.
It would be tempting to include certain piano figures in the 'melodic patterns' group, namely those shown in Ex. 2.
Yet are these 'melodies'? 'Broken chords' seems a better definition. Are
these patterns? The 'cello pattern consisted of the repetition of the
same element (the first melody of Ex. 1a). This
element appeared in transpositions and in different time signatures,
thus never recurred twice as wholly identical. Yet on the whole, an
overall intervallic and durational outline was kept unchanged.
None of these piano figures appear in such groups as to constitute a
pattern: whenever there is an identifiable group of such figures, as in
bb. 245-251, for instance, this will not reappear except considerably
different. So much so, that we are left to ask the question of whether
perhaps it were more suitable considering each piano figure as a pattern
itself. We could look at the piano figures and try to find repeated
elements within each of them: intervals between tones, duration of
tones, anything. What we find is that within each piano figure there are
different intervals and different durations, as well as different
direction of the motion from each tone to the next (upwards/downwards):
in short, there are no repeated elements.
Before we set aside these piano figures, we may take a second look at
them and observe how most of them offer three notes which could be
re-arranged as chromatic scales. This would provide a link to the 'cello
pattern of melodies where we saw how important the minor second
interval was. Also, there is perhaps another link provided by the piano
figures, which transports us to the quartet parts at the opening of the
work. There we find a strong semitone structure in the overall chords
played by the string quartet. This occurs at bb.1-9 to begin with, and
then elsewhere.
What is interesting about these opening quartet chords is not that they
are unique in their semitonal structure: it is that the pitches found
therein, namely B/C/Db/D, are the very same ones as in most of the piano
figures discussed. Seeing how these quartet chords occur several more
times through the work, it would be tempting to ask ourselves whether
these particular pitches may offer a pattern of some kind.
It will suffice to point out that in spite of the pitch-correspondence
we identified, it is obvious that the intervallic structure of the
B/C/Db/D group is what matters: the semitone between notes within
individual groups is found elsewhere, and we begin to notice how much of
PSQ as a whole is based (harmonically speaking) on the interval of a
second.
Let us quote Feldman, as he spoke in 1982 at a lecture in Toronto, Canada:
"I've been living with the minor second all my life and I finally found a way to handle it ..."[2]
Looking at other compositions from the 1980s, we notice how PSQ is no
isolated instance of Feldman's adoption of the minor second as a pivotal
interval. For example, in the 1981 Bass Clarinet and Percussion we notice such trend right from the start of the piece, and persistently throughout the entire work. Similarly, the 1983 String Quartet II opens and ends with four pitches a semitone apart. Yet more evident is the minor second in the opening pages of For Bunita Marcus, written in the same year as PSQ, where only three pitches a semitone apart are used.
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 3-6
B) CHORDAL PATTERNS
Working with the minor second allowed Feldman to construct a sound-world
which focussed the attention on the shape of chords, on their density,
and on the spacing of tones therein, rather than on their harmonic
functionality.
This impressionistic approach becomes evident as we look through the
score. Perhaps it is best to look at the two quartet chords at Ex. 3. These are the basis for a chordal pattern that begins at b.519 and carries on uninterrupted until b.806, viz. 287 bars later.
With the piece ending at b. 810, it is already obvious that this is an
important pattern. Also, these two chords occur earlier in the piece,
i.e. at bb. 160-1 and 164-5 (in reverse order), then at 201, 458, 479,
483/5, 509-11.
To understand how the chords are changed in shape through their repetitions, look at the thirty-seven permutations at Ex. 4, which concern the second chord from Ex. 3. The list following the permutations gives the bar numbers for every one of them.
