An earlier version of Morton Feldman's For Samuel Beckett existed on a 1992 hat ART CD performed by Ensemble Modern. Their take on this eerie, meditative study in slow, dissonant pulses and atonal moods was somewhat more m... more »uted than the disc under review here. The timings are virtually the same (about 43 minutes), but the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin gives a more assertive role to the piano's out-of-sync declarations, betraying the work's skeletal underpinnings. This is not a transparent work, however. Feldman's music flows measure by measure, each with its own timing and key notations--very demanding for player and listener alike. This isn't the place to start with Feldman, but Feldman fans will want this as their reference disc for this important work. --Paul Cook« less
An earlier version of Morton Feldman's For Samuel Beckett existed on a 1992 hat ART CD performed by Ensemble Modern. Their take on this eerie, meditative study in slow, dissonant pulses and atonal moods was somewhat more muted than the disc under review here. The timings are virtually the same (about 43 minutes), but the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin gives a more assertive role to the piano's out-of-sync declarations, betraying the work's skeletal underpinnings. This is not a transparent work, however. Feldman's music flows measure by measure, each with its own timing and key notations--very demanding for player and listener alike. This isn't the place to start with Feldman, but Feldman fans will want this as their reference disc for this important work. --Paul Cook
Deadly serious excursion into Beckett's irrational lifeworld
scarecrow | Chicago, Illinois United States | 09/29/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Samuel Beckett was not an easily approachable persona,even for those working in the direct production of his plays. Feldman I believe wanted to write an opera,or some dramatic invention with text, and Beckett refused,as he did to countless others.This was one of Feldman's last works 1987,and it's always wonderful to experience his longer works for the sheer physicality of their content,much like the blackly-wrought massive plates of Richard Serra.This is music you feel the weight of its sonoric mass.My speakers became like sculptural objects.This work is deadly serious however,not spacious at all, claustrophobic and disturbing,with its repetitive impacted chords,which reiterates itself,almost like a death stroke.And the timbres that make up this chord cannot be deciphered,whose playing what tone. But more Feldman I beleive wanted to impart Beckett's direct sense of the mindlessness of our age, and the irrational lifeworld,yet with a deep sense of conviction in the necessity of art,the last bastion of emancipation. Feldman's music,at times, can be relativily light in its explorations of differing regions of timbre, but here as I said, it is dense affair, impacted,not allowing the timbres the space they need, denying them a life.Klangforum Wien also has recorded this work and it seems a t bit lighter,although ever bit as serious. It is scored for double winds,two flutes,two horns,with a string quintet and piano. Feldman seemed to reserve his work for these larger scaled pieces. Although all this late music delves into the set of problematics of the extended work. Which did have mixed results."
Hermetically Sealed World
Christopher Forbes | Brooklyn,, NY | 11/20/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Feldman's late works are really entities rather than compositions. They are closed worlds, sealed off by their limited means and extraordinaty length. But For Samuel Becket is one of the more extreme of these pieces, not in length but in character. The work is close, almost claustrophobic and yet deeply alluring. It is rare in Feldman's output, closer to Coptic Light than to any other Feldman work that I know. The work is scored for solo strings, winds and brass in pairs and a small Feldmanesque group of piano, mallet instruments and celeste. The winds and strings create sustained sound clusters while the small group contributes small splashes of dissonant color chords. The basic material of the piece is set up at the beginning of the work and doesn't vary greatly throughout it's 40 plus minutes. Small variations in chords, rhythmic placement, tonal color and pattern make the interest in the piece. It is in Feldman's "oriental carpet" mode, in which the surface effect is static and symmetrical, but a closer listening reveals a wealth of subtle variations on a level just below the surface. This work will not reveal itself in casual listening. It requires a deeper concentration on the part of the listener, just as the work of Rothko or Clifford Still require a greater active role on the part of the viewer. Also unlike much music by Feldman, this work does not contain much silence. It is a close and crowded score, and when brief moments of silence are detected it is like a wisp of air from a crack in a window. This fits the dedication to Becket, who used silence, repetition and a certain hysterical claustrophobia in his writing to make his existential points. I have not heard the competition for this disc so I can't make much of a comparison based on that. The timing on this CPO disc is about 10 minutes faster than the Kairos disc. Timing is everything in Feldman, so you may find that the Kairos disc has less of a claustrophbic feel. This all may be a matter of preference, as Feldman allows a wide range of tempi in this work, between 66 and 88 MM. CPO takes the fast edge of this and Kairos takes the slow edge. Both are sanctioned by Feldman's score."
A good choice
Christopher Forbes | 04/25/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Any difference between this interpretation of "For Samuel Beckett" and the Ensemble Modern's version (HatART 6107) is for my unprofessional ears virtually inaudible, except that the sound quality is much, much better in the present CD. However, my personal preference is for the Klangforum Wien's rendering (KAIROS #0012012KAI; it should get "six stars" by comparison), which is about 10 minutes longer and that permits to discriminate very delicate details of this most beautiful piece."
Peacefully, richly dissonant
Michael Laird | Pittsford, NY USA | 09/09/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Imagine being in a wooded glade with filtered sunlight speckles that move, combine and overlap as gentle breezes move some branches overhead. The view slowly changes as the light, wind, temperature change, but it is all very gradual. This is a visual metaphor of For Samuel Beckett. Sonically, it stands out with smoothly blended woodwinds and horns, filled in with strings and chimes. It is deep and sonorous, but always calmly dissonant. There are constant changes, some of which are barely perceptible. This album is recorded with excellent acoustics and tone qualities. The sound is always peacefully, richly dissonant - calming. For me, this is one of Feldman's best pieces because it is long enough to get immersed into it and perceive it deeply, but it is not one of his 4 hour pieces that stretch one's endurance."
Track Listings (1) - Disc #1
