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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Sounds like Rothko

11:32 / 02.02.02

unsure whether this should be in the music thread or in this. with recent Books versus Films thread in mind, I read in the Guardian's
Friday Review that Morton Feldman, composer and friend of Rothko, had written a piece called Rothko's Chapel, first performed in 1972 in the Rothko Chapel in Houstoun, Tx.

it was performed again last night by the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, hence the article.

I love the Rothko paintings I have seen but I cannot imagine a piece of music working inn the same way. anyone had heard this piece?

I can understand that the paintings might inspire a piece of music but, not being a muso, can't see how those works in one medium would be translated to another and retain in the latter a real sense of the former.

there's Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibiton but can't think of other musical works which attempt to translate oil on canvas to another form.

any thoughts?

14:58 / 02.02.02

...never heard the piece, but if anything, I would imagine it to be either very same-same, or have very distinct layers with each layer having subtle nuances in it. Simple, somewhat uniform, complex. Would love to hear it though...

I'm a big fan of his color field work...was one of the few modern painters that I really enjoy. His surface and color choice seemed very in touch.

15:08 / 02.02.02

...I have noticed that musical connection...especially nowadays...plays a big role in "inspiring" an artist when they work. I don't think that it needs to be a piece based on or in reaction to. Most artists I know have a particular taste or look for one to backdrop their work environment when they're getting down and dirty.

I also have to say that current computer multimedia...not quite "fine" art (yet)...has music as a component that integrates very much with the experience. I find that if I'm working, I like to listen to simple, composed, minimal works that have similar qualities to my design sensibilities. At times, I actively involve it in the work or sample it; other times I break open some audio software and make my own to complement it.

Wasn't sure if you were looking for particulars about Rothko specifically, but I figured any musical discussion in the realm of art, whether it be in production, prior to, or in reaction of, would be an asset. I like that it's floating around Art and Design...anyone else...

The Return Of Rothkoid

22:32 / 02.02.02

I haven't heard the piece in question, but I have heard some other Feldman work. Generally, it tends to be very minimal - as you'd expect - with a very meditative feel. Not as beefy as some of Bryars' work. But I can see how it'd fit in; the idea of timelessness is inherent in his stuff, I think, and that's what I feel with some of Rothko's work...

Actually, Bryars is germane to this discussion, a little; his A Man In A Room, Gambling set of pieces was written in conjunction with sculptor Juan Munoz - the one whose installation, Double Bind is in the Tate Modern at the moment. There's the element of deceit and play that appears in Munoz works (not so much in Bryars') that comes across when you listen to them...

[ 03-02-2002: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]

14:25 / 05.02.02

The Rothko Chapel really is an awesome place - subdued lighting, huge black canvases, and there's a special, resonant quality of sound, a kind of hushed reverberation through the place. I remember sitting on one of the benches there and thinking it was the last church ever built, somewhere in a far future long after humankind had died out. And that made it beautiful.

Wonder what the music is like.

16:49 / 05.02.02

very cool grant...much props...