The Viola in My Life
The Viola in My Life is a four-part cycle of compositions by the American composer Morton Feldman .
history
Feldman began the cycle in Honolulu in 1970 , where he wrote the first piece for Karen Philips, violinist at the University of Honolulu. Feldman, who had previously experimented with open graphical notation , returned to traditional, precise notation with this piece.
He uses quiet and softly played tones to create a mystical, barren effect at the lower edge of the audible, in which the listener is prompted or even forced to devote his full attention to the music. The world premiere took place on September 19, 1970 in London; Karen Philips played the viola , accompanied by the Pierrot Players under conductor Peter Maxwell Davies .
Feldman composed parts II and III in October of the same year; Part IV followed in March 1971.
Feldman, who sometimes saw himself as influenced by the "flat surface" of the American avant-garde painters of his generation for his music, described his work as follows:
“The compositional format is quite simple. Unlike most of my music, the complete cycle of The Viola in My Life (I-IV) is conventionally notated as regards pitches and tempi. I needed the exact time proportions underlying the gradual and slight crescendo characteristic of all the muted sounds the viola plays. It was this aspect that determined the rhythmic sequence of events. "
“The composition format is quite simple. Unlike most of my pieces, the pitch and tempos were conventionally notated throughout The Viola in My Life (I-IV) cycle. I needed the exact time proportions on which the gradual, suggested crescendo properties of all muted tones of the viola are based. This aspect determined the rhythmic sequence of events. "
Recordings
Feldmann himself conducted the first recording of The Viola in My Life (I – III) on December 7, 1970 at CAMI Hall, NYC. The cast was:
- Karen Philips: Viola
- Anahid Ajemian: violin
- Seymour Barab : cello
- David Tudor : Piano
- Paula Robinson: flute
- Arthur Bloom: Clarinet
- Raymond DesRoches: Percussion
The recording was released on record in 1971 by Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI); the B-side formed the longer composition False Relationships And The Extended Ending , also by Morton Feldman.
In 1992 CRI's The Viola in My Life (I-IV) was featured in the American Masters series along with False Relationships And The Extended Ending and Why Patterns? released on CD under the title The Music of Morton Feldman .