X-Nico

4 unusual facts about Morton Feldman


Edition Peters

The publishing house’s best known composers of the 20th and 21st century include John Cage, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti, and Morton Feldman, alongside its contemporary composers Mark Andre, Jonathan Dove, Bernd Franke, Brian Ferneyhough, Anders Hillborg, Rebecca Saunders, Ming Tsao and Erkki-Sven Tüür, to name but a few, as well the New Generation.

Mari, Syria

A photograph of the Palace of Mari gave the title to one of Morton Feldman's last piano pieces, 'Palais de Mari' (1986).

Morton Feldman

Feldman's experiments with the use of chance in his composition in turn inspired John Cage to write pieces like the Music of Changes, where the notes to be played are determined by consulting the I Ching.

Three Voices for Joan La Barbara

Three Voices for Joan La Barbara is a 1989 album of music composed by Morton Feldman and performed by Joan La Barbara.


Aki Takahashi

She has released numerous recordings and many 20th-century composers (including John Cage, Morton Feldman, Alvin Lucier, Isang Yun, Joji Yuasa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Carl Stone, Maki Ishii, and Takehisa Kosugi) have written pieces for her.

Basil Athanasiadis

Early influences can be traced in Sergiu Celibidache's views on aspects of ambience and acoustic space (Athanasiadis attended Celibidache's Munich seminars in 1994), and in composers such as Christou, Feldman and Takemitsu.

Ian Vine

His three black moons (1999), commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, was described by The Guardian, '...the most striking piece takes its title from an Alexander Calder mobile - its magical floating sonorities had a Feldmanesque beauty.' Ian Vine is described as 'one of the most striking new voices to have come to light' (The Guardian), his music is performed across Europe and has been broadcast worldwide.

Mercedes Matter

Early teachers, chosen by the students, included the artists Philip Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein and Sidney Geist; the art historian Meyer Schapiro; and the composer Morton Feldman.

Michael von Biel

Von Biel studied piano, theory, and composition in Toronto (1956–57), Vienna (1958–60), New York (1960, with Morton Feldman, amongst others), London (1960, with Cornelius Cardew), and Cologne (with Karlheinz Stockhausen).

New Complexity

In the UK, particularly at the instigation of ensembles Suoraan and later Ensemble Exposé (the latter begun by composers Roger Redgate and Richard Barrett), works by "New Complexity" composers were for some time frequently programmed together with then unfashionable non-UK composers including Xenakis and Feldman, but also such diverse figures as Clarence Barlow, Hans-Joachim Hespos and Heinz Holliger.

New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture

Among the more notable directors or deans to have led the school are music composer Morton Feldman and artist/critic/curator Robert Storr.

Robert Carl

Duke Meets Mort (1992) is a saxophone quartet that interprets the harmonic changes of Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo in the voice of Morton Feldman.

S.E.M. Ensemble

The ensemble has performed numerous new works by a wide range of composers, which include Muhal Richard Abrams, John Cage, Roberto Carnevale, Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, Henry Threadgill and La Monte Young, as well as works by Kotik himself.

Steffen Schleiermacher

His recording releases include works by composers such as Erik Satie, Philip Glass, Morton Feldman and Arnold Schoenberg.

Tom Chiu

He is the founder of the FLUX Quartet, who are widely recognized for their performances of technically challenging cutting-edge compositions, including Morton Feldman's six-hour marathon String Quartet No. 2.


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