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{{short description|1985 composition by Morton Feldman}}
{{short description|1985 composition by Morton Feldman}}
{{italic title}}
{{use shortened footnotes|date=January 2024}}
{{use mdy dates||date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox musical composition
{{Infobox musical composition
| name = Piano and String Quartet
| name = ''Piano and String Quartet''
| image =
| image = Piano and String Quartet (1985 performing score cover sheet) - Morton Feldman.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| caption =
| alt = Plain white sheet music cover
| caption = Cover sheet of the published score
| composer = [[Morton Feldman]]
| composer = [[Morton Feldman]]
| key =
| key =
Line 13: Line 17:
| occasion = [[New Music America]] Festival
| occasion = [[New Music America]] Festival
| dedication = [[Aki Takahashi]] and the [[Kronos Quartet]]
| dedication = [[Aki Takahashi]] and the [[Kronos Quartet]]
| duration = {{approx}}{{duration|h=1|m=20}}
| duration = {{duration|h=1|m=20}}
| performed = {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1985|11|2}}|location=[[Los Angeles]], California, U.S.}}
| publisher = [[Universal Edition]] {{nowrap|(UE 17 972)}}
| publisher = [[Universal Edition]] {{nowrap|(UE 17 972)}}
| premiere_date = {{Start date|1985|11|2}}
}}
| premiere_location = Leo S. Bing Theater, [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]]
{{Infobox album
| premiere_performers = {{plainlist|
| name = Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
*Aki Takahashi ([[piano]])
| type = studio
*David Harrington (1st [[violin]])
| artist = [[Kronos Quartet]] with [[Aki Takahashi]]
*John Sherba (2nd [[violin]])
| cover = Kronos-feldman.jpg
*Hank Dutt ([[viola]])
| alt =
*[[Joan Jeanrenaud]] ([[cello]])}}
| released = {{start date|1993|09|28}}
| recorded = November 1991
| studio = {{ubl|[[Skywalker Sound]]|{{small|([[Nicasio, California|Nicasio]], California)}}}}
| genre = [[Contemporary classical music|Contemporary classical]]
| length = 1:19:33
| label = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]/[[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]] <small>(79320-2)</small>
| producer = [[Judith Sherman]] and the Kronos Quartet
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = [[Kronos Quartet]]
| type = studio
| prev_title = [[At the Grave of Richard Wagner]]
| prev_year = 1993
| title = Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
| year = 1993
| next_title = [[Bob Ostertag: All the Rage]]
| next_year = 1993
}}
{{Extra chronology
| artist = [[Aki Takahashi]]
| type = studio
| prev_title = [[Hyper Beatles]]
| prev_year = 1990
| title = Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
| year = 1993
| next_title = [[Aki Takahashi Plays Morton Feldman]]
| next_year = 1996
}}
}}
}}


'''''Piano and String Quartet''''' is a composition by American [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]] composer [[Morton Feldman]]. It was commissioned by the [[Kronos Quartet]] and pianist [[Aki Takahashi]], who premiered the piece at the 7th annual [[New Music America]] Festival in Los Angeles and released a studio recording in 1993.
'''''Piano and String Quartet''''' is a composition by American [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]] composer [[Morton Feldman]]. It was commissioned by the [[Kronos Quartet]] and pianist [[Aki Takahashi]], who premiered the piece at the 7th annual [[New Music America]] Festival in Los Angeles and released a studio recording in 1993.

{{TOC limit|3}}


==Background==
==Background==
[[File:Persconferentie componist Morton Feldman in concertgebouw Amsterdam in verband m, Bestanddeelnr 928-6142.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|alt=|Feldman in 1976]]
Feldman composed ''Piano and String Quartet'', when he was 59 years old. It was among Feldman's final completed works.{{sfn|Ross|2006}} He had written the composition with the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi in mind as its performers.{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}} It was commissioned for the seventh [[New Music America]] Festival in Los Angeles, where it premiered on November 2, 1985.{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/956/mode/1up 956]}} Within two years of the performance, Feldman died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/966/mode/1up 966]}} Interest in his music grew rapidly in the short period after his death and his previously scarce discography was populated with numerous new recordings, mostly on [[independent record label|independent labels]].<ref>{{harvnb|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/966/mode/1up 966]}}; {{harvnb|Tuttle|2002|p=315}}.</ref>

Feldman composed ''Piano and String Quartet'' in 1985 at the age of 59.{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/956/mode/1up 956]}} It was among his final major completed works.{{sfn|Ross|2006}}{{efn|1=According to Chris Villars's catalog of the composer's known works—totaling 197 works in total, including unpublished pieces—''Piano and String Quartet'' was Feldman's ninth-to-last composition.{{sfn|Villars|2019|pp=9–10}}}} He wrote the composition with the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi in mind as its performers.{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}} It was commissioned for the seventh [[New Music America]] Festival in Los Angeles. He wrote out the [[sheet music|score]] by hand, as he had done for most other compositions of that period.{{sfn|Pluhar-Schaeffer|2014|p=22}}

[[File:LACMA-Los-Angeles-County-Museum-of-Art-04-2014.jpg|thumb|''Piano and String Quartet'' premiered in 1985 with a performance by the Kronos Quartet at the [[New Music America]] festival, held at by the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]].]]

On November 2, 1985, the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi premiered the piece at New Music America.{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/956/mode/1up 956]}} The performance took place at the Leo S. Bing Theater in the [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], beginning at 5{{nbsp}}p.m. and lasting 68½ minutes. A recording of the premiere was broadcast at 8{{nbsp}}p.m. on [[KUSC]], the region's local classical music radio station.{{sfn|Cariaga|1985|p=1}}

Less than two years after the premiere of ''Piano and String Quartet'', Feldman died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/966/mode/1up 966]}} Interest in the composer's music grew rapidly in the period after his death and his previously scarce discography was populated with numerous new recordings, mostly on [[independent record label|independent labels]].{{sfn|Slonimsky|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon/page/966/mode/1up 966]}}{{sfn|Tuttle|2002|p=315}} In a 1994 interview, Harrington said the following about the Kronos Quartet's work with the composer:

{{quote|Morton Feldman was unlike any other composer we've ever worked with. He wrote pieces that have a sense of time and a kind of realm that is very particular to his music. And I think ''Piano and String Quartet'' is one of his great, great pieces. It's almost like feeling these incredible, warm, slow, beautiful drops of water over a long period of time. Not like a water torture, but—for me—a kind of sensual experience. You begin hearing the passage of time differently after listening to Morton's music.{{sfn|Simons|1994}}}}

Another great admirer of ''Piano and String Quartet'', the minimalist composer [[Steve Reich]], encountered the piece years after its premiere. Reich regarded Feldman as an early influence and a friend, but they had lost touch in the 1980s: "when Feldman started writing longer pieces," he later wrote, "I foolishly didn't take the time to listen to them and Feldman drifted out of my musical consciousness." After Feldman died, Reich belatedly sought out his final works and was astonished by their sophistication. According to Reich, ''Piano and String Quartet'' "is the most beautiful work of his that I know{{nbsp}}... I wanted to call him, to tell him, that I had missed the boat with his late pieces, to ask how he made them—but was no longer possible."{{sfn|Reich|2002|p=202}}


==Music==
==Music==
''Piano and String Quartet'' is a [[chamber music]] composition scored for piano, two violins, viola, and cello, following the standard instrumentation used in most [[piano quintet]]s since the early 19th century. Feldman's piece is regarded among the most innovative piano quintets of late 20th century, alongside quintets by [[George Rochberg|Rochberg]] and [[Alfred Schnittke|Schnittke]].{{sfn|Fenton|2001}}
In Feldman's late period, from 1977 until his death, the central concern of his compositions turned from [[timbre]]—i.e., the textural quality of sound—to [[Time perception|perception of time]].{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=146}} ''Piano and String Quartet'' typifies the composer's late-period preoccupation with time and [[memory]].{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=146}} The most salient qualities of its [[Musical form|formal structure]] are extremes of [[Duration (music)|duration]] and [[Repetition (music)|repetition]]. A typical performance takes approximately 80 minutes, much longer than his early works or most music written by his peers in the avant-garde. However, it is only mid-length by the standard of his late works.


