Morton Feldman's exquisite chamber work "For Franz Kline", of variable duration but generally within the 5 - 7 minute range, was created in 1962. It was composed in what may be called Feldman's second period, that one after the graphically notated works of the early 1950's, where almost all musical parameters (specific pitch, duration, timbre, event occurence; only density and pitch range were given) were left to be determined by the performers. Feldman realized that he "was not only allowing the sounds to be free - I was also liberating the performer" to the kind of subjective or habitual expression which could not create the kind of pure sound experience Feldman had envisioned. In "For Franz Kline" all of the pitches are notated but their individual duration is left to be chosen by the performer. Consequently, the coordination or interrelationship of the pitch events is indeterminate, and the performers do not consciously react to each other (ideally) but let the surprise combinations occur as they happen between the beautiful ensemble timbre of the soprano voice, violin, cello, french horn, chimes (tubular bells) & piano. The overall dynamic is quiet as in many of Feldman's works, which both lets the listeners hear the rich harmonics of the individual instruments (the fundamental pitch tends to pre-dominate at louder levels) and the performers to clear assess balance and feel less pressure to hurry. The overall tempo is slow and any tendency to hurry in this music produces a sense of (internal) regular pulse that must be somehow overcome in the rehearsal of this music. The pitches given do, however, contain what may be called "identities" or particular types of material and gestures that are given to the specific instruments: an unchanging arpeggio is given to the cellist, a b to f-sharp ''' interval that is assigned to the pianist and played 7 times, long semi-melodic tones sung by the wordless voice, and so on. This maintains a certain mobile or re-combinatory and modal character to the piece giving it a certain "mood". No particular programme is intended, but the changing timbres may spontaneous stimulate imagery for the listener. Or, for another listener, the joy may simply be in sheer richness of the sonic experience, for the sounds themselves. This piece and its musical material may be analogous with Franz Kline's magnificent black and white paintings. It is interesting to compare Feldman's impression of black objects (sounds) on a white (silent) surface with composer Bernard Herrmann's idea of using the relatively monochromatic timbre of a string orchestra for his filmscore to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Feldmans music is analogous to the idea and physical realization of the "surface" - Feldman's only slightly changing, glass-like or "neutral" sounds move elegantly like objects on a flat (silent) background, or like passing levels of clouds against a dimensionless sky.

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