Compatriot of John Cage and Jackson Pollock (among others) and major player in the New York abstract expressionism and classical music scenes of the 60's - Morton Feldman and his epochal "Triadic Memories" stands as one of the defining entries in minimalism from the 20th Century.

With this excellent performance and outstanding recording here on the always high quality Mode label, Marilyn Norken takes on the ninety-minute solo piano epic, and accordingly observes the supremely quiet restraint Feldman prescribes for the performance of the piece. Although "Triadic Memories" is concerned with a low volume and meditative anti-dynamism there's really nothing about this music that might be described as 'easy' or ambient.

This is music at its most resolutely challenging, with its vastness, seemingly vertical relation to time, duration and low volume subtlety mimicking the monolithic abstract expressionist paintings from which Feldman derived so much inspiration. What initially seems to be beguiling forms of harmonics and repeated motifs gradually reveals itself to be an vast detailed portrait of the minuscule nuances of phrasing and the relationship between the harmonics of individual tones. One of the things this piece - and certainly this performance of it - achieves is a focus on the beauty of the decaying note, which is Feldman's signature approach to sound and composition. Quite unlike anything in the world of 'classical' music or any other known genre of sound. Yes, he's that great a composer.