St. Josef
24 May 2026 at 23:55
Morton Feldman’s “Piano and String Quartet” is one of his late, large-scale compositions and lasts approximately 80 minutes. In extremely soft dynamics, a fragile soundscape unfolds from repeated, slightly varied patterns. The piano and string quartet interact less in dialogue and more in parallel—like floating soundscapes. A slowed-down perception of time and subtle changes in detail direct the focus toward listening as an intense, meditative process.
At the centre of a special concert format is the work of Morton Feldman, whose 100th birthday is being marked this year. In a temporally expanded setting—from late evening deep into the night - key works such as Rothko Chapel, Two Pieces for Cello and Piano and others are performed.
This long, quiet, non-jazz programme explores the power of slowness and space. Through multi-channel sound transmission, a fragile sonic field unfolds in front of the main stage, dispersing throughout the performance area. The audience is free to move, to explore shifting sound positions, and to lose itself in the environment - later extending into surrounding churches, parks and dark pathways.
The “melancholy of disappearance” becomes physically perceptible: the music gradually dissolves, space sinks into silence, and listeners are left alone with their own associations.
Feldman’s music - defined by suspension, stillness and the absence of conventional dramaturgy - opens microscopic sonic spaces in which time expands and meaning dissolves. As in the paintings of Mark Rothko, sound becomes a condition, a surface, a duration.
The programme “Melancholy of Disappearance” is an invitation to contemplative listening and to immersion in an alternative, dreamlike reality.