Feldman composed the piece during what is now considered to be his late period, spanning 1977 until his death in 1987. In his late-period compositions, Feldman's central concern turned from [[timbre]]—i.e., the textural quality of sound—to [[Time perception|perception of time]]. ''Piano and String Quartet'' typifies the composer's late-period preoccupation with time and [[memory]].{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=146}} The most salient qualities of ''Piano and String Quartet'' are extremes of [[Duration (music)|duration]] and [[Repetition (music)|repetition]]. The score contains 810 [[bar (music)|bars]].{{sfn|Sani|2000|loc="B) Chordal Patterns"|ps={{nbsp}}("With the piece ending at b. 810{{nbsp}}...").}} A typical performance takes approximately 80–90 minutes, much longer than most music written by his peers in the avant-garde or even his own early works. However, it is only moderate length by the standard of his late works.{{sfn|Clements|2012}} Most of his later works last one to two hours, with a handful that endure for three hours or longer.{{sfn|Paccione|2010|p=136}}{{sfn|Pluhar-Schaeffer|2014|pp=41–42}} An uninterrupted performance of his longest work—''String Quartet II'' (1983), also composed for the Kronos Quartet—typically lasts six hours; its exceptionally long runtime influenced Feldman to write ''Piano and String Quartet'' as a much shorter piece for the quartet.{{efn|1=The Kronos Quartet had to rush through the broadcast premiere of ''String Quartet II'' to meet a four-hour time limit imposed by [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC/Radio-Canada]]. First violinist David Harrington observed during the applause that Feldman, who he noted "was not shy", stayed in his seat rather than standing. Afterward, the composer explained "I had to take a pee so bad that I was afraid to stand." Harrington replied "Maybe your next piece for us should be shorter." That next piece was ''Piano and String Quartet'', which Harrington regarded as "[[wikt:svelte#English|svelte]]" next to ''String Quartet II''.{{sfn|Harrington|2009|p=97}}}}
For the entirety of the piece, the musicians follow a simple alternating pattern: the [[string quartet]] plays a sustained [[Chord (music)|chord]], then the pianist plays an [[arpeggio|arpeggiated]] or "broken" chord.<ref>{{harvnb|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}; {{harvnb|Tuttle|2002|p=315}}.</ref> The string instruments occasionally play the same pitch, creating a [[unison]] rather than a chord.{{sfn|Swed|1993}} The [[sustain pedal]] of the piano remains pressed down for the entire performance, which indefinitely lengthens the notes and causes [[String resonance|sympathetic resonance among the strings]].<ref>{{harvnb|Swed|1993}}; {{harvnb|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}.</ref> The harmonic content of the chords shifts throughout, but without a traditional sense of [[musical development]]. According to the [[Rough Guides|Rough Guide]] to classical music, at first the piece "seems to have no beginning or end, no intention or direction"; however, the listener's attention is gradually enhanced and subtle changes in tone become magnified as it progresses, until even the subtlest differences take on the capacity to impart "a resonance and an intensity that is startling."{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}

As its title suggests, the piece sets the piano and string quartet apart as two distinct, almost detached entities.{{sfn|Keillor}}{{sfn|Anon.|2011}} For the entirety of the piece, the musicians follow a simple pattern: the [[string quartet]] plays a sustained [[Chord (music)|chord]], and the pianist plays an [[arpeggio|arpeggiated]] or "broken" chord.{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}{{sfn|Tuttle|2002|p=315}} The string instruments occasionally play the same pitch, creating a [[unison]] rather than a chord.{{sfn|Swed|1993}}{{sfn|Clark|2001|p=45}} After about 50 minutes, the string instruments sometimes play [[pizzicato]], plucking rather than [[Bow stroke|bowing]].{{sfn|Clark|2001|p=45}} The [[sustain pedal]] of the piano remains pressed down for the entire performance, which indefinitely lengthens the notes and causes [[sympathetic resonance]] among the strings.{{sfn|Swed|1993}}{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}

The harmonic content shifts throughout, but without a traditional sense of [[development (music)|musical development]]. Its stillness has drawn comparisons to [[ambient music]].{{sfn|Sanderson}}{{sfn|Kuhn|1985|p=438}} But contrary to its apparent lack of direction, its structure is highly complex. According to the [[Rough Guides|Rough Guide]] to classical music, the piece initially "seems to have no beginning or end, no intention or direction"; however, the listener's attention is gradually enhanced and subtle changes in tone become magnified as it progresses, until even the subtlest differences take on the capacity to impart "a resonance and an intensity that is startling."{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}} Upon reading the score, Steve Reich found that many of its "quiet mysterious chords" were in fact "[[Inversion (music)|inversions]] of themselves", and that {{nowrap|"[r]epetitions}} of material were never exact repetitions".{{sfn|Reich|2002|p=202}} A cello [[motif (music)|motif]] recurs throughout, albeit in [[Transposition (music)|transposed]] variations.{{sfn|Sani|2000|loc=A) Melodic Patterns}}{{sfn|Clark|2001|p=45}}


