Our Summer BAL 72: Feldman Triadic Memories

[Pulcinella]

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.

Available recordings (Presto website)

Pascal Berthelot (CD)
Markus Hinterhäuser (CD)
Sabine Liebner (D)
Marilyn Nonken (D, DVD)
John Snijders (CD, D)
Philip Thomas (CD)

Bryn tells us that the Thomas is one of his two favourite recordings of the work.
I’ll leave it to him to tell us which is his favourite, and perhaps why.

[silvestrione]

Is it for piano?

[Bryn]

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.

Available recordings (Presto website)

Pascal Berthelot (CD)
Markus Hinterhäuser (CD)
Sabine Liebner (D)
Marilyn Nonken (D, DVD)
John Snijders (CD, D)
Philip Thomas (CD)

Bryn tells us that the Thomas is one of his two favourite recordings of the work.
I’ll leave it to him to tell us which is his favourite, and perhaps why.

Well, there are 2 recordings by John Tilbury, one of which, in the London Hall "All Piano" set, is out of print and had an editing error made when trying to correct the omission of 10 repeats at one point due to a photocopy of the manuscript worked from not showing the repeats instruction. The other is based on a very fine performance, dedicated to the memory of Howard Skempton's late wife, Sue. That's on the Atopos label. This would be my prime choice. The sound, by design, somewhat more closely reflects Feldman's recollection of his sole lesson with Varese, that one should think of the sound reaching the audience's ears. It is also based, but for a few edits to replace momentary'noises off' during the concert performance. There is something very special about Tilbury's striving for Feldman's 'sourcelessness' of sounds. Then there is an important recording by one of its co-dedicatees, Roger Woodard. This is a recording that really should be made available again, if only via download, despite it not being my first choice. The other dedicatee was Aki Takahashi. There does not appear to be a CD recording still available of her playing the work but there is a YouTube offering. I have yet to listen to that but I do note it appears to have been played at a far quicker tempo than that indicated by the composer. The duration displayed is 1 hour and 19 seconds. The score indicates a duration of 90 minutes. It does have the great benefit of being displayed with a rolling score, however.

[Bryn]

O.k., these are the recordings I will set about considering. I list them in order of duration. There are others to be found on YouTube which I may listen to after these, which have all been issued on CD at one time or other:

Aki Takahashi = 60'19" [256kbps mp3 from a Usenet group many years ago]
John Tilbury (London Hall 1996/97) = 79'26" [CD]
Steffen Schleiermacher = 80'44" [CD]
Roger Woodward = 87'34" [CD]
John Snijders = 89'45" [QOBUZ]
Philip Thomas = 90'57" [CD]
Marilyn Nonken = 93'48" [audio DVD]
Pascale Berthelot = 99'24" [QOBUZ]
Markus Hinterhauser = 100'30" [CD]
John Tilbury (Atopos 2008) = 104'23" [CD]
Sabine Liebner = 123'09" [CD]

[AmpH]

I don't know this particular Feldman composition at all, but I see there are 3 of the listed recordings on Qobuz so will have a listen to one of those to begin with.

A review of the John Tilbury ( Atopos ) recording here :-

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/a/atp12013a.php

Also link to the Atopos website, where this recording appears to be available on CD :-

https://www.atoposmusic.com/music-albums/john-tilbury-piano-triadic-memories-notti-stellate-a-vagli/

The Philip Thomas box looks very enticing and has gone on my list for future purchase.

[Bryn]

I don't know this particular Feldman composition at all, but I see there are 3 of the listed recordings on Qobuz so will have a listen to one of those to begin with.

A review of the John Tilbury ( Atopos ) recording here :-

http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/a/atp12013a.php

Also link to the Atopos website, where this recording appears to be available on CD :-

https://www.atoposmusic.com/music-albums/john-tilbury-piano-triadic-memories-notti-stellate-a-vagli/

The Philip Thomas box looks very enticing and has gone on my list for future purchase.

The review is by one of the co-founders of this very forum.

[Quarky]

Thanks for this thread - and I wasn't previously aware of this Summer BAL series.

The meditative aspect of this piece is great - I shall now listen to it while doing my Yoga Practice.

https://www.cnvill.net/mfwhittington.pdf

“Almost all of Feldman’s music is slow and soft. Only at first sight is this a
limitation. I see it rather as a narrow door, to whose dimensions one has to adapt
oneself (as in Alice in Wonderland) before one can pass through it into a state of
being that is expressed in Feldman’s music. Only when one has become
accustomed to the dimness of the light can one begin to perceive the richness and
variety which is the material of the music…Feldman sees sounds as reverberating
endlessly, never getting lost, changing their resonances as they die away, or
rather not die away, but recede from our ears, and soft because softness is
compelling, because an insidious invasion of our senses is more effective than a
frontal attack.””
Cornelius Cardew