Morton Feldman - For Samuel Beckett

I have been listening to FOR SAMUEL BECKETT for several years now -- the first recording from 1991 by the Ensemble Modern on hatART, conducted by Arturo Tamayo. It remains one of my favorite Feldman works, even as I have gradually come to consider him one of the best late 20th century composers as I have heard more and more of his compositions. So I decided to check out this alternative version by the Klangforum Wien, which is 54 minutes long, as compared to the 43 minute Ensemble Modern version. Quite possibly in part because I heard it first and came to love it, I vastly prefer the faster interpretation, which I find to be light, crisp and sparkling (not aggressive and claustrophobic), while this Kairos recording sounds heavy, bloated and plodding by comparison. The sound quality of the hatART disc is far better too, much cleaner.

FOR SAMUEL BECKETT (1987) was Feldman's last composition, I believe, and it has more dynamism than some of his other late works, especially in the faster reading. For me, it evokes a sense of wonder. The rocking motion of the chords repeating, but slightly differently every time, is like a revolving prism with light refracting in unpredictable directions and colors. It could be that the slower version is truer to Samuel Beckett, but I actually get a kick out of Beckett -- his view is dark, but it's full of black humor.

So my recommendation is to check out the hatART recording, which has been reissued and is still available (try the Cadence Magazine site), and by all means read Beckett too -- WAITING FOR GODOT, of course, and also the tragicomic trilogy of novels, MOLLOY/MALONE DIES/THE UNNAMABLE -- some of the best music and some of the best writing of the 20th century.

See my MORTON FELDMAN: A LISTENER'S GUIDE list for more recordings and reviews.

So you want to know: Which version of Morton Feldman's "For Samuel Beckett" should I buy? Let me help you solve this common, vexing problem.

There are, as far as I know, five recordings of this work: by the Ensemble Modern on Hat Hut, by the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin on CPO, by the Klangforum Wien on Kairos, by the S.E.M. Ensemble on Dog With A Bone, and by a group conducted by Stephen Lucky Mosko on Newport. Let us set aside the last because you will never find it. Let us set aside, also, the penultimate recording, which is problematic because the conductor, Petr Kotik, decided that Feldman's original orchestration for string quintet ranged against fifteen winds and three percussion was imbalanced, so he beefed up the string section to full-size. Notwithstanding the fact that Feldman was once of the greatest orchestrators of all time and thus probably knew what he was doing, this version doesn't really represent the way the work should be heard, at least not initially, which is too bad, because it's paired with "The Turfan Fragments", one of Feldman's most unusual works, and my personal favorite in his large oeuvre. And then there were three.

The earliest recording is by the group for which it was written, the Ensemble Modern. Unusually for Hat Hut, the sound is sort of muzzy, and the individual instruments blend into an overall haze. Now, this is a hazy sort of work, to be sure, but at the same time it would be nice to have a little clarity so that each entrance in the constantly shifting web of sound can be differentiated; otherwise the intended effect of a single object slowly turning in the light is lost. The performance is good, if one-dimensional. This can be an extremely claustrophobic work, especially in live performance, and more shape would have been appreciated.

The most recent recording, by the Klangforum Wien on Kairos, has much to recommend it. This version inevitably makes the work seem more connected to the hardcore European modernist repertoire that is Kairos's speciality than the more laid-back New York School to which it historically belongs, but there's nothing wrong with that. In contrast to the Ensemble Modern's version, every instrumental punctum is sharp and hard, and the performance has an almost brittle clarity. Part of the reason for this is the slower tempo. Since the early 70s Feldman indicated the same tempo for all his works, quarter note = 63-66, although he said this was more of an upper-bound and the Klangforum take him at his word, producing a 55-minute album as compared to 44 minutes for both of the other versions under review. If you like this sort of thing - and if you're still reading this, I guess you are - more might seem better, but I get bored listening to this recording in spite of the excellent recording and precise, historically informed performance. I think the problem is that Feldman can also be too slow. The Flux Quartet's recording of the 2nd String Quartet has the same longeur for me; I find the Ives Ensemble's recording, which is nearly two hours shorter, far more bracing and fascinating, even at four-and-a-half hours.

You will by now have guessed I am therefore recommending the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin's recording on CPO. Not because it's especially brilliant or expertly recorded or performed, but because it doesn't have anything wrong with it, really. The tempo is just right, the instrumentalists are well-balanced and fairly careful with their entrances, and the sound is good. One thing is that the harp, piano and vibraphone are slightly prominent in this version, where they fade into the background in the others, but I like the shimmer they provide, and serve as sort of landmarks in the undifferentiated landscape drifting past.

But really, and of these three will do, and you should get at least one of them because Feldman is awesome and "For Samuel Beckett" is awesome and this took a lot longer to type than I expected.

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars