John Tilbury's final recital focussed on Morton Feldman's for Bunita Marcus, a long piece dating from 1985 and dedicated to the eponymous pianist, who also commissioned Feldman's final work for piano, the rather more distilled Palais De Mari, in 1987.
Like the minimalists, Feldman relies on repetition as a structural principle, but his music stands apart from that genre. It possesses an inner tranquillity and self-absorption which is reminiscent of the effect of a Rothko painting, and it is no accident that one of his major works was inspired by the famous Rothko Chapel.
The slow unfolding of the music, very often in single notes, and its soft, dynamic levels serve to draw the listener in through the level of concentration required, and direct attention to tiny details which might pass unnoticed in more conventionally active music. The effect of even a small change in volume or tempo is magnified hugely, creating significant ''events'' out of very little.
In such a music, the pianist's touch is crucial. The precise weight of each note, the minute inflections of tonal colour, and the subtle variations of pattern and metre all carry a great deal
of significance.
Tilbury was scrupulous in his observation of them, but without calling attention to the playing rather than the music (Feldman sometimes encouraged performers to try to think of his musical sounds as being sourceless, rather than tied to their specific instrument).
This was another eminently satisfying performance to round off the pianist's weekend of recitals, and provided an all too rare opportunity to experience the peculiar demands - and rewards - of this highly absorbing music.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article