Morton Feldman: For Philip Guston

On the opening weekend, Ruhrtriennale 2014 invites you to Jahrhunderthalle for a unique concert experience. Three musicians from Ensemble Modern will perform Morton Feldman’s four and half hour work For Philip Guston from 1984.

Feldman’s music needs large spaces like the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum, it is usually written for museums that also often have acoustics with long reverberation times. In that way, it is similar to the large-format paintings of his friends Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko, which also require large spaces to develop their impact.

For Philip Guston pays homage to his painter friend, who died in 1979, a music of absence and silence. Melodic patterns in a floating rhythm, separated by brief rests, generate new instrumental nuances, a musical texture of liberating lightness. The linkages, proportions, and concealed symmetries are inspired by structures, manufacturing techniques, and colors that Feldman found in the ancient and hand-woven rugs of Anatolian nomadic peoples, which he passionately collected. For Philip Guston was not composed for an audience, it is simply there. The piece can be encountered, surrendered to, sunken into. But it is also possible to step back, and upon returning the music remains, unchanged.

The listeners are invited to get comfortable for the performance, sitting or reclining, to leave the hall and reenter. The bar in the foyer is open during the performance.