| Chord | Bar nos. |
Chord | Bar nos. |
Chord | Bar nos. |
| 1 | 160, 161, 164, 165, 201 |
14 | 564, 580, 590, 788, 798 |
27 | 644, 728 |
| 2 | 458, 565, 566, 578, 579, 588, 594, 784, 790, 799, 800 |
15 | 567, 577, 591, 787, 801 |
28 | 648, 724 |
| 3 | 479, 483, 485, 509, 510, 511, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 530, 533, 538, 543, 550, 551, 552, 555, 587, 791 |
16 | 568, 569, 571, 574, 575, 596, 597, 600, 602, 603, 775, 776, 778, 781, 782, 803, 804 |
29 | 649,
651, 653, 655, 658, 660, 662, 664, 670, 672, 676, 678, 680, 697, 699,
700, 701, 704, 707, 709, 711, 713, 716, 718, 719, 721, 723 |
| 4 | 477 |
17 | 570, 601, 777 |
30 | 650,
652, 654, 656, 657, 659, 661, 663, 665, 666, 668, 669, 673, 674, 675,
677, 694, 695, 696, 698, 702, 703, 706, 708, 710, 712, 714, 715, 717,
720, 722 |
| 5 | 487, 561, 583, 589, 789, 795 |
18 | 575, 573, 576, 595, 598, 599, 779, 780, 783, 802, 805, 806 |
31 | 679, 705 |
| 6 | 525, 534, 537, 547, 548, 549, 558 |
19 | 604, 615, 623, 637, 735, 749, 753, 763, 773 |
32 | 682 |
| 7 | 526, 531, 539, 544, 545, 546, 559, 585, 592, 786, 793 |
20 | 605, 614, 627, 639, 647, 725, 745, 751, 764, 774 |
33 | 683, 685, 687 |
| 8 | 527, 535, 541, 554, 557 |
21 | 606, 613, 622, 636, 642, 730, 736, 750, 765, 772 |
34 | 684, 686, 688, 689, 690 |
| 9 | 528, 532, 540, 556 |
22 | 607, 621, 626, 635, 646, 726, 737, 746, 757 |
35 | 691, 692, 693 |
| 10 | 529, 536, 542, 553 |
23 | 608, 620, 630, 638, 643, 729, 734, 742, 758, 770 |
36 | 733 |
| 11 | 560, 584, 586, 792, 794 |
24 | 610, 618, 629, 632, 640, 732, 740, 743, 755, 760, 768 |
37 | 752 |
| 12 | 562, 582, 593, 785, 796 |
25 | 611, 617, 624, 633, 645, 727, 739, 748, 761, 767 |
38 | 771 |
| 13 | 563, 581, 797 |
26 | 612, 616, 628, 631, 741, 744, 756, 762, 766 |
| |
This impressive display of inversions is typical of Feldman's late pieces. The aforementioned For Bunita Marcus is another exquisite example of such inventiveness. Feldman put it this way:
"Actually I just try to repeat the same chord. I'm reiterating the same chord in inversions."[3]
"... there is a suggestion that what we hear is functional and directional, but we soon realize that this is an illusion ..."[4]
Truly enough, the chords of Ex.3 have an inner tension and
an almost cadential feel. Yet after a few reiterations, we realise
there is no resolution of discords, no cadence, and ultimately no
directionality. During these repetitions time stretches to a different
level, and we realise that the music has no past or future, but only a
present, which consists of the particular permutation being played at a
particular point in time. As Feldman explained, the permutations are "... a conscious attempt at "formalizing" a disorientation of memory."[5]
The intervallic make-up of the Ex.3 chords becomes clearer if we re-write them in a scalic form, thus:
first chord
second chord | = B/C#/D /E;
= F/Gb/Ab/A. |
It is obvious that the interval of a minor second, which we have
encountered in the melodic pattern of the 'cello, is present here too,
together with the major second. Such interval is observed in another
quartet pattern of two chords (Ex.5).
Re-written in a scalic form, these chords would give us the following:
first chord
second chord | = G/Ab/A/Bb;
= F/Gb/A/Bb. |
These two chords are found at bb. 204, 217, 233, 265, 318, 331, 500-2.
One-chord patterns are also found in the quartet parts. Of these, the
most prominent is the one found at bb.122-7, 280-8, 298-306. Its
pitches, re-arranged scalically, are as follows:
C/C#/D/Eb.
This one-chord pattern is interesting because it involves pitches all a minor second apart.
Let us now turn back to the chords of Ex.3. These two
chords are found also in the piano part, permutated, at bb. 208-9,
319-20, 332-3, 456-7, 507-8 (in reverse order). The only difference with
the quartet chords is that instead of being within one bar, the piano
ones are spread across two bars, so that there is one chord in each bar.
Such two piano chords, then, form a pattern, as they are repeated
several times.
Other two-chord patterns can be found in the piano part, as listed in Ex.6.