==Recordings==
==Recordings==
As of December 2021, six recordings of Feldman's ''Piano and String Quartet'' have been commercially released.{{sfn|Villars|2021|p=42}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Year
! colspan="2"| Performers
! colspan="2"| Performers
! rowspan="2"| Label
! rowspan="2"| Duration
! colspan="3"| Recording information
! rowspan="2"| Producer(s)
! rowspan="2"| Label&nbsp;/<br />{{small|({{Abbr|cat. no.|catalog number}})}}
|-
|-
! Quartet
! Quartet
! Pianist
! Pianist
! Recorded
! Studio
! Nation
|-
|-
! 1993
! 1993
| [[Kronos Quartet]]
| [[Kronos Quartet]]
| {{sortname|Aki|Takahashi}}
| [[Aki Takahashi]]
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=19|s=33}}
| [[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]]
| align="right"| {{dts|1991-11}}
| [[Skywalker Ranch]]<br/>{{small|([[Nicasio, California]])}}
| align="center"| US
| [[Judith Sherman]]
| [[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]]<br/>{{small|7559-79320-2}}
|-
|-
! 2001
! 2001
| [[Ives Ensemble]]
| {{ill|Ives Ensemble|nl}}
| John Snijders{{efn|1=Unlike most recordings of ''Piano and String Quartet''—performed by a pianist and a string quartet, who are credited separately—the Ives Ensemble is a complete quintet with Snijders as a member. For this reason their recording is credited only to the Ives Ensemble, not to the ensemble 'and' or 'with' Snijders.}}
| {{sortname|John|Snijders}} {{small|(also a member of the Ives Ensemble)}}
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=13|s=51}}
| [[Hat Hut Records|Hat Hut]]
| align="right"| October 1–2, 1998
| [[HR Sendesaal|Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks]]<br/>{{small|(Frankfurt)}}
| align="center"| Germany
| Michael Peschko
| [[Hat Hut Records|Hat Hut]]<br/>{{small|hat[now]ART{{nbsp}}128}}
|-
|-
! 2011
! 2009
| [[Eclipse Quartet]]
| [[Smith Quartet]]
| [[John Tilbury]]
| {{sortname|Vicki|Ray}}
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=29|s=30}}
| [[Bridge Records|Bridge]]
| align="right"| {{dts|2006-11-26}}
| St. Paul's Hall<br/>{{small|([[Huddersfield]], England)}}
| align="center"| United Kingdom
| Sebastian Lexer
| Matchless<br/>{{small|MRDVD-01}}
|-
! 2011
| Eclipse Quartet
| Vicki Ray
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=19|s=10}}
| align="right"| {{dts|2011-02-08}}
| Firehouse Recording Studios<br/>{{small|([[Pasadena, California]])}}
| align="center"| US
| Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick<br/>[[Jeff Gauthier]]
| [[Bridge Records|Bridge]]<br/>{{small|9369}}
|-
! 2014
| Opus Posth Ensemble
| Mikhail Dubov
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=11|s=56}}
| align="right"| {{dts|2009}}
| Rachmaninoff Hall, [[Moscow Conservatory]]<br/>{{small|(Moscow)}}
| align="center"| Russia
| Lyudmila Dmitrieva
| Long Arms<br/>{{small|CDLA{{nbsp}}14096}}
|-
! 2021
| Apartment House
| Mark Knoop{{efn|1=Knoop is a member of Apartment House; he is not credited as a separate artist on the recording.}}
| align="right"| {{duration|h=1|m=19|s=50}}
| align="right"| {{dts|2021-03}}
| [[Henry Wood Hall, London|Henry Wood Hall]]<br/>{{small|(London)}}
| align="center"| United Kingdom
| Simon Reynell
| [[Another Timbre]]<br/>{{small|at182}}
|-
! colspan="4" style="text-align:right"| Average: {{nobold|{{duration|h=1|m=18|s=59}}}}
! colspan="5" |
|}
|}


===Kronos Quartet and Takahashi (1993)===
===Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi (1993)===
{{multiple image
The Kronos Quartet and Takahashi recorded the piece in November 1991 at [[Skywalker Sound]] in Nicasio, California. It was released by [[Nonesuch Records]], then a subsidiary of [[Elektra Records]].{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}} The Kronos Quartet had been signed to the label since 1985.{{sfn|Blumenthal|1998|p=196}}
| align = right
| total_width = 420
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Kronos Quartet (1987 publicity photo).jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = {{resize|The [[Kronos Quartet]] {{circa}}{{nbsp}}1987}}
| image2 = Skywalker Ranch Main House.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = {{resize|[[Skywalker Ranch]], 2009}}
| footer = }}


The Kronos Quartet and Takahashi recorded the piece in November 1991 at [[Skywalker Ranch]] in Nicasio, California, with production by [[Judith Sherman]]. By that time, the Kronos Quartet and Sherman had become frequent collaborators.{{sfn|Blumenthal|1998|p=196}} She had produced some of the quartet's most acclaimed albums, including their [[Black Angels (album)|1990 studio recording]] of [[George Crumb]]'s ''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]''. Sherman called the Skywalker facilities "the most perfect recording room", noting that the [[reverberation]] was distributed remarkably evenly across the [[frequency band]].{{sfn|Bambarger|1995|p=100}}
====Critical reception====
{{album ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1Score = No rating{{sfn|Swan|n.d.}}
|rev2 = ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]''
|rev2Score = 10/10{{sfn|Ross|1995|p=217}}
}}


The album was released on September 28, 1993, through [[Nonesuch Records]], a subsidiary of [[Elektra Records|Elektra]] that had been the quartet's record label since 1985.{{sfn|Staines|Buckley|1998|p=147}}{{sfn|Blumenthal|1998|p=196}} It was positively received by critics. John von Rhein of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' praised the performers' "miraculous control, dedication and concentration". Although he cautioned that less-adventurous listeners may find the recording to be "the aural equivalent of [[Chinese water torture]], made all the more excruciating by its quiet dynamics and lack of rhythmic, melodic or harmonic gesture", he noted that {{nowrap|"[o]thers}} will find Feldman's tranquil, self-contained sounds a balm for ears and spirit long since turned off by the busy density that characterizes so much new music."{{sfn|von Rhein|1993}} Art Lange called it {{nowrap|"[m]usic}} unlike any other" in a review for the classical music magazine ''[[Fanfare (magazine)|Fanfare]]'', though he hedged that those already "familiar with Feldman's idiom" would likely consider the newly recorded piece "different enough, without making any major breakthroughs".{{sfn|Lange|1994|p=184}} ''[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]''{{'}}s Andy Hamilton wrote "I'm not sure I fully understand what it's about, but this composer is certainly a deep cat."{{sfn|Hamilton|1993–1994|p=81}}
Glenn Swan of [[AllMusic]] called the recording {{nowrap|"[b]reathtaking"}} and wrote that the musicians "conjure up the ghost of Feldman to wander the streets of New York as if they were abandoned. This single piece, over 79 minutes in length, is like an icy flower that blooms almost undetected."{{sfn|Swan|n.d.}} Reviewing selected recordings by the Kronos Quartet for the 1995 ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]'', critic [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]] gave the record a perfect score and rated it higher than any other recording by the quartet.{{sfn|Ross|1995|p=217}} In the 2002 book ''Classical Music: The Listener's Companion'', Raymond S. Tuttle recommended it as an "excellent" and comparatively accessible entry point for a listener new to Feldman's music: "Once you surrender traditional expectations about what music is supposed to do, you're overwhelmed by its ethereal beauty".{{sfn|Tuttle|2002|p=315}}


Glenn Swan of [[AllMusic]] called the recording {{nowrap|"[b]reathtaking"}} and wrote that the musicians "conjure up the ghost of Feldman to wander the streets of New York as if they were abandoned. This single piece, over 79 minutes in length, is like an icy flower that blooms almost undetected."{{sfn|Swan|n.d.}} Reviewing the Kronos Quartet for the 1995 ''[[Spin Alternative Record Guide]]'', critic [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]] gave the record a perfect score—the highest rating for the quartet's discography—and called it "the group's major achievement so far".{{sfn|Ross|1995|pp=217–218}} In the 2002 book ''Classical Music: The Listener's Companion'', Raymond S. Tuttle recommended it as an "excellent" and comparatively accessible entry point for a listener new to Feldman's music: "Once you surrender traditional expectations about what music is supposed to do, you're overwhelmed by its ethereal beauty".{{sfn|Tuttle|2002|p=315}} In an article recommending the best music for each hour of the day, rock musician [[Elvis Costello]] cited it as the best record to listen to at 4{{nbsp}}a.m., writing "Feldman's almost seamless fabric of music{{nbsp}}... is both hypnotic and transporting".{{sfn|Costello|2003|pp=287–288}} When Takahashi returned to Los Angeles in 2006 for her first concert there since the 1985 premiere of ''Piano and String Quartet'', [[Mark Swed]] said her recording with the Kronos Quartet was "now a classic in the modern chamber repertory".{{sfn|Swed|2006}}
====Track listing====
{{tracklist
| all_music = [[Morton Feldman]]
| title1 = Piano and String Quartet
| length1 = 79:33
}}


