Although they were leading figures of the avant-garde in the 1970s and 1980s, Morton Feldman and George Crumb are an unexpected pairing on this 2016 Hyperion release by pianist Steven Osborne, because they employed dissimilar techniques and achieved rather different results. Feldman is perhaps best known for his extremely long and harmonically dense works of the 1980s, while Crumb's use of extended instrumental techniques and mystical references made him one of the most imitated composers in the last half of the 20th ...
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Although they were leading figures of the avant-garde in the 1970s and 1980s, Morton Feldman and George Crumb are an unexpected pairing on this 2016 Hyperion release by pianist Steven Osborne, because they employed dissimilar techniques and achieved rather different results. Feldman is perhaps best known for his extremely long and harmonically dense works of the 1980s, while Crumb's use of extended instrumental techniques and mystical references made him one of the most imitated composers in the last half of the 20th century. Yet they both explored the quiet end of the dynamic range, and the otherworldly feeling of their music often reveals a mutual affinity for introspection and intuition. The short Feldman pieces, Intermission 5, Piano Piece 1952, and Extensions 3, were all composed in 1952 and are rather scattered and sparse, unlike the sustained mood and consistently delicate sonorities of Palais de Mari, Feldman's final work, which reflects his interest in slowly evolving processes. Crumb's...
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