There are also one-chord patterns in the piano part, of which the most obvious example is the opening chord at b.1 (Ex.7a), repeated unchanged at bb.3, 5, 7, 9, 11/3/5/7/9, then permutated at bb.21/3/5/7/9 (Ex.7b).
Afterwards the chord loses its identity as a pattern and is repeated
intermittently, for example at b.37 in its original form, then as its
first permutation at bb. 47/9, 51/3, 60, after which it is the original
chord again at b.72, and then a second permutation (Ex.7c)
occurs at bb. 79, 97, followed by its first permutation at b. 107, and
by the original chord at bb.115/7. The chord is last seen at bb.443/5/7
(first permutation) and at b.449 (original form).
This chord, in the original and permutated forms, has the highest number
of appearances in the piano part, with a percentage of 10%.
By comparison, the most recurring chords of the quartet parts (as given in Ex.3)
are repeated much more insistently, with respectively 32% and 33.3% of
the total number of bars for the first and second chord.
NB - The piano part 'fills in' between repetitions with its resonances,
thanks to the sustaining pedal, so the percentages do not really tell
the whole story here.
As far as the intervallic content of the first piano chord is concerned,
it is worthwhile taking note that here we find minor and major seconds,
once more, as becomes clear by re-writing the chord scalically, thus:
D#/E/F#/G/Ab/Bb.
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 4-6
C) DURATION PATTERNS
"... The reason my music is notated is I wanted to keep control of the silence
... when you hear it, you have no idea rhythmically how complicated
that is on paper. It's floating. On paper it looks as though it's
rhythm. It's not. It's duration."[6]
Indeed, PSQ is very 'complicated' when it comes to durations. Such
complexity derives from Feldman's attitude, in his late works, to keep
notated music free and 'floating', rhythmically speaking, as if it were a
written transcription of an improvisation. Cage remarked once that
Feldman's late works were Feldman playing his early graph pieces.
The 'free-floating' feel of PSQ is achieved, as Feldman said, through a
complex and painstaking notation of the intended sound-images. This
involves, among other factors, continuous small adjustments of the
time-frame, and that is to say, of the time-signatures. It is precisely
by looking at the time-signatures themselves that we find how they
alternate and repeat to form several patterns, which are listed here:
- an alternating minim-beat and quaver-beat, with the number of
minim-beats remaining constant and the number of quaver-beats changing
(bb.1-9, 370-8, 388-96);
- an alternating crotchet-beat and quaver-beat, with the number of
crotchet-beats remaining constant and the number of quaver-beats
changing (bb.21-30, 39-54, 439-50);
- a series of time-signatures repeated inversely, mirror-like
(bb.284-8 mirrored first at bb.298-302 and then at bb.334-8; bb.460-3,
mirrored at bb.465-8; bb.688-90, mirrored at bb.691-3).
There are also a number of instances where a time-signature will not
change, and for a relatively long time, as in the following examples:
bb.523-36, 537-43, 544-53, 558-65, 567-77, 579-648.
Bear in mind that these bar numbers do not take into account repeat
bars. For instance the last example, if it included all repeated bars,
would actually give ninety-four bars. The string of examples shown above
is of further interest when we consider that the longest repetitions of
the same time-signature occur in coincidence with the quartet parts'
287-bars-long two-chord pattern - which, as we saw earlier on, starts at
b.519.
Notably, the aforementioned 94-bars-long example bears the
time-signature of 5/4; such time-signature was found to be used about
23% of the times through the score, and that is more than any other
time-signature present therein.
Another duration pattern found in the score is of a visual nature,
concerning the notational sphere of PSQ rather than its acoustic one. If
we look at the first page of the score, for instance, we see how a
'notated' bar alternates with an 'empty' one regularly: this creates a
visual pattern of full and empty bars, which in a way is detached from
the acoustic reality of the music - if anything because in performance
the 'empty' bars would contain sound from the piano's resonances.
Feldman gives confirmation when he says that
"Though these patterns exist in rhythmic shapes articulated by instrumental sounds, they are also in part notational images that do not make a direct impact on the ear as we listen."[7]
We know that PSQ was no isolated instance of the visual use of
alternating notated and empty bars. It will suffice to take a look at
the 1986 piano piece Palais de Mari to notice how there too there is a visual use of 'black' and 'white' bars in alternation.