Sherman received the [[Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical]] at the [[36th Annual Grammy Awards]] in March 1994. The studio version of ''Piano and String Quartet'' with Takahashi appeared on the third disc of the 1998 compilation ''Kronos Quartet: 25 Years'', a ten-CD box set.{{sfn|Taylor|1999}}
====Personnel====
*David Harrington – [[violin]]
*John Sherba – violin
*Hank Dutt – [[viola]]
*[[Joan Jeanrenaud]] – [[cello]]
*[[Aki Takahashi]] – piano


===Subsequent recordings===
==See also==
====Ives Ensemble (2001)====
* [[Kronos Quartet discography]]
{{multiple image
| align = right
| total_width = 400
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Morton Feldman Piano and String Quartet (2001 CD cover) - Ives Ensemble.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = {{resize|CD cover ([[Hat Hut Records|Hat Hut]])}}
| image2 = HR-Sendesaal.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = {{resize|[[HR Sendesaal]], 2011}}
| footer = }}

{{Expand section|date=October 2020}}

====Tilbury and the Smith Quartet (2009)====
{{multiple image
| align = right
| total_width = 380
| caption_align = center
| image1 = John Tilbury at piano, 2011.jpg
| alt1 =
| caption1 = {{resize|[[John Tilbury]], 2011}}
| image2 = St Paul's Church Concert Hall.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = {{resize|St. Paul's Hall, 1980}}
| footer = }}
[[John Tilbury]] and the [[Smith Quartet]] played the piece at the 2006 [[Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival]] on November 26.{{sfn|Gardner|2006|loc=fn.{{nbsp}}6}} Selected live recordings from those performances were released in three volumes by Matchless Recordings in [[DVD-Audio|audio-only DVD]] format, which allowed for uninterrupted playback of the long recordings on a single disc.{{sfn|Clements|2010}} Just shy of 90 minutes, it is the longest recorded performance of the piece.{{sfn|Villars|2021|p=42}} The Smith Quartet played without [[vibrato]] and loosened their [[Bow (music)|bows]] to enable longer, softer tones.{{sfn|Clarke|2010|p=67}}{{sfn|Maddocks|2010}}

Colin Clarke of the journal ''[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]]'' praised "the utmost delicacy" of Tilbury's playing and compared the recording favorably to the original: "The sense of space, so evident in the Nonesuch version, is here even more entrenched—there is almost a feeling of risk in how long the gaps between statements of the prevailing arpeggio figure can last."{{sfn|Clarke|2010|p=67}} Critics named it among the 10 best "Modern Composition" releases of 2010 in ''The Wire''{{'}}s year-in-review [[Rewind (The Wire)|''Rewind'']] issue.{{sfn|Clark|Hamilton|2011|p=48}}

====Vicki Ray and the Eclipse Quartet (2011)====
{{Expand section|date=October 2020}}

====Opus Posth Ensemble and Mikhail Dubov (2014)====
The CD was released by Long Arms Records, a label co-founded by the composer [[Sergey Kuryokhin]]. Opus Posth performed the piece once more for a CD release concert at the [[Moscow International House of Music]] on January 31, 2015.{{sfn|Anon.|2015}}

==== Mark Knoop and Apartment House (2021)====
{{Expand section|date=September 2023}}

==Notes==
{{notelist|45em}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist|20em}}


