If you could actually hear an abstract expressionist painting, it would probably sound a lot like the work of Morton Feldman. And that's no accident: Feldman hung out in '50s and '60s New York with Jackson Pollock, Philip Guston (whose work graced the cover of Feldman's first album), and Robert Rauschenberg. Like the paintings of his visual artist peers, Feldman's work emphasized tonal color over structure, rhythm, or melody, the traditional building blocks of music. It also employed the musical equivalent of painterly "negative space" with it's use of silence and stasis; that Feldman and John Cale were enormous influences on each other will come as no surprise. So, it makes sense that Feldman would dedicate probably his two most celebrated compositions to two giants of the New York scene: abstract expressionist Mark Rothko, whose famous Chapel adorns this LP's front cover, and writer and critic Frank O'Hara, whose own work drew inspiration from the same sources as Feldman's. Rothko Chapel and For Frank O'Hara first were released in 1976 on a seminal album from the Odyssey imprint on Columbia Records; for it's 50th anniversary and first LP reissue, we've had it pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Gotta Groove Records for the quietest listen achievable, using new transfers from the original master tapes. Profound, career-defining work that opened the door for latter-day ambient composers like Brian Eno to walk through.

Classical Music

In “Our American Roots” Feldman applies his talent and skill to an all-American program of music for cello and piano—to include a pair of rarely heard cello sonatas by Barber and Walker. The remainder of the program consists of arrangements of musical Americana: arias from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and his Preludes, and two movements from Copland’s Billy the Kid.

It is an important moment in the life of a singer when she is able to confront the standard repertory. After years spent studying theatre and music in Shakespeare's England under the guidance of musicologist Philip Brett, Jill Feldman recorded two programmes of Henry Purcell's music in 1992, which is reissued here. Many of the ‘Ayres and Songs’ from Orpheus Britannicus are connected to the English theatrical tradition. In the earliest piece on this album, ‘From Silent Shades’, and the latest, ‘From Rosy Bow'rs’, we hear one theatrical tradition – placing the voice of truth in the mouth of a madman. In the same way, we hear the wisdom of Touchstone in As You Like It, of Feste in Twelfth Night, and of King Lear's Fool. This programme, superbly accompanied by lutenist Nigel North, searches for that wisdom throughout. In the Harmonia Sacra recording, Purcell’s sacred hymns are interspersed with his complete organ works played by Davitt Moroney, with whom Jill Feldman had collaborated ever since their meeting in 1975 as part of Philip Brett’s ensemble at Berkeley in California. The organ is an exquisite instrument built by Purcell’s contemporary, Thomas Dallam (1677), which resides in the small village of Guimiliau in Brittany.

Since the release of last year's to Fly to Steal (their debut on Intakt), the members of the Sylvie Courvoisier - Mark Feldman Quartet forged an even deeper chemistry on the bandstand through a series of European tours. The results of that heightened sensitivity now manifest on this superb second album showcasing an uncanny group-think among the four outstanding musicians. The flexibility and expressive range that violinist Feldman, pianist Courvoisier, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Gerry Hemingway achieve together on Hotel Du Nord shows how much the quartet has grown in just over a year.

GOL