Morton Feldman (1926-1987)

Introduction
Feldman, born in Queens, NY, was a pioneer of intermediate music. He was heavily influenced by John Cage. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1987.



Work Analysis
I chose to analyze Snow Falls by Feldman. The piece is written for three voices and it sounds extremely experimental and electronic. It almost sounds as if he is creating square waves through a computer program with a specific midi sound, but he isn’t. It creates this really cool haunting effect that sticks throughout the piece and there is no real resolution. Like snow falling, the piece just happens.

Comparisons
This reminded me of a piece that I would hear from Stockhausen because of how creepy and ambient it sounded. Stockhausen created music from a numerical perspective and not a creative, free perspective. I found that Feldman was more focused on creating music in this way than most other composers of his time.

Observations
I was a fan of this piece at points, and wasn’t at others. I know it wasn’t electronic, but it sounded like it. The three voices in the piece really showed me how music can be very creative and simplistic at the sam​​​​​​​e time. The harmonies between the three voices really stood out to me and made me feel a bit tense. Other than that, it was a piece that asked questions, but necessarily didn’t have answers for me.