==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
*{{cite news |author=Anon. |date=November 26, 2011 |title=''Piano and String Quartet''|language=es |newspaper=[[La Nación]] |location=Buenos Aires |id={{ProQuest|734005592}} |quote=Lo primero que llama la atención es el nombre; más que un quinteto con piano, ''Piano and String Quartet'' es realmente un piano y un cuarteto de cuerdas enfrentados como dos instancias independientes|trans-quote=The first thing that stands out is the name; more than a piano quintet, ''Piano and String Quartet'' is really a piano and a string quartet facing each other as two independent instances.}}
:{{cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Howard J. |author-link=Howard Blumenthal |year=1998 |chapter=Kronos Quartet |pages=196–197 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalcdliste0000blum/page/196/mode/2up |title=The Classical CD Listener's Guide |publisher=[[Billboard Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8230-7676-8 |via=the [[Internet Archive]] |ref=harv}}
*{{cite news |author=Anon. |date=January 28, 2015 |title=Concerts |newspaper=[[The Moscow Times]] |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2015/01/28/concerts-43274-a43274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930222851/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2015/01/28/concerts-43274-a43274 |archive-date=September 30, 2020}}
:{{cite magazine |last=Clark |first=Philip |date=August 2001 |title=The Primer: Morton Feldman |pages=40–47 |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=210 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35733/spread/40 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]] {{subscription required}} |ref=harv}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Bambarger |first=Bradley |date=May 13, 1995 |title=Judith Sherman: Kronos' Sonic Guide |page=100 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |volume=107 |number=9 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_vAsEAAAAMBAJ/page/n95/mode/1up |via=the [[Internet Archive]] }}
:{{cite news |last=Ross |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Ross (music critic) |date=November 5, 1993 |title=Critic's Notebook; Of Mystics, Minimalists and Musical Miasmas |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/05/arts/critic-s-notebook-of-mystics-minimalists-and-musical-miasmas.html |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109223244/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/05/arts/critic-s-notebook-of-mystics-minimalists-and-musical-miasmas.html |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |url-status=live |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=Blumenthal |first=Howard J. |author-link=Howard Blumenthal |year=1998 |chapter=Kronos Quartet |pages=196–197 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalcdliste0000blum/page/196/mode/2up |title=The Classical CD Listener's Guide |publisher=[[Billboard Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-8230-7676-8 |via=the [[Internet Archive]] }}
:{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Alex |author-mask=3 |date=June 12, 2006 |title=American Sublime |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] |location=New York |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/19/american-sublime |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828044923/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/19/american-sublime |archive-date=August 28, 2020 |url-status=live |ref=harv}}
*{{cite news |last=Cariaga |first=Daniel |date=November 4, 1985 |title=New Music American '85: Feldman Quintet, Other Works Premiere at Fest |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60424393/new-music-american-85-feldman/# |pages=1–[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60424450/new-music-american-85-feldman/ 2] |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |department=Part VI: Calendar |via=[[Newspapers.com]] }}
:{{cite book |last=Ross |first=Alex |author-mask=3 |chapter=Kronos Quartet |pages=217–218 |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |year=1995 |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-679-75574-8 |ref=harv}}
:{{cite book |last=Slonimsky |first=Nicolas |author-link=Nicolas Slonimsky |year=1994 |title=Music Since 1900 |edition=5th |publisher=[[Schirmer Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-02-872418-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon |url-access=registration |via=the [[Internet Archive]] {{registration required}} |ref=harv}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Clark |first=Philip |date=August 2001 |title=The Primer: Morton Feldman |pages=40–47 |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=210 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35733/spread/40 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]]}}
*{{cite magazine |last1=Clark |first1=Philip|last2=Hamilton |first2=Andy |date=January 2011 |title=Genre Charts A–Z: Modern Composition |page=48 |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=323 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/8039/page/48 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]]}}
:{{cite book |editor1-last=Staines |editor1-first=Joe |editor2-last=Buckley |editor2-first=Jonathan |year=1998 |chapter=Morton Feldman |pages=146–147 |title=Classical Music: The Rough Guide |edition=2nd |series=[[Rough Guides]] |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |location=London |isbn=1-85828-257-8 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalmusicro00buck/page/146/mode/2up |via=the [[Internet Archive]] |ref=harv}}
*{{cite journal |last=Clarke |first=Colin |date=July 2010 |title=Feldman: Music for Piano and Strings, Volume 1: ''For John Cage''; ''Piano and String Quartet''|page=67 |journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]] |volume=64 |number=253 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |jstor=40795158 }}
:{{cite web |last=Swan |first=Glenn |date=n.d. |title=''Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet'' – Kronos Quartet / Aki Takahashi |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet-mw0000634216 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200828044923/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/19/american-sublime |archive-date=August 28, 2020 |url-status=live |ref=harv}}
:{{cite AV media notes |last=Swed |first=Mark |date=September 28, 1993 |title=Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet |type=liner notes |url=https://ia800101.us.archive.org/33/items/cd_morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet_kronos-quartet-with-aki-takahashi/cd_morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet_kronos-quartet-with-aki-takahashi.pdf |publisher=[[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]] |id=79320-2 |location=New York |via=the [[Internet Archive]] |ref=harv}}
*{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew|date=February 18, 2010 |title=Feldman/Tilbury/Smith Quartet: ''For John Cage''; ''Piano and String Quartet'' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/feb/18/morton-feldman-smith-quartet |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170624140725/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/feb/18/morton-feldman-smith-quartet |archive-date=June 24, 2017}}
*{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew|date=January 12, 2012 |title=Feldman: ''Piano and String Quartet'' – review – Ray/Eclipse Quartet (Bridge) |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jan/12/feldman-piano-and-string-quartet-review |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930180336/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jan/12/feldman-piano-and-string-quartet-review |archive-date=September 30, 2020}}
:{{cite book |last=Tuttle |first=Raymond S. |year=2002 |chapter=Morton Feldman |pages=315–316 |editor-last=Morin |editor-first=Alexander J. |title=Classical Music: The Listener's Companion |publisher=[[Backbeat Books]] |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-87930-638-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalmusicli00mori/page/315/mode/1up |via=the [[Internet Archive]] |ref=harv}}
*{{cite book |last=Costello |first=Elvis |author-link=Elvis Costello |year=2003 |chapter=Rocking Around the Clock |pages=277–288 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/dacapobestmusicw00groe/page/276/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |editor1-last=Groening |editor1-first=Matt |editor1-link=Matt Groening |editor2-last=Bresnick |editor2-first=Paul |title=Da Capo Best Music Writing 2003: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country, & More |publisher=[[Da Capo Press]] |location=[[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] |isbn=0-306-81236-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/dacapobestmusicw00groe |url-access=registration |via=the [[Internet Archive]] {{registration required}} }}
{{refend}}
*{{cite Grove|last=Fenton |first=David |date=January 20, 2001 |title=Piano quintet|id=21644}}
*{{cite web |last=Gardner |first=James |author-link=James Gardner (musician) |date=November 30, 2006 |title=Interview with John Tilbury |website=cnvill.net |url=https://www.cnvill.net/mfgardner.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227183543/https://www.cnvill.net/mfgardner.htm |archive-date=December 27, 2019 }}
*{{cite magazine|last=Hamilton|first=Andy|date=December 1993 – January 1994|title=Kronos Quartet ''At the Grave of Richard Wagner'' Elektra Nonesuch 7559-79318 CD / Kronos Quartet ''Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet'' Elektra Nonesuch 7559-79320 CD / Silvestre Revueltas ''The String Quartets'' New Albion NA062 CD|magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]]|issue=118–119|location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35271/spread/81 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]]}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Harrington |first=David |date=October 2009 |title=Personal Bests: Morton Feldman – ''String Quartet II'' (1983) |page=97 |magazine=Chamber Music |volume=26 |number=5 |publisher=[[Chamber Music America]] |location=New York |url=https://www.chamber-music.org/pdf/Personal_Bests.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003232059/https://www.chamber-music.org/pdf/Personal_Bests.pdf |archive-date=October 3, 2020 }}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Keillor}}|reference={{AllMusic|class=composition|last=Keillor|first=John|title=Morton Feldman – ''Piano and String Quartet''|id=mc0002406165}}}} ("The opportunity to hear these different musical bodies luxuriating as separate bodies in a common soundscape is a uniquely revealing method for Feldman{{nbsp}}...")
*{{cite journal |last=Kuhn |first=Laura |date=Autumn–Winter 1985 |title=And the Winner Is... New Music America '85, Los Angeles, October 31 – November 11, 1985|type=review of the premiere|pages=434–439 |journal=[[Perspectives of New Music]] |volume=24 |number=1 |doi=10.2307/832796 |jstor=832796 }}
*{{cite magazine |last=Lange |first=Art |date=March–April 1994 |title=Feldman: ''Piano and String Quartet''. Aki Takahashi, piano; Kronos Quartet. Elektra/Nonesuch 9{{nbsp}}79320-2 [DDD?]; 79:40. Produced by Judith Sherman and Kronos Quartet. |page=184 |magazine=[[Fanfare (magazine)|Fanfare]] |volume=17 |issue=4 }}
*{{cite news |last=Maddocks |first=Fiona |date=February 20, 2010 |title=Morton Feldman: ''Music for Piano and Strings Vol 1''{{nbsp}}/ Smith Quartet, John Tilbury (piano) (Matchless Recordings) |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/feb/21/smith-quartet-tilbury-morton-feldman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311131005/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/feb/21/smith-quartet-tilbury-morton-feldman |archive-date=March 11, 2017 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Paccione |first=Paul |date=Spring 2010 |title=Morton Feldman. ''For Christian Wolff''. California E.A.R. Unit. Dorothy Stone, flute. Vicki Ray, piano/celesta. 2008. Liner notes by Alan Rich and Rand Steiger. Bridge 7279 A/C. |pages=136–139 |journal=[[American Music (journal)|American Music]] |volume=28 |number=1 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |location=[[Champaign, Illinois|Champaign]] |doi=10.5406/americanmusic.28.1.0136 |id={{Gale|A400786193}} }}
*{{cite thesis |last=Pluhar-Schaeffer |first=Garrett |date=April 19, 2014 |title=Forgetting Music: Duration, Space, and Remembrance in the Late Music of Morton Feldman |publisher=[[Lake Forest College]] |location=[[Lake Forest, Illinois]] |url=https://publications.lakeforest.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=seniortheses |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102230025/https://publications.lakeforest.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1007&context=seniortheses |archive-date=November 2, 2018 }}
*{{cite book |last=Reich |first=Steve |author-link=Steve Reich |year=2002 |chapter=Feldman (1997) |page=202 |title=Writings on Music, 1965–2000 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |isbn=0-19-511171-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e03al4R3s04C&pg=PA202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e03al4R3s04C |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=October 3, 2020 }}
*{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|date=June 12, 2006 |title=American Sublime |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] |location=New York |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/19/american-sublime |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126072659/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/06/19/american-sublime |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |url-status=live }}
*{{cite book |last=Ross|first=Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|chapter=Kronos Quartet |pages=217–218 |editor1-last=Weisbard |editor1-first=Eric |editor1-link=Eric Weisbard |editor2-last=Marks |editor2-first=Craig |year=1995 |title=Spin Alternative Record Guide |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-679-75574-8 }}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Sanderson}}|reference={{AllMusic|last=Sanderson|first=Blair|title=''Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet'' – Eclipse Quartet, Vicki Ray, Nonesuch|class=album|id=mw0002275076}}}}
*{{cite web |last=Sani |first=Frank |date=2000 |title=Why patterns? An analysis of Morton Feldman's 'Piano and string quartet' |website=cnvill.net |url=https://www.cnvill.net/mfsani2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227194112/https://www.cnvill.net/mfsani2.htm |archive-date=December 27, 2019 }}
*{{cite news |last=Simons |first=Ted |date=March 16, 1994 |title=And Now for Something Completely Different: The Kronos Quartet Breathes the Kiss of Life into Classical Music |newspaper=[[Phoenix New Times]] |url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/and-now-for-something-completely-differentthe-kronos-quartet-breathes-the-kiss-of-life-into-classical-music-6425496 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004023547/https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/and-now-for-something-completely-differentthe-kronos-quartet-breathes-the-kiss-of-life-into-classical-music-6425496 |archive-date=October 4, 2020 }}
*{{cite book |last=Slonimsky |first=Nicolas |author-link=Nicolas Slonimsky |year=1994 |title=Music Since 1900 |edition=5th |publisher=[[Schirmer Books]] |location=New York |isbn=0-02-872418-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/musicsince190000slon |url-access=registration |via=the [[Internet Archive]] {{registration required}} }}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Staines |editor1-first=Joe |editor2-last=Buckley |editor2-first=Jonathan |year=1998 |chapter=Morton Feldman |pages=146–147 |title=Classical Music: The Rough Guide |edition=2nd |series=[[Rough Guides]] |publisher=[[Penguin Group]] |location=London |isbn=1-85828-257-8 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalmusicro00buck/page/146/mode/2up |via=the [[Internet Archive]] }}
*{{cite web |last=Swan |first=Glenn |date=n.d. |title=''Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet'' – Kronos Quartet / Aki Takahashi |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet-mw0000634216 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825234142/http://www.allmusic.com/album/morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet-mw0000634216 |archive-date=August 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}
*{{cite AV media notes |last=Swed |first=Mark|author-link=Mark Swed|date=September 28, 1993 |title=Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet |type=liner notes |url=https://archive.org/details/cd_morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quartet_kronos-quartet-with-aki-takahashi |publisher=[[Nonesuch Records|Nonesuch]] |id=79320-2 |location=New York |via=the [[Internet Archive]] }}
*{{cite news |last=Swed |first=Mark|author-link=Mark Swed|date=November 14, 2006 |title=Covering Feldman, Garland and the Beatles |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-nov-14-et-takahashi14-story.html |url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Hollis |date=February–March 1999 |title=A Kronos Quartet Retrospective |journal=Strings |volume=13 |issue=6 |publisher=Stringletter Media |location=Richmond, California |url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-38203511/a-kronos-quartet-retrospective |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003011801/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-38203511/a-kronos-quartet-retrospective |archive-date=October 3, 2020 |url-access= |access-date=October 2, 2020 |via= }}{{dl|date=July 2021}}
*{{cite book |last=Tuttle |first=Raymond S. |year=2002 |chapter=Morton Feldman |pages=315–316 |editor-last=Morin |editor-first=Alexander J. |title=Classical Music: The Listener's Companion |publisher=[[Backbeat Books]] |location=San Francisco |isbn=0-87930-638-6 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/classicalmusicli00mori/page/315/mode/1up |via=the [[Internet Archive]] }}
*{{cite web |editor-last=Villars |editor-first=Chris |date=August 27, 2019 |title=Morton Feldman Works |website=cnvill.net |url=https://www.cnvill.net/mfworks.pdf |access-date=September 30, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227144756/https://www.cnvill.net/mfworks.pdf |archive-date=December 27, 2019 }}
*{{cite web |editor-last=Villars |editor-first=Villars|date=December 13, 2021 |title=Morton Feldman Recordings on CD |website=cnvill.net |url=https://www.cnvill.net/mfrecs.pdf |access-date=January 28, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129032148/https://www.cnvill.net/mfrecs.pdf |archive-date=January 29, 2022}}
*{{cite news |last=von Rhein |first=John |date=November 14, 1993 |title=Morton Feldman: ''Piano and String Quartet'' Aki Takahashi, piano; Kronos String Quartet (Elektra Nonesuch). |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-11-14-9311140160-story.html|url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201002074628/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-11-14-9311140160-story.html |archive-date=October 2, 2020 }}
{{div col end}}