It is impossible not to mention Turkish rugs when writing about
Feldman's late music, and especially with regard to the visual aspect of
his scores. At Ex.8 and Ex.9 we have a
visual rendition of the whole piece, with the first and second of these
examples taking into consideration the outlook of the piano and quartet
parts respectively.
Just by looking at these examples, we can begin to see how the 'weaving'
of the durational layer of PSQ seems to follow the alternating squares
on rugs of Turkish origin. Interesting also, is the similarity between
the look of the piano part and of the quartet part up until b.122:
thenceforth, there is a discordance between the parts, which begin to
show individual patterns of 'black' and 'white' measures. Such
disagreement becomes dramatic - at least visually - between b.519 and
the end of the piece: while the piano presents the usual alternation of
'black' and 'white' bars, as well as strings of 'white' bars only, the
string quartet presents a total predominance of 'black' measures, due to
the uninterrupted 287-bar two-chord pattern.
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 5-6
D) Conclusion
We have observed hitherto what patterns are present in PSQ, and of these
which are interval patterns and which are duration patterns. Let it be
clear though, that approaching late Feldman is always a risky
enterprise, for in spite of the recurring chords and motifs the music
before us will not yield to conventional analysis. The question 'Why
patterns?' remains unanswered: the opening quote in the present
discussion does not reveal, for instance, why the quartet chords of Ex.3 are given a 287-bars pattern where other chords are not.
We assume it is for no reason at all, for we must acknowledge Feldman's lack of interest in pitches per se, as he told one of his pupils:
"Timbre and range are the same problem, and both are
more important than pitches. When one knows exactly the sound he wants,
there are only a few notes in any instrument that will suffice. Choosing
actual pitches then becomes almost like editing, filling in detail,
finishing things off."[8]
Explaining the patterns as we did, focussing away from pitch-theories,
would still leave room for other alternative approaches to PSQ. Until
then, Feldman holds the key to the modus componendi of this piece.
Notes
- Morton Feldman, Essays, ed. W. Zimmermann (Cologne, 1985), p129.
- Excerpt of lecture transcript reproduced here by kind permission of the author, Linda Catlin Smith.
- Morton Feldman, Essays, ed. W. Zimmermann (Cologne, 1985), p230.
- Ibid., p127.
- Ibid., p127.
- Ibid., p232.
- Ibid., p132.
- Tom Johnson, 'Remembrance', MusikTexte, no.22 (December 1987).
Bibliography
- Bryn Harrison, 'The Auditive Memory and its function in the late works of Morton Feldman', Morton Feldman Page, mfbrynh.htm (May 2000).
- John Tilbury, 'On Playing Feldman', Morton Feldman Page, mftilb.htm (May 2000).
- Tom Johnson, 'Remembrance', MusikTexte, no.22 (December 1987).
- Jan Williams, 'An interview with Morton Feldman', Percussive Notes, (September 1983), pp. 4-14.
- Molly and Paul Paccione, 'Did Modernism fail Morton Feldman?', ex tempore: A Journal of Compositional and Theoretical Research in Music, vol. 6 no.1 (Fall 1992), pp. 13-21.
- 'Morton Feldman in conversation with Thomas Moore', Sonus, vol.4 no.2 (Spring 1984).
- Edward Fox, 'Annihilated Angel', The Wire, issue 134 (April 1995).
- Howard Slater, 'The most important flaw', Resonance, vol. 7 no. 1 (December 1998).
- Morton Feldman, 'Between categories', Contemporary Music Review, vol. 2 (1988), pp. 1-5.
- Catherine Costello Hirata, 'The sounds of the sounds themselves - analyzing the early music of Morton Feldman', Perspectives of New Music, vol. 34 no.1 (Winter 1996), pp. 6-27.
- James Saunders, 'Finding time, finding space', New Music, 1999.
- 'H.C.E. (Here Comes Everybody): Morton Feldman in conversation with Peter Gena', A John Cage reader, ed. Gena & Brent (New York, 1982), pp. 51-73.
- Morton Feldman, Essays, ed. W. Zimmermann (Cologne, 1985).
Discography
- Morton Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Kronos Quartet. ELEKTRA NONESUCH 7559-79320-2 (1993).
© Frank Sani 2000
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985)
Part 6-6
Music: Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet (1985) - With a complete analysis by Frank Sani - 6 Vids - Links to more MF music
