MORTON FELDMAN (1926-1987): Three Voices

Description: In a typically extreme example of a particular compositional doctrine, Feldman here constructs a piece that functions in the manner of early minimalism, with small patterns superimposed but offset, thus producing a field of small gestures that ultimately becomes all background, or all foreground; a color field of almost identical brushstrokes and extremely liimited palette. One voice, duplicated through loudspeakers, is the source of the material; close intervals or small scale-fragments form the bulk of the pitch material. Occasionally wider intervals intrude, only to be absorbed into the overall texture; and briefly, words from a poem by Frank O'Hara. The work is hypnotic and melancholy; it may be understood as a memorial to O'Hara and Philip Guston, who both died around the same time it was written. Marianne Schuppe (voice