Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet - by Ray Fields (Paperback)

About the Book

Written in 1985, the year before Feldman's death, this single movement 80-minute composition is heralded by many to be the composer's crowning achievement. The book is a complete analysis of the work, including the aural experience, and includes interviews with notable Feldman...

Book Synopsis

Written in 1985, the year before Feldman's death, this single movement 80-minute composition is heralded by many to be the composer's crowning achievement. The book is a complete analysis of the work, including the aural experience, and includes interviews with notable Feldman performers: David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi.

Review Quotes

Fields has written a penetrating study of one of the most celebrated late works of Morton Feldman. His study is exhaustive in its examination and explication of every detail of this great work--I was impressed with the holistic approach to analysis that Fields brings to his research.

In this important and thought-provoking addition to the growing body of analyses of Feldman works, Ray Fields' original and clearly presented analysis sheds new light on the structure and meaning of the piece and on Feldman's compositional aims and procedures. Here we see for the first time some of the underlying reasons why so many people, including Feldman himself, like this piece so much.

About the Author

RAY FIELDS is a composer, analyst, and researcher. His works are performed at festivals, conferences, sacred settings, public spaces, and online. His preparation for analyzing Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet included three weeks of study at the Feldman Archive of the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland.