Morton Feldman wrote a set of works for solo instrument and orchestra in the 1970s. The first one was Cello and Orchestra, which was completed in January of 1972. It is dedicated to the cello virtuoso Siegfried Palm, and slightly less than nineteen minutes in duration. Though the soloist is as prominent as the orchestra, the work does not fit the concerto genre. The cello is a layer of sound, and its dialogue with the orchestra is not the sort of back and forth narrative that that gives a concerto its particular shape. At this point in the composer's development, the style that would shape the later works in this series of orchestral works with solo instrument was still coming together. In fact, Feldman's style had been evolving since the early 1950s from a sound that was familiar to the New York avant-garde to a musical syntax that was uniquely his own. What he was eventually to arrive at, in the late 1970s, is a language that verifies the perpetual moment, which came together in stages. Cello and Orchestra marks one of these critical transitions, but not at the point of arrival at a new phase in his career. Instead, this work reveals the composer in mid-stream of development, still consolidating certain advances in his thinking. The music is exciting for this reason, and not lacking focus but rather demonstrating the act of an artist focusing on a specific compositional problem.

In the beginning of his immersion into the New York avant-garde scene in 1951, Feldman took up graphic notation to resolve problems of compositional intent. At the time, the young composer had come under the wing of John Cage, whose ideas were resonant with artists of all mediums. His opinion was that the intentions of the composer were actually hindered by one's intentions, which impeded the music itself and the musical development of the composer. Feldman followed Cage's lead into the world of graphic notation, which allowed for the performer to interpret non-specific compositional directions. After doing this for a few years, Feldman came to discover that in freeing up the music in this way, a great deal of freedom was also being given to the performer, which was not at all the point. Gradually, Feldman returned to standard notation, with the intention of emulating the formal developments of painters he admired, such as Rothko and Guston. These abstract expressionists aimed at guiding the viewer to an intuitive, emotional realm that exists in all people, outside of time or space. To do this, the music would have to negate the standard idea of musical time in favor of a set of moments, each annulling the effect of the previous one while remaining relevant to it. These moments would have to consist of a variation of the previous one, both in rhythm and in tones. It was not until the later 1970s that this formula came entirely together. Cello and Orchestra still features melodies in the cello, extending these moments into phrases that still had a durational quality. As these moments became shorter in subsequent compositions, the idea finally worked, but this piece is still beautiful and mysterious, featuring exquisite orchestration. Even without knowing where it stands within the composer's oeuvre, it demands repeated listens, and demonstrates an artist's courageous journey into the unknown. Its premiere took place on April 19, 1973, at the Holland Festival, featuring Siegfried Palm and the Saarbrücken Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Hans Zender.

© John Keillor, Rovi