Music of Feldman & Zimmermann

Pursuing the heritage of his mentor Edgard Varese
with an infinite minimalist focus on the quality
of sound, just how it floats, and with a unique
sense of musical orchestration, Morton
Feldman(1926-1987) introduced the quiet longing
of Franz Schubert into 20th century American
music. Talking about Karlheinz Stockhausen in his
seminar lectures and anecdotes 'The Future of
Local Music', he said in 1984, 'He wanted time
measured out, and I wanted time felt, a more
subjective feeling of time, you see.' 'Maybe it's
because I'm Jewish; . In other words I'm not
creating music, it's already there. . So, if I
have a secret: don't push the sounds around.'
These quotes were first published by the most
original and independent German composer Walter
Zimmermann (*1949) in a substantial book he
compiled and edited to celebrate Morty's 60th
birthday. Creating a sense of orientation early
on in his career, Walter Zimmermann had traveled
through the United States and published his first
book in the mid 1970s ('Desert Plants:
Conversations with 23 American Musicians').
Inspired by his love for John Cage, Morton
Feldman and the American experimental music
tradition, as well as for various genres of world
music and for his own Franconian local heritage,
he explored, among other things, the beauty of
repositioned authentic folklore and of microtonal
just intonation more than thirty years ago in his
unique and compelling conceptual music. The
course will combine biography, music theory,
analysis, score study, guided listening and
aesthetic discussion in order to yield an
overview of Morton Feldman's and Walter
Zimmermann's life, work and historical influence,
as well as an appreciation of what we can learn
from them for our own creative work today.