Morton Feldman (1926-1987)

Extensions 1

pour violon et piano

Date de composition : 1951
Éditeur : Peters

Création : New York, Columbia University, McMillan Theater, Composer's Forum, 15 mars 1952, Matthew Raimondi, violon et David Tudor, piano

Fiche Brahms/IRCAM
Partition (Edition Peters)
CD/MP3 (Amazon)
CD/MP3 (Amazon)
CD (Amazon)
CD (Discogs)
CD (Discogs)

YouTube : Marc Sabat, violon et Stefen Clarke, piano

Morton Feldman completed Extensions 1 for violin and piano in 1951. It was written in graphic notation, as were many chamber works from early in the composer's career. 1951 was a critical year for the twenty-five-year old, because it was then that he met John Cage, who befriended young Feldman and drew him from a circle of older composers who perpetuated the European tradition of composition to a group of artists of all media seeking a specifically American means of expression. This was in New York, where abstract expressionism was breaking new ground, which would be a primary influence on Feldman for the rest of his life. However, the graphic notation works were most likely inspired by derived from Cage's work with his investigations into chance operations, which aimed at removing the composer's will from the score. This was not Feldman's intension with Extensions 1. Rather, the graphs imply a framework from which the performers could derive a general shape. The exact pitches and durations were up to them.

The score consists of boxes, lines, and numbers, as well as some indications as to what attack the violinist should use, pizzicato, arco, etc. Boxes and dotted lines indicate the approximate register and metrical stresses for the work. In a piece such as this, the quality of the resulting performance depends on the skills of the performer. A lot of faith is put in the musicians, but this is true of any score. One of the fascinating things about this method of composition is the extent to which its challenges are not different from a full notation. In either the fully notated score or graphically notated score, the performer can ruin the music with bad choices resulting from a lack of insight; a violin sonata by Brahms is just as likely to suffer from insensitivity from either the violinist or the pianist. During a performance of a graphically notated work by Earle Brown, a colleague of Feldman's, one of the musicians introduced a well-known tune into the performance, much to the composer's dismay. Such an act disrupts the spirit of the music and trivializes it. A composer of a graphic notation work hopes that the performers will find something new in light of the freedom that is offered.

In spite of the boldness of the experiment of using graphic notation, its importance did not last long. Feldman went on to other things before the end of the 1950s. Eventually he realized that he did not want to give the performers freedom. That was not the point. The point was to let the instincts of the trained musician work within a predetermined framework that would ennoble the performer's musicality. The failure of this notation was that few performers could escape the prejudices that were implicit to conservatory training. The endeavor rarely rose above the level of novelty, but we can glean from such music certain traits that were vital to Feldman's general outlook as a composer. One of these priorities is register. Throughout his remaining career, which spanned twenty-six more years, Feldman's emphasis was on high/low, rather than exact notes. Though his later works were exhaustively notated, the distance between the notes, and how that distance made each note sound, was more important than the note's exact pitch. Another important factor was a natural-sounding rhythm; one that did not sound mechanized or arrived at through scientific thinking. This final point on rhythm would take many years to perfect. A good performance of Extensions 1 is an excellent example of American musical experimentation from the 1950s and a rewarding experience as well. [allmusic.com]

Art by Eva Hesse (Source : YouTube)