Morton Feldman is widely regarded as one of America's greatest composers. His music is famously idiosyncratic, but, in many cases, the way he presented it is also unusual because, in the 1950s and 1960s, he often composed in non-standard musical notations, including a groundbreaking variety on graph paper that facilitated deliberately imprecise specifications of pitch and, at times, other musical parameters. Feldman used this notation, intermittently, over seventeen years, producing numerous graph works that invite analysis as an evolving series. Taking this approach, David Cline marshals a wide range of source materials - many previously unpublished - in clarifying the ideology, organisation and generative history of these graphs and their formative role in the chronicle of post-war music. This assists in pinpointing connections with Feldman's compositions in other formats, works by other composers, notably John Cage, and contemporary currents in painting. Performance practice is examined through analysis of Feldman's non-notated preferences and David Tudor's celebrated interpretations.

David Cline provides a detailed analysis of Morton Feldman's graph works and how they changed the course of post-war music.

About the Author
David Cline completed his Ph.D. in Music at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2011 and was a fellow of the Institute of Musical Research at the School of Advanced Study, University of London from 2013 to 2015. His research has appeared in Perspectives of New Music and Twentieth-Century Music.


Book Information
ISBN 9781107521414
Author David Cline
Format Paperback
Page Count 404
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 800g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 153mm * 28mm