Feldman - Piano (1977)

"Piano" written in 1977 is a transitional work in Feldman's output, between the miniature Webernesque pieces of the 50's and 60's, and the vast cathedrals of sound of the 80's.

One characteristic of this transitional period are the loud outbursts (marked fff) against a global ppp dynamic (at 14:14, 15:03 and 16:32). This could be characterized as a violent red slash in one of the canvases of his buds. Rather than characterize this as whisper soft and deafeningly loud, I've tried to scale the dynamics in a "musical" manner.

One of the remarkable things in this score are the segments where the standard 2 staff system is expanded to 4 (6:23, 15:00, 16:11 and 20:40) and 6 (10:02, 16:23 and 20:53) staves. At the final appearance, Feldman further maxes the counting difficulties by superposing different time signatures. This kind of composing verges on irrational rhythms, i.e. no direct relationship. What he appears to be doing is take a 2 or 3 piano work, and direct a single performer to realize it.

Another innovative touch is how he splits a triplet group (for example in bar 3); the first part of the triplet offsets the attack, and is made up for at the end of the measure.

For the performer, the slow pace is deceptive; the carefully noted rhythmic markings are precise and demand that the performer "count like crazy." Take your best shot.

In this realization, I've observed the slur markings as a pedal down. In the 2 and 3 piano sections, I've panned left right and center.

I've become quite fond of this piece and can only recommend that you the listener take this opportunity to get to know this masterpiece.

I found the score (which is still under copyright) at some Russian website, so this is a disclaimer. This video is intended for educational purposes only.

Created, edited and mastered in Digital Performer 5.13 (MOTU) using Ivory Italian Grand sound banks (Synthogy)