Morton Feldman: Three Voices

Three Voices (1982) is Morton Feldman’s last work for solo voice, premiered by muse Joan La Barbara and two loudspeakers with her pre-recorded voices.

Feldman, captivated by the elusive nature of Time, explored his desire for pure material and abstraction as unconsummated imagery. The interaction between the three homogenous voices in material and space, transcends the instrument of the human voice.

“For most composers, instruments are a way of transcending their musical material to something greater. Feldman, however, succeeded with his musical material in transcending the instruments themselves; wrote music which would transcend their sound; dissolved them into a world of pure sound.” — Chris Newman

My approach to this work shares a distinct interpretative perspective, centred on the intimacy of the voice and the listening experience. The human voice is treated as a meditative presence, with the polyphony drawing us in altered spacetime. A total transcendence of the voice and physical existence.