Performers: Christina Fong (violin); Karen Krummel (cello), Heather Storeng (viola), Christopher Martin (violin), Sieu Mahn Phong (violin)
Playing time: 117'
Release date: 2001; recording date: unknown
Although this is a significant recording in terms of music & performance, it had some of the flimsiest packaging I have ever seen. (This seems less remarkable now.)
The performance also features distinctly more string vibrato than is usually advocated for Feldman's music, meaning that the overtone sonorities do not blend to the degree possible. Although this is a valid criticism, it was still a significant recording of the piece.... It was the first, with the second (from Peter Rundel & others on Hat Art) following in the same time frame (meaning that neither set of performers probably even knew about the other effort), and there were none afterward, until 2023.
The Rundel/Hat reading could be described as almost serene, repetitive chordal pulsing, almost like an organ. There's more presence than this Fong et al. reading, which can be thin & (maybe overly) subtle, but that album also tends toward boring in its repetitiveness. It really seems passionless, while this Ogre Ogress release could use e.g. better sustain technique....
In any case, the new recording from Apartment House has been a revelation, easily preferable.
To purchasing information for this disc.
To Feldman page.
Todd M. McComb Updated: 10 July 2023