==Further reading==
{{div col|colwidth=45em}}
*{{cite news |last=Baker |first=D. T. |date=October 16, 1993 |title=This version of Barber earns its stars |page=D6 |newspaper=[[Edmonton Journal]] |department=D: Entertainment |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60431394/this-version-of-barber-earns-its/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]]|ref=none}}
*{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=February 4, 1994 |title=Classical CDs |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60432490/classical-cds-by-andrew-clements-p/ |pages=10–[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60432495/classical-cds-by-andrew-clements-p/ 11] |via=[[Newspapers.com]]|ref=none}}
*{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew|date=November 22, 2006 |title=Smith Quartet/Tilbury – St Paul's Hall, Huddersfield |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/nov/22/1|ref=none}}
*{{cite web |last=Dahlen |first=Chris |date=January 17, 2002 |title=Morton Feldman / Ives Ensemble: ''String Quartet II'' Album Review |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3026-string-quartet-ii/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603155304/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3026-string-quartet-ii/ |archive-date=June 3, 2020|ref=none}}
*{{cite thesis |last=Gibson |first=John |date=November 2004 |title=Listening to Repetitive Music: Reich, Feldman, Andriessen, Autechre |type=PhD |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |url=https://johgibso.pages.iu.edu/files/gibson_listening.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002090714/https://johgibso.pages.iu.edu/files/gibson_listening.pdf |archive-date=October 2, 2020|ref=none}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Holtje |first=Steve |date=February 1999 |title=Kronos Quartet ''25 Years'' Nonesuch 7559795042 10×CD |page=52 |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=180 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35097/page/52 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]]|ref=none}}
*{{cite news |last=Kosman |first=Joshua|date=January 15, 2012 |title=CD review: Feldman, ''Piano and String Quartet''|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|url=https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/CD-review-Feldman-Piano-and-String-Quartet-2494324.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002041554/https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/CD-review-Feldman-Piano-and-String-Quartet-2494324.php |archive-date=October 2, 2020|ref=none}}
*{{cite speech |last=McCormack |first=Timothy |date=May 6, 2019 |title=Outside of time {{!}} inside the sound |event=PhD dissertation colloquium |location=Davison Room of the Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building at [[Harvard University]] |publisher=timothy-mccormack.com |url=https://www.timothy-mccormack.com/dissertationcolloquium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004045934/https://www.timothy-mccormack.com/dissertationcolloquium |archive-date=October 4, 2020|ref=none}}
*{{cite news |last=Ross |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Ross (music critic) |date=November 5, 1993 |title=Critic's Notebook; Of Mystics, Minimalists and Musical Miasmas |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/05/arts/critic-s-notebook-of-mystics-minimalists-and-musical-miasmas.html |access-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109223244/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/05/arts/critic-s-notebook-of-mystics-minimalists-and-musical-miasmas.html |archive-date=November 9, 2012 |url-status=live|ref=none}}
*{{AllMusic|class=album||last=Warburton|first=Dan|date=n.d.|title=''Piano and String Quartet'' [HatArt] – Morton Feldman|id=mw0000982499}}
*{{cite magazine |last=Young |first=Rob |date=February 1995 |title=Meta Machine Music |page=22 |magazine=[[The Wire (magazine)|The Wire]] |issue=22–27 |location=London |url=https://reader.exacteditions.com/issues/35751/spread/22 |url-access=subscription |via=[[Exact Editions]]|ref=none}}
{{div col end}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [https://www.universaledition.com/piano-and-string-quartet-for-piano-and-string-quartet-feldman-morton-ue17972 ''Piano and String Quartet'' sheet music] from [[Universal Edition]]
* [https://www.universaledition.com/piano-and-string-quartet-for-piano-and-string-quartet-feldman-morton-ue17972 ''Piano and String Quartet'' sheet music] from [[Universal Edition]]
* [https://kronosquartet.org/recordings/detail/morton-feldman-piano-and-string-quarte/ ''Piano and String Quartet''] at KronosQuartet.org
* {{IRCAM work|id=8527|title=Morton Feldman: ''Piano and String Quartet'' (1985)}}

