Rothko Chapel – Works of ERIK SATIE, MORTON FELDMAN, CAGE – Kim Kashkashian/ Sarah Rothenberg/ Steven Schick – ECM New Series

by | Oct 21, 2015 | Classical CD Reviews

Rothko Chapel – Works of ERIK SATIE, MORTON FELDMAN, CAGE – Kim Kashkashian/ Sarah Rothenberg/ Steven Schick – ECM New Series 0289 481 1796 3 [10/23/15) **:

This is a maddening New Agey/contemporary music outing which may possibly appeal to fans of Morton Feldman, but not me. There are endless seeming repetitions of various Satie piano pieces, because John Cage liked Satie’s good-humored originality and simplicity. There is a vocalise high-pitched choir here and there, Sarah Rothenberg plays the celeste and piano, and there’s some percussion as well. Cage’s Four, Five are sung by the choir. The various Gnossiennes of Satie are really pounded out, very loud in comparison to the rest.

The Rothko Chapel in Houston was built to house the abstract paintings of Mark Rothko; what this has to do with the music I don’t know. I found the entire disc quite annoying.

—John Sunier

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