Sunday, October 5, 2008

A recording of Meredith Monk's "Impermanence," a multidisciplinary work that takes on the transient nature of human existence, is perhaps a skewed document of the composer's intentions. But even stripped bare of its choreography, costumes and video accompaniment, it's an attractive photograph.

It's also an intimate tribute. Monk was moved to explore the fragility of life after the death of her partner, Mieke van Hoek, in 2002. For listeners well versed in the trademark extended vocal techniques that appear in the bulk of Monk's work, it's somewhat startling to hear this maverick composer-performer open a piece with familiar words, but it grounds the music before it slips on through moments of more abstract vocal play and haunting meditation. Where in previous compositions instrumentalists were often used for foundation or ornamentation, here the violin, piano, percussion and woodwinds are collaborative actors, holding up their own end of the conversation. And though the subject matter is weighty, the performances consistently shimmer.

For all that a recording necessarily removes from Monk's work, it may aid in the listener's appreciation of the music of Morton Feldman, a composer given to spare gesture and very patient development. Feldman's "The Viola in My Life," composed in four parts in 1970 and '71, has been newly recorded by violist Marek Konstantynowicz, the Cikada Ensemble and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. It's a vibrant, closely miked presentation and a highly recommended entry point into Feldman's catalogue. "The Viola in My Life" captivates as much with a fragment of melody as with the silence that surrounds it, leaving the ear to wait in anticipation for the next sound. The instrumental lines fall like brush strokes across a canvas, and the interpretation presented here only gets richer on repeated listening.

-- Molly Sheridan