As Morton Feldman’s late works proliferate on CD, comparative listening becomes more important with each new release. The first thing Feldmanites will notice about Ronnie Lynn Patterson’s recordings of the 1977 Piano and the 1986 Palais de Mari (Feldman’s last completed piano work) are the unusually protracted timings. In Piano, Patterson adds nearly 13 minutes to Aki Takahashi’s 26 and a half minutes, while at 39:51 his Palais de Mari positively sprawls compared to Alan Feinberg’s 21:52 timing. The problem with Palais de Mari in Patterson’s hands is that the slow pace makes it impossible to perceive the composer’s subtle rhythmic variations from one phrase to the next. Patterns of single notes emerge as isolated, freeze-framed gestures rather than components of longer lines.
The same drawbacks apply to Piano. While Patterson admirably aims to color Feldman’s widely spaced chords with varied voicings, he does so in ways that break the music’s quiet flow, such as not attacking chords precisely together (you often hear the left hand ever-so-slightly anticipate the right), or making the softest notes virtually inaudible. Aki Takahashi’s superior precision and large-scale control pay more satisfying architectural and musical dividends. There’s no question, however, that Patterson is a serious artist for whom these works mean a lot, and I’m curious to hear him play in person.