{{Morton Feldman}}
{{Kronos Quartet}}
{{portal bar|Classical music}}
{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1985 compositions]]
[[Category:1985 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions for piano quintet]]
[[Category:Compositions by Morton Feldman]]
[[Category:New Music America]]
[[Category:Compositions for piano quintet|Feldman]]
[[Category:Music dedicated to ensembles or performers]]
[[Category:Minimalistic compositions]]
[[Category:Minimalistic compositions]]
[[Category:Minimal music albums]]
[[Category:Minimal music albums]]

Latest revision as of 15:52, 18 May 2024

Piano and String Quartet
Piano quintet by Morton Feldman
Plain white sheet music cover
Cover sheet of the published score
PeriodContemporary
GenreChamber music
StyleAvant-garde
OccasionNew Music America Festival
DedicationAki Takahashi and the Kronos Quartet
PublisherUniversal Edition (UE 17 972)
Duration1:20:00
Premiere
DateNovember 2, 1985 (1985-11-02)
LocationLeo S. Bing Theater, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Performers

Piano and String Quartet is a composition by American avant-garde composer Morton Feldman. It was commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and pianist Aki Takahashi, who premiered the piece at the 7th annual New Music America Festival in Los Angeles and released a studio recording in 1993.

Background

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Feldman in 1976

Feldman composed Piano and String Quartet in 1985 at the age of 59.[1] It was among his final major completed works.[2][a] He wrote the composition with the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi in mind as its performers.[4] It was commissioned for the seventh New Music America Festival in Los Angeles. He wrote out the score by hand, as he had done for most other compositions of that period.[5]

Piano and String Quartet premiered in 1985 with a performance by the Kronos Quartet at the New Music America festival, held at by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

On November 2, 1985, the Kronos Quartet and Takahashi premiered the piece at New Music America.[1] The performance took place at the Leo S. Bing Theater in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, beginning at 5 p.m. and lasting 68½ minutes. A recording of the premiere was broadcast at 8 p.m. on KUSC, the region's local classical music radio station.[6]

Less than two years after the premiere of Piano and String Quartet, Feldman died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.[7] Interest in the composer's music grew rapidly in the period after his death and his previously scarce discography was populated with numerous new recordings, mostly on independent labels.[7][8] In a 1994 interview, Harrington said the following about the Kronos Quartet's work with the composer:

Morton Feldman was unlike any other composer we've ever worked with. He wrote pieces that have a sense of time and a kind of realm that is very particular to his music. And I think Piano and String Quartet is one of his great, great pieces. It's almost like feeling these incredible, warm, slow, beautiful drops of water over a long period of time. Not like a water torture, but—for me—a kind of sensual experience. You begin hearing the passage of time differently after listening to Morton's music.[9]

Another great admirer of Piano and String Quartet, the minimalist composer Steve Reich, encountered the piece years after its premiere. Reich regarded Feldman as an early influence and a friend, but they had lost touch in the 1980s: "when Feldman started writing longer pieces," he later wrote, "I foolishly didn't take the time to listen to them and Feldman drifted out of my musical consciousness." After Feldman died, Reich belatedly sought out his final works and was astonished by their sophistication. According to Reich, Piano and String Quartet "is the most beautiful work of his that I know ... I wanted to call him, to tell him, that I had missed the boat with his late pieces, to ask how he made them—but was no longer possible."[10]

Music

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Piano and String Quartet is a chamber music composition scored for piano, two violins, viola, and cello, following the standard instrumentation used in most piano quintets since the early 19th century. Feldman's piece is regarded among the most innovative piano quintets of late 20th century, alongside quintets by Rochberg and Schnittke.[11]

Feldman composed the piece during what is now considered to be his late period, spanning 1977 until his death in 1987. In his late-period compositions, Feldman's central concern turned from timbre—i.e., the textural quality of sound—to perception of time. Piano and String Quartet typifies the composer's late-period preoccupation with time and memory.[12] The most salient qualities of Piano and String Quartet are extremes of duration and repetition. The score contains 810 bars.[13] A typical performance takes approximately 80–90 minutes, much longer than most music written by his peers in the avant-garde or even his own early works. However, it is only moderate length by the standard of his late works.[14] Most of his later works last one to two hours, with a handful that endure for three hours or longer.[15][16] An uninterrupted performance of his longest work—String Quartet II (1983), also composed for the Kronos Quartet—typically lasts six hours; its exceptionally long runtime influenced Feldman to write Piano and String Quartet as a much shorter piece for the quartet.[b]

As its title suggests, the piece sets the piano and string quartet apart as two distinct, almost detached entities.[18][19] For the entirety of the piece, the musicians follow a simple pattern: the string quartet plays a sustained chord, and the pianist plays an arpeggiated or "broken" chord.[4][8] The string instruments occasionally play the same pitch, creating a unison rather than a chord.[20][21] After about 50 minutes, the string instruments sometimes play pizzicato, plucking rather than bowing.[21] The sustain pedal of the piano remains pressed down for the entire performance, which indefinitely lengthens the notes and causes sympathetic resonance among the strings.[20][4]

The harmonic content shifts throughout, but without a traditional sense of musical development. Its stillness has drawn comparisons to ambient music.[22][23] But contrary to its apparent lack of direction, its structure is highly complex. According to the Rough Guide to classical music, the piece initially "seems to have no beginning or end, no intention or direction"; however, the listener's attention is gradually enhanced and subtle changes in tone become magnified as it progresses, until even the subtlest differences take on the capacity to impart "a resonance and an intensity that is startling."[4] Upon reading the score, Steve Reich found that many of its "quiet mysterious chords" were in fact "inversions of themselves", and that "[r]epetitions of material were never exact repetitions".[10] A cello motif recurs throughout, albeit in transposed variations.[24][21]

Recordings

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As of December 2021, six recordings of Feldman's Piano and String Quartet have been commercially released.[25]

Year Performers Duration Recording information Producer(s) Label /
(cat. no.)
Quartet Pianist Recorded Studio Nation
1993 Kronos Quartet Aki Takahashi 1:19:33 November 1991 Skywalker Ranch
(Nicasio, California)
US Judith Sherman Nonesuch
7559-79320-2
2001 Ives Ensemble [nl] John Snijders[c] 1:13:51 October 1–2, 1998 Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks
(Frankfurt)
Germany Michael Peschko Hat Hut
hat[now]ART 128
2009 Smith Quartet John Tilbury 1:29:30 November 26, 2006 St. Paul's Hall
(Huddersfield, England)
United Kingdom Sebastian Lexer Matchless
MRDVD-01
2011 Eclipse Quartet Vicki Ray 1:19:10 February 8, 2011 Firehouse Recording Studios
(Pasadena, California)
US Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick
Jeff Gauthier
Bridge
9369
2014 Opus Posth Ensemble Mikhail Dubov 1:11:56 2009 Rachmaninoff Hall, Moscow Conservatory
(Moscow)
Russia Lyudmila Dmitrieva Long Arms
CDLA 14096
2021 Apartment House Mark Knoop[d] 1:19:50 March 2021 Henry Wood Hall
(London)
United Kingdom Simon Reynell Another Timbre
at182
Average: 1:18:59

