Rothko Chapel

Morton Feldman (Artist), Morton Feldman (Composer), California EAR Unit (Performer), William Winant (Performer), Deborah Dietrich (Performer), David Abel (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: California EAR Unit, William Winant, Deborah Dietrich, David Abel
• Composer: Morton Feldman
• Audio CD (November 18, 2009)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New Albion Records
• ASIN: B000000R2Z
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,539 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ambient Beauty, July 30, 2002

By 

Christopher Forbes "weirdears" (Brooklyn,, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rothko Chapel (Audio CD)

Morton Feldman may have been the prototypical minimalist. His music, though varied in effect, tends to consist of very soft, discrete sounds which slowly morph from pattern to pattern. Though his music falls into periods, roughly divided by notational practice (early music uses primarily graphic scores and aleatoric procedures, later scores tend toward more precise notation, though the rhythms still remain approximate), the effect of his output is remarkably the same throughout his life. It is intellectually challenging, beautiful ambient music.

Rothko Chapel, written to be played in the famous Houston space, is a wonderful piece, one that should win new converts to the Feldman cause. It isn't daunting in length, like many later Feldman pieces, yet it retains the sonic beauty and delicacy of instrumental color that makes Feldman unique. The piece is also remarkably tonal, unlike many other Feldman works. The gorgeous hushed soprano solo sounds like a distant call to prayer. Feldman talks in the liner notes of the influence of Hebrew cantilation and you can hear it, although it is much more distant than most cantilation. This work is an example of the best kind of ambient music. It is endlessly fascinating, and yet seems to have a physical presence that does not depend on your concentration. You can listen intently or just let the sound wash over you.

Inclusion of Why Patterns? was a good idea. This work is much more typical of Feldman's style. Written for the combination of flute, glockenspiel and piano, the almost 30 minute work is a slow spinning out of subtley dissonant patterns, all at extremely quiet volume levels. The work doesn't seem to start or stop. It's as if we are dropping in on an eternal piece of music, hanging around a while and then leaving again.

As one other reviewer stated, it would be nice to have another version of Rothko Chapel available. With a composer like Feldman, alternative versions can really proove useful. So much of his music depends on chance and the sensitivity of his performers that comparisions are more important than with more standard music. The sound on this CD is wonderful. Thank you New Albion! This is my favorite Feldman CD by far!

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect evocation, April 5, 2000

By 

DAC Crowell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rothko Chapel (Audio CD)

"Rothko Chapel" was composed for the dedication of the de Menil chapel, for which Mark Rothko created some of his final paintings. The space, in Houston TX, is a downtown quiet space, for contemplation, with only the dark colorfields of Rothko's work as a visual point of focus. The work here is a very beautiful and equally dark counterpoint to those canvases, evocative of both the sense of visual diffusion as well as the inner mystery they seem to conceal within their colorfields. Sometimes seeming like some mysterious shrouded procession, at other times like a distant call to prayer, and with a recurrant vocal figure of a solo voice, evoking a sense of both innocence and encantory devotion, the piece is one of Feldman's shortest but most powerful. And the version performed here is excellent, with very precise yet human performance characteristics...which is just what's required, as a rule, to make Feldman's music 'work'. The accompanying work, "Why Patterns?", is a self-answering rhetorical question...the work asks the question, then answers it perfectly, demonstrating just _why_ Feldman's work from the 1960s onward concentrated on pattern-based structures. This piece reminds me of Philip Glass or Steve Reich's work...but far more understated, with subtile dissonances that would be unheard-of in those two 'minimalists' works. Again, very sensitive and precise playing here from the CA EAR Unit. A highly recommended CD, and a great starting-point release for those who've heard of...but not heard...Morton Feldman's work.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars accessible Feldman -- music for a peace chapel, September 12, 2001

By 

R. Hutchinson "autonomeus" (a world ruled by fossil fuels and fossil minds) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rothko Chapel (Audio CD)

"Rothko Chapel" is the most accessible of Feldman's compositions. It sounds like Debussy, with spare, lyrical strings, chimes, and an enchanting soprano, Deborah Dietrich on this recording (there is at least one other, on Col Legno). Feldman, a friend of the painter Rothko, constructed this tribute in four sections as "an immobile procession not unlike the friezes on Greek temples," to accompany the Houston exhibit of 14 canvasses in 1972. (In July of 2006 I visited the Rothko Chapel, which is part of the Menil Collection. It is a dark space, with the very dark Rothkos on the walls -- it feels more like a crypt, or a bomb shelter, than a chapel, but it is still active, with various events sponsored by any and all religions, including events promoting peace.)

The exquisite "Rothko Chapel" alone would be an utterly uncharacteristic introduction to Feldman. Fortunately, in that sense, this disc also includes "Why Patterns?", which is an excellent and far more representative piece. From 1978, for flute, glockenspiel and piano, it unfolds like a delicate spiral, invoking a sense of wonder. As a reminder that packages might as well be attractive too, New Albion uses Rothko's "Red Over Dark Blue on Dark Gray" (1961) for the cover -- perfecto!

See my MORTON FELDMAN: A LISTENER'S GUIDE list for more recordings and reviews by one of THE 12 BEST LATE 20TH CENTURY COMPOSERS (another list!).