Silence #26: Morton Feldman's 'Triadic Memories by Helena Basilova

by Morton Feldman

Early in the morning, the Oude Kerk is a meditative oasis in the city. Since 2017, on every first Friday of the month at 8 a.m., when the rising sun casts its light through the church’s towering windows and the neighbourhood slowly wakes up, visitors can enjoy the Silence music programme. The concerts celebrate the acoustics and space of the Oude Kerk, which invites mostly young, experimental musicians. There are no fixed seats; visitors are welcome to walk around and discover what the music sounds like in different places in the church.

Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas' exhibition Poems for Earthlings constituted an impressive intervention in the architecture of the Oude Kerk. As a result of the installation, new temporary spaces and volumes were created in the church. At the back of the installation was one such space: the High Choir. This is where Silence #26 took place. Temporarily closed off from the rest of the church and with acoustics that were different. During this morning concert, pianist Helena Basilova performed Morton Feldman's composition Triadic Memories. The American composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) became known in the 1950s. He was in close contact with visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollock. The perception of time changes in his compositions and classical form is let go. Concepts such as proportion and scale will be replaced for this. Lengths of time, rests and silences increase; the listener's musical memory is tested. Feldman regarded his Triadic Memories (1981) as a spatial landscape in which you move. Can a landscape take too long, and does it have a beginning and an end?

Materials Piano

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Silence #28: Herman Kolgen
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Silence #29: David Kweksilber (livestream)
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Poems for Earthlings
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Deze editie van de reeks Silence concert vond plaats tijdens de tentoonstelling.

Identifiers for references

Oude kerk Adlib Collect priref 2085