Kronos Quartet with Aki Takahashi (1993)

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The Kronos Quartet and Takahashi recorded the piece in November 1991 at Skywalker Ranch in Nicasio, California, with production by Judith Sherman. By that time, the Kronos Quartet and Sherman had become frequent collaborators.[26] She had produced some of the quartet's most acclaimed albums, including their 1990 studio recording of George Crumb's Black Angels. Sherman called the Skywalker facilities "the most perfect recording room", noting that the reverberation was distributed remarkably evenly across the frequency band.[27]

The album was released on September 28, 1993, through Nonesuch Records, a subsidiary of Elektra that had been the quartet's record label since 1985.[4][26] It was positively received by critics. John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune praised the performers' "miraculous control, dedication and concentration". Although he cautioned that less-adventurous listeners may find the recording to be "the aural equivalent of Chinese water torture, made all the more excruciating by its quiet dynamics and lack of rhythmic, melodic or harmonic gesture", he noted that "[o]thers will find Feldman's tranquil, self-contained sounds a balm for ears and spirit long since turned off by the busy density that characterizes so much new music."[28] Art Lange called it "[m]usic unlike any other" in a review for the classical music magazine Fanfare, though he hedged that those already "familiar with Feldman's idiom" would likely consider the newly recorded piece "different enough, without making any major breakthroughs".[29] The Wire's Andy Hamilton wrote "I'm not sure I fully understand what it's about, but this composer is certainly a deep cat."[30]

Glenn Swan of AllMusic called the recording "[b]reathtaking" and wrote that the musicians "conjure up the ghost of Feldman to wander the streets of New York as if they were abandoned. This single piece, over 79 minutes in length, is like an icy flower that blooms almost undetected."[31] Reviewing the Kronos Quartet for the 1995 Spin Alternative Record Guide, critic Alex Ross gave the record a perfect score—the highest rating for the quartet's discography—and called it "the group's major achievement so far".[32] In the 2002 book Classical Music: The Listener's Companion, Raymond S. Tuttle recommended it as an "excellent" and comparatively accessible entry point for a listener new to Feldman's music: "Once you surrender traditional expectations about what music is supposed to do, you're overwhelmed by its ethereal beauty".[8] In an article recommending the best music for each hour of the day, rock musician Elvis Costello cited it as the best record to listen to at 4 a.m., writing "Feldman's almost seamless fabric of music ... is both hypnotic and transporting".[33] When Takahashi returned to Los Angeles in 2006 for her first concert there since the 1985 premiere of Piano and String Quartet, Mark Swed said her recording with the Kronos Quartet was "now a classic in the modern chamber repertory".[34]

Sherman received the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards in March 1994. The studio version of Piano and String Quartet with Takahashi appeared on the third disc of the 1998 compilation Kronos Quartet: 25 Years, a ten-CD box set.[35]

Subsequent recordings

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Ives Ensemble (2001)

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CD cover (Hat Hut)

Tilbury and the Smith Quartet (2009)

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St. Paul's Hall, 1980

John Tilbury and the Smith Quartet played the piece at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival on November 26.[36] Selected live recordings from those performances were released in three volumes by Matchless Recordings in audio-only DVD format, which allowed for uninterrupted playback of the long recordings on a single disc.[37] Just shy of 90 minutes, it is the longest recorded performance of the piece.[25] The Smith Quartet played without vibrato and loosened their bows to enable longer, softer tones.[38][39]

Colin Clarke of the journal Tempo praised "the utmost delicacy" of Tilbury's playing and compared the recording favorably to the original: "The sense of space, so evident in the Nonesuch version, is here even more entrenched—there is almost a feeling of risk in how long the gaps between statements of the prevailing arpeggio figure can last."[38] Critics named it among the 10 best "Modern Composition" releases of 2010 in The Wire's year-in-review Rewind issue.[40]

Vicki Ray and the Eclipse Quartet (2011)

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Opus Posth Ensemble and Mikhail Dubov (2014)

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The CD was released by Long Arms Records, a label co-founded by the composer Sergey Kuryokhin. Opus Posth performed the piece once more for a CD release concert at the Moscow International House of Music on January 31, 2015.[41]

Mark Knoop and Apartment House (2021)

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Notes

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  1. ^ According to Chris Villars's catalog of the composer's known works—totaling 197 works in total, including unpublished pieces—Piano and String Quartet was Feldman's ninth-to-last composition.[3]
  2. ^ The Kronos Quartet had to rush through the broadcast premiere of String Quartet II to meet a four-hour time limit imposed by CBC/Radio-Canada. First violinist David Harrington observed during the applause that Feldman, who he noted "was not shy", stayed in his seat rather than standing. Afterward, the composer explained "I had to take a pee so bad that I was afraid to stand." Harrington replied "Maybe your next piece for us should be shorter." That next piece was Piano and String Quartet, which Harrington regarded as "svelte" next to String Quartet II.[17]
  3. ^ Unlike most recordings of Piano and String Quartet—performed by a pianist and a string quartet, who are credited separately—the Ives Ensemble is a complete quintet with Snijders as a member. For this reason their recording is credited only to the Ives Ensemble, not to the ensemble 'and' or 'with' Snijders.
  4. ^ Knoop is a member of Apartment House; he is not credited as a separate artist on the recording.

References

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  1. ^ a b Slonimsky 1994, p. 956.
  2. ^ Ross 2006.
  3. ^ Villars 2019, pp. 9–10.
  4. ^ a b c d e Staines & Buckley 1998, p. 147.
  5. ^ Pluhar-Schaeffer 2014, p. 22.
  6. ^ Cariaga 1985, p. 1.
  7. ^ a b Slonimsky 1994, p. 966.
  8. ^ a b c Tuttle 2002, p. 315.
  9. ^ Simons 1994.
  10. ^ a b Reich 2002, p. 202.
  11. ^ Fenton 2001.
  12. ^ Staines & Buckley 1998, p. 146.
  13. ^ Sani 2000, "B) Chordal Patterns" ("With the piece ending at b. 810 ...").
  14. ^ Clements 2012.
  15. ^ Paccione 2010, p. 136.
  16. ^ Pluhar-Schaeffer 2014, pp. 41–42.
  17. ^ Harrington 2009, p. 97.
  18. ^ Keillor.
  19. ^ Anon. 2011.
  20. ^ a b Swed 1993.
  21. ^ a b c Clark 2001, p. 45.
  22. ^ Sanderson.
  23. ^ Kuhn 1985, p. 438.
  24. ^ Sani 2000, A) Melodic Patterns.
  25. ^ a b Villars 2021, p. 42.
  26. ^ a b Blumenthal 1998, p. 196.
  27. ^ Bambarger 1995, p. 100.
  28. ^ von Rhein 1993.
  29. ^ Lange 1994, p. 184.
  30. ^ Hamilton 1993–1994, p. 81.
  31. ^ Swan n.d.
  32. ^ Ross 1995, pp. 217–218.
  33. ^ Costello 2003, pp. 287–288.
  34. ^ Swed 2006.
  35. ^ Taylor 1999.
  36. ^ Gardner 2006, fn. 6.
  37. ^ Clements 2010.
  38. ^ a b Clarke 2010, p. 67.
  39. ^ Maddocks 2010.
  40. ^ Clark & Hamilton 2011, p. 48.
  41. ^ Anon. 